Playing Bass for the U.S. Tour of Irrbloss: Songs from the Poetry of Signe Aurell

What a fun month of music it's been! Last weekend's New England Shake Up was a joyous reunion of some of my very favorite bands and people. This weekend I'm off to Minneapolis to kick off a tour with Maja Heurling, Ola Sandström, and Livet Måssebäck Nord at the American Swedish Institute on Saturday (2-3:00pm). https://asimn.org/event/signe-aurell-irrbloss-concert/

Our Swedish pals will be visiting several classes on the UW-Madison campus this week, including my own, and then on Tuesday evening at 6pm we're playing a free concert at Tripp Commons in the Memorial Union (w/ snacks!). Then it's on to Augustana College in Rock Island and the Swedish American Museum in Chicago next weekend. I'm stoked!

In addition to the camaraderie, I'm looking forward to hearing and playing the music from Irrbloss: Songs from the Poetry of Signe Aurell. Aurell was a Swedish woman who came to the United States in 1913, worked as a laundress and seamstress, joined the Industrial Workers of the World, and wrote poetry and essays—including her self-published poetry collection, Irrbloss (Will-o’-the-Wisp)—during her seven years living in Minnesota.

Maja and Ola collaborated to set music to a selection of poems from Irrbloss, blending folk stylings and the Swedish visa tradition together to amplify the importance and continued relevance of Aurell’s words. In doing so, the group has employed the Swedish visa tradition to interpret not just Aurell’s poetry, but also the migration histories of the over one million Swedes who came to the United States.

I'm still learning all the upright bass parts as I type this, but I promise I'll have it down by Saturday (extended slap solos and pitchy avant-garde meanderings included)! Hope to see you there and, of course, feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested.

A Back to the Country Back to School Special 9/14/22

Howdy friends, tomorrow morning (9am-noon CST) I'll be back on the airwaves hosting a Back to the Country Back to School special on WORT 89.9 FM.

It's a new semester, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, I'm teaching a really fun course in the music school, I've got patches on my sleeves (thanks again, mom!), and good records surrounding me all the time.

This week I'll play three hours worth of back-to-school-themed classics about schools catching on fire (the Dixon Brothers), schools exploding (Elton Britt), busses of kids drowning (the Stanley Brothers, Ralph Bowman), truckers killing themselves to avoid school kids in the road (Red Sovine), federally mandated integrated bussing (Tadpole Creek Opinion, Earl Beecham, Tommy Riggs), inappropriate teacher-student relationships (Vickie Mitchell, Johnny Christopher, Tommy Millwood, Bonnie Guitar), high schools as prisons (Mojo Nixon), intense school bullies (Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Dale Hawkins), high school loners without friends (Reggie Perkins), teachers hitting kindergartners and leaving marks (Brenda Carter), teachers stabbing each other in the back (BJ Snowden), deceptive administrators (Arlie Duff), hypocritical PTAs (Margie Singleton), church being taken out of schools (the Louvin Brothers), the state of sex education in public schools (in the '60s) (the Hill Dillies), homophobic anti-college and anti-hippy rants (Ace Ball), communist professors (Leroy Van Dyke), unloved book worms (Ernest Tubb), and corporal punishment (Cliffie Stone), among other school-related topics.

Streaming via wortfm.org and available via 89.9 FM in southern Wisconsin.

And as always, the show is available for two weeks after broadcast by visiting archive.wortfm.org and looking for the 9/14 episode of Back to the Country.

Press Play: Recorded Sound From Groove To Stream - A Special Collections Exhibit 9/7-12/22

Today marks a new semester at UW and I'm particularly excited for this one because today is also the opening of my first curated Special Collections exhibit! It's called Press Play: Recorded Sound from Groove to Stream and is located on the 9th floor of Memorial Library (UW-Madison). It'll be up all semester, but you'll have to visit when Special Collections is open to see it: M-F 9am-5pm.

This summer I spent countless hours pawing through the amazing collections at Mills Music Library and Wisconsin Music Archives and, using my favorite finds, I was given the opportunity to curate a show that illustrates what we collect and why, as well as how we engage various audiences with our collections. On display are roughly 300 rare, unique, beautiful, historic, iconic, and obscure sound recordings with accompanying texts expounding the evolution of sound recordings, how records are (sometimes) made, and why I hate Spotify, to name just a few topics.

