Michael Perry's Blog, page 13

This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Them Coulee Boys

Check out Mike (Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Threads) hosting Tent Show Radio. This week’s episode features Them Coulee Boys.

During intermission Michael Perry shares a humorous or heartfelt (or both) story drawn from his beloved books and offbeat life experiences.

Them Coulee Boys craft a brand of Americana that blends folk, punk, bluegrass, and rock & roll. They sing their conversational songs in 4-part harmony, often with a banjo stomp and rhythm section punch that drives the audience onto the dance floor and into community. Their trusty van has propelled them thousands of miles across the country and into the hearts of strangers, who tend to leave each show as family.

Soren Staff and Beau Janke, who both grew up amidst a stretch of glacial melt-carved river valleys in the upper Midwest, and more often than not could be found with an instrument in hand, became fast friends and formed their electric music partnership, after having met as counselors at a bible camp in northern Wisconsin in 2011. The duo played their first gigs as the rough-around-the-edges folk/rock/Americana outfit Them Coulee Boys in 2013. The additions of Jens Staff on mandolin, Neil Kraus on guitar & bass, and Stas Hable on drums helped to grow the band into the rollicking outfit it is today.

With three full-length albums and an EP behind them, including 2019’s Die Happy, they released their fourth studio album Namesake in 2021. The new album feels familial, like old friends with no need for small talk. There are moments of power and punch, balanced with an intimacy only felt between the ones we love. The ten-song collection spans from pure and genuine ballads to a leaping, countrified take on rock and roll. Namesake finds Them Coulee Boys following a new trajectory, combining their signature take on folk-grass and Americana with comfort on electric instruments and playing rock and roll. The record lives and breathes. It’s both intimate and bombastic.

Follow this link for all the available viewing options.

Stream it here along with other Tent Show Radio episodes.

Tent show Radio is broadcast each week on many fine independent stations, which can be found here: https://sneezingcow.com/ten-show-radio-stations/.

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Letters from Forty Acres Deep

In this our FIVE STARS/ZERO STARS world, how grateful I am for readers who take the time to share both their time and their heart. And especially so in the case of Forty Acres Deep, a book I wasn’t sure I should write.

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This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Anishinaabe Dibaajimowin – An Ojibwe Story

Check out Mike (Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Threads) hosting Tent Show Radio. This week’s episode features Anishinaabe Dibaajimowin: An Ojibwe Story.

During intermission Michael Perry shares a humorous or heartfelt (or both) story drawn from his beloved books and offbeat life experiences.

On this poignant episode of Tent Show Radio, celebrate the rich culture, history, and spirit of the Anishinaabe people in a musical theater experience that honors the indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region. The acclaimed original show “Anishinaabe Dibaajimowin: An Ojibwe Story,” which debuted in 2021, features Michael “Laughing Fox” Charette and Severin Behen, members of the Blue Canvas Orchestra, and artists from Red Cliff, Bad River, LCO, and Fond du Lac.

Observe, as talented indigenous artists and tribal elders, weave compelling stories with profound and lucid narrations that convey their rich oral traditions and moments of significant history in their culture – the establishment of treaty rights and the protection of indigenous children. Traditional and modern music merge with ancient storytelling that meets spoken word and hip-hop while you journey through the legends, history, and hardships of the Anishinaabe people.

Follow this link for all the available viewing options.

Stream it here along with other Tent Show Radio episodes.

Tent show Radio is broadcast each week on many fine independent stations, which can be found here: https://sneezingcow.com/ten-show-radio-stations/.

The post This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Anishinaabe Dibaajimowin – An Ojibwe Story appeared first on SneezingCow.com.

Mike in the Zumbrota News Record

A few weeks back Mike spoke with the Pine Island, MN community about his book, Population: 485, which was this year’s choice for the “One Town One Title” series. The folks at the Zumbrota News Record wrote about the event. Mike was grateful to be selected by the Van Horn Public Library. You can read the story here.

Signing a Population 485 hardcover. They don’t make those anymore!

To hear Mike speak in person or perform with his band, The Long Beds, you can join the Sneezing Cow Mailing List here.

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Free Episode: Michael Perry’s Voice Mail #203: Cowboy Punk

Howdy folks:

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 203. This one’s available to free and paid subscribers alike. Click here to listen.

In today’s episode I’m fresh back from a side-trip to Los Angeles which got me somehow to thinking about my short-lived punk rock career and the most important lesson I ever learned about playing guitar. There is also a passing mention of prairie oysters and sousaphones. And a band named Toxic…well, you’ll hear. My mom listens to this podcast, but sometimes you gotta just tell it the way it was.

Scroll down for more photos (including the one referenced in the podcast) and this episode’s marginalia.

Above all, thank you. I’ll keep at it. The writing, that is. The punk rock, that’s over with.

Mike

The previous band-related episode I mention is here.

If the Long Beds are playing near you, it’ll be listed here.

And whether it’s a new book, Mike appearing solo with stories, or the band, you’ll hear about it in advance if you’re on the mailing list.

All the books mentioned in this podcast can be found here.

This was a free episode. If you’d like to receive all episodes, click here. You won’t actually be subscribed until you review your options and confirm.

The Long Beds will be playing  a 3-day Wisconsin Tour rolling through Stoughton, Viroqua, and Menomonie April 18, 19, & 20, respectively. All events can be found here.

Long Beds music here.

And here we are gettin’ after it:

 

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This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Joyann Parker: The Music of Patsy Cline

Check out Mike (Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Threads) hosting Tent Show Radio. This week’s episode features Joyann Parker performing the music of Patsy Cline.