The entire staff of Mills Music Library has been working on it for months and we're excited it's finally open. There's a playlist with some amazing tunes you can only hear if you scan the QR code or visit the Listening Station, and if you let me know you're coming in advance, I'll crank up the 1915 Edison Diamond Disc of "On, Wisconsin!" for ya! 

Decca Delights with Nate Gibson on Back to the Country WORT 89.9FM 7/13/22

Howdy Friends, Tomorrow morning from 9am-noon (CST) I'll be back on the airwaves hosting Back to the Country. It recently occurred to me that I have previously created BTTC shows about RCA Victor, Capitol Records, Columbia Records, and even Mercury Records, but I have yet to do a show that focuses on the fifth major label of the '50s--Decca Records--and all of their amazing country music contributions. UNTIL NOW!

Last week I pulled together a bunch of Decca Records from my collection, cleaned them all up, got them all in their release-appropriate company sleeves, found a box to put them all in, organized them by release number, and I will be bringing that newly organized box of Decca sunshine to the WORT studio tomorrow morning to spin for you my very favorite 45s from the label: Brenda Lee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ernest Tubb, Hank Garland, Kenny Roberts, Hoagy Carmichael, Salty Holmes, Roger Miller, Patsy Cline, June Stearns, Owen Bradley, Chuck Bowers, and so many more!

Tune in via 89.9FM in Southern Wisconsin or stream anywhere from www.wortfm.org

Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday in More Record Stores

I recently returned from a trip to Nashville and I'm happy to report that the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday double LP is now available at the following fantastic record store locations:

Grimeys - Nashville, TN

Phonoluxe - Nashville, TN

Waterloo Records - Austin, TX

Mad City Music - Madison, WI

Rock'n'Roll Land - Green Bay, WI

Dupree's - Milwaukee, WI

Toad Hall - Rockford, IL

Kanesville Kollectibles - Council Bluffs, IA

Landlocked Music - Bloomington, IN

Hymies Vintage Records - Minneapolis, MN

and via Bear Family Records in Europe.

Thanks for supporting your local record stores! 

Back to the Country: Country Music Pet Sounds

Howdy Friends, I'm sure most of y'all are familiar with the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Pink Floyd's "Several Species of Small Furry Animals...," but I'm here to remind you that country musicians have also been incorporating animal sound effects into their recordings for nearly 100 years.

Tomorrow morning I'll be hosting Back to the Country once again and the theme this week is Country Music Pet Sounds--not just songs about animals, but three full hours of tunes that incorporate zany animal sound effects! Who would do that, you ask? Well, for starters, Hank Williams, Uncle Dave Macon, Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Horton, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Reed, Link Wray, Roy Acuff, Red Foley, Betty Amos w/ Judy & Jean, Kenny Roberts, Frankie Miller, and like, a gazillion more! And it should come as no surprise that several modern traditional country acts are also making stellar animal noises these days.

I've got lots of my favorite tunes in the queue; Showtime is tomorrow (5/11) morning from 9am-noon CST on WORT 89.9FM in Southern Wisconsin or streaming at www.wortfm.org and via the WORT app. It's gonna be goofy and it's gonna be great!

Back to the Country: The Trumpet In Country Music

Howdy Friends, I'll be back on the air tomorrow (Wednesday) morning hosting Back to the Country on WORT 89.9 FM from 9am-noon (CST).

Tomorrow's theme is the history of the trumpet in country music and I'll be covering a chronological retrospective of amazing trumpet playing from 1930-present. For sure, there'll be some western swing, some spaghetti western, some Tex-Mex, some rockabilly, some cowboy songs, some country soul, and a whole lot more.

As a trumpet player myself, I consider this show to be my manifesto for the trumpet as the quintessential country music instrument. I'm guessing Hank Penny, Al Dexter, Merle Travis, Tom T. Hall, and Danny Davis already agree with me, but if you need further convincing, please tune in! 89.9 FM in Southern Wisconsin or www.wortfm.org to stream!