During intermission Michael Perry shares a humorous or heartfelt (or both) story drawn from his beloved books and offbeat life experiences.

On this episode of Tent Show Radio, enjoy a nostalgic trip back in time as Joyann Parker beautifully weaves the stories of Patsy Cline’s life and career in and out of the music you know and love. In this powerful tribute performance, Parker and her seasoned band showcase the most popular and best loved of Pasty’s songs. Vintage costumes and ambiance enhance Joyann’s uncanny and authentic channeling of Cline’s classic vocals. Hear Patsy’s iconic songs like “Crazy,” “Walking After Midnight,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Faded Love,” “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray,” “She’s Got You” and many more!

A northern Wisconsin native, Joyann Parker, like many artists, discovered her love of music at a very young age. While the multifaceted and versatile performer found her authentic voice later in life, she has created her inimitable blend of roots music that fuses soul, gospel, R&B, and traditional blues – combined with a voice that is booming and soulful – Joyann Parker is establishing herself as a masterclass performer. Steadily a rising star on the Midwest music scene, with two critically acclaimed studio albums under her belt, 2018’s Hard to Love, and 2021’s Out of the Dark, numerous award nominations, and opening for award-winning artists like Robert Cray and Elvin Bishop, Parker is now bringing her full range of talent as an accomplished singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter to national and international stages.

Follow this link for all the available viewing options.

Stream it here along with other Tent Show Radio episodes.

Tent show Radio is broadcast each week on many fine independent stations, which can be found here: https://sneezingcow.com/ten-show-radio-stations/.

The post This Week’s Tent Show Radio: Joyann Parker: The Music of Patsy Cline appeared first on SneezingCow.com.

Michael Perry’s Voice Mail Episode #202: From the Dark Room

Welcome to Michael Perry’s Voice Mail, episode 202. This one’s available to paid subscribers only. However, if you’re curious, please email orders@sneezingcow.com and we will get you a couple free weeks on us.

Click here to listen.

This one’s a little different than usual. Only one photo, no marginalia, and keeping the email part real short. All is explained in the audio.

(It’s nothing grim.)

This is the book I reference.

Thank you,

Mike

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The Keyboard Player and Me

One night way back in the early aughts, I found myself a long ways from home, signing copies of Population 485 at the late lamented Davis-Kidd bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee, when a man placed his copy before me. I took a look at him and said, “Should I make it out to Hobie?”

“How do you know who I am?” he said.

“You’re the keyboard player for Sawyer Brown!” I replied. In the years leading up to Population 485 I paid a lot of the rent by writing about life on the country music circuit. I’d seen Hobie in videos, and backstage a time or two in passing.

And thus began one of those odd, intermittent, easy friendships that spring up when you hide out or hit the road or do a combination of both for a living. About once a year Hobie passes through these parts on tour, or I pass through Nashville, or some other place the band is playing, and we catch up backstage or on the bus. Over the decades he and his bandmates have welcomed me, then me and my wife, then our little family of four. What I love above all is the ease of it. Catch up, compare a few notes, tell a few old stories, and be on our separate ways.

That night back there in Nashville I was on my first-ever book tour. Population 485 didn’t rule the charts or make me rich or put me on tour like Sawyer Brown, but twenty-plus titles later that book still drives the van. And from that moment to present, my now-and-then conversations with Hobie have helped me navigate my middling successes, my minor flops, and still maintain a fresh love for what I do. And when I have something new in the hopper, I often share it early with Hobie (his parents were both English teachers, and he has taught college literature classes between tour dates).

And of course there’s the delight I share with millions through the music of Sawyer Brown, soundtrack to some of my best backroad rides, then and now. Many a smile to the mile, but also songs like “Cafe on the Corner,” which I revisited while writing Forty Acres Deep.

Anyways, here’s to Hobie, and here’s to the boys in the band, still gettin’ after it.

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Mike Joins the “Forward Firefighter Podcast”

Mike joins Dan Retzlaff for a conversation about volunteer firefighting, EMS service, and Mike’s book, Population 485. The breadth of topics range from lawyers to soft hands, nursing degrees to “screen time,” and whether you too could/should be a volunteer firefighter, as one of Mike’s friends recently did (and since this podcast has weighed in to report he is 55, not 43!).

Grab a beverage sleeved in your Sneezing Cow can koozie and listen on your favorite podcast platform. More details here. 

For more about the Forward Firefighter Podcast, click here.

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Gas It Up

The mix of folks who read my books and attend my shows is reflected in the gifts they share: Homemade preserves; a carburetor for a 1951 International; cookies, lotsa cookies; vintage belt buckles; a plumb bob; work gloves; homemade leather coasters, koozies, and dice cups; ammunition; artwork; knitting; afghans; nice pens; notebooks; KINDNESS. And that’s just off the top of my head as quick as I could type it. But this was a first: When they heard I’d be performing in Green Bay, the fellows at LP+ invited me to swing by and try out their new drive-through LP refilling station. Most of the time I have to politely decline offers like this because of our schedule or other specifics, but in this case it was just a couple blocks away, and by coincidence I had two empty tanks sitting in the garage beside the mighty tour van. So I brought’em along, and not only got’em filled but inspected and cleaned up, as well. I’m not their “influencer,” they were just kind enough to make the offer. I thank them, and wish them luck in their endeavors. (They said they get overrun around deer hunting season, so swing by early!)

 

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