01. Go!
02. Ready To Wear
03. Love Is Wrong
04. Vagabond
05. Blues (All The Rage)
06. Sleeping With Girls
07. Make Love
08. His Eye, It’s Wandering
09. Loander My Guitar
10. Loander My Sitar
11. Please Don’t Talk About Me
12. Working Girl
13. Go Faster!
14. Lady Of Love

“She” by Willie Wisely
October Records TRG 89336-2 | released 1996 | CD/mp3

“Not since the last Posies record– if not the breakup of Wings– has a pop act created music this bright, catchy and energetic… echoes of everyone from the Amboy Dukes and Marshall Crenshaw to Stealers Wheel and Todd Rundgren….” ––OPTION
“Where do we start with this gem of a pop record?” ––FMQB

   CD | PayPal | $13
   downloads | iTunes

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Minneapolis Does Denver & She

One afternoon, probably in the spring of 1995, John “Strawberry” Fields visited my dilapidated apartment in Dinkytown. He was producing his tribute album to John Denver and wanted to meet up to see if I wanted to contribute a track. Our mutual friend, Mike Ruekberg, the leader of one of my favorite Minneapolis bands Rex Daisy, had told him about my band. Strawberrius, as many knew him, made stuff happen like I’d never seen before. First, he had the backing of his uncle Steven Greenberg, the writer/producer behind the Lipps Inc. smash “Funkytown”. Second, he was all confidence and didn’t hesitate telling you all that he was capable of. Third, and this was not yet apparent to me, I would probably never meet anyone so adept at making music of any kind on any instrument, instantly, and putting it together in a way that sounded amazing.

I showed him my dog-eared sheet music copy of John Denver’s greatest hits as proof that the music had been a huge influence on me, starting with piano lessons in the 6th grade. My favorite Denver song, one that was probably too obscure and saccharine for any one else to choose was “Sweet Surrender”. I’m guessing that my willingness to not insist on doing “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” was the deal-clincher.

Within weeks we were at his Funkytown Studios in Golden Valley cutting the track with drummer Dorian Crozier and a guest artist that I insisted sing and play piano, John Eric Thiede, founder of the popular jump/swing group The Strawdogs. I had a bluesy shuffle arrangement idea for it, which left room for plenty of swagger, improvisation and looseness. Thiede, was a riot, singing in his faux-Satchmo voice and banging out swinging riffs on the 88’s. Strawberrius & Dorian blew me away, cutting the track completely live, John engineering it as he played bass with us all. I’d never recorded with people who seemed to be reading my mind. Playing in the moment was a familiar sensation, as my recently broken-up Trio could prove, but I’d never made music with people who played in the future!

We had fun that night, ending with beers at Bennington’s, a suburban eatery next store to the studio. Despite the feel good session, I don’t remember thinking that I’d entered a whole new chapter of my life. But I had. Within a few months, somewhere around the release of MINNEAPOLIS DOES DENVER, Strawberrius would again call. This time wanting to know if I had songs I’d like to record. He suggested that maybe he could sign me to his uncle’s October Records. I told him I’d assemble a cassette of song demos and pop by the studio.

My only memory of that meeting was John more or less pinning me to a fabric-covered wall outside the control room, looking me in the eye, pointing his finger and asking, “So are you a star?” Now, you have to realize that Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegone version of Minnesota is a very real thing. Cocksure people who speak bluntly are rare. So, I wasn’t prepared to respond to the question. I remember more clearly what I was saying to myself than what I uttered to John––which was somewhere on the continuum between “yeah, I’m pretty sure” and “probably not.” But I’m fairly sure I just said, “Yeah.” In any case, I must’ve passed the audition.

John called in the following days or weeks and said he really liked a lot of the demos. Later I’d find out that he’d shared the cassette with Ken Chastain, leader of the fiercely funky band Beat The Clock. Ken would eventually play all over the resulting album, generally encouraging John to work with me. This meant a lot because Ken was an extremely versatile and exacting player. My Trio had toured the bar same circuit as Beat The Clock in the Midwest, and even in the Virgin Islands, but I always felt like a hack when sharing a bill with them.

Soon, Unc came and saw one of my gigs at the Loring Bar, and by early 1996 I had signed a two record deal with October. Mike Ruekberg, Dorian Crozier, Ken Chastain, John and I were the core of what would become SHE.

I doubt I’ll ever have a more fond memory of making a record. First of all it was finished within two weeks––pretty much fully mixed. Second, John worked with confidence and speed that actually made me laugh in awe. Third, remembering that he’d glimpsed my immense vinyl record collection, largely courtesy of my year working at the Wax Museum record store in Dinkytown, John suggested I come to the sessions with samples I’d ripped onto a DAT machine. Fourth, anything I suggested could be achieved: tempo changes, rumbas, jazz samples, sonic references to The Beatles at the cavern club, to The Beatles on Meet The Beatles, to The Beatles on Magical Mystery Tour, to The Beatles on the White Album, you get the idea.

Up until this point I’d co-produced my own records and wasn’t ever capable of sounding like anything but me. I wasn’t the type of musician who could mimic others. John could. This created a wonderful balance, but not without a lot of conflict. I remember John making me feel pretty low about my own abilities. I was not a first or second or third take guitarist. More like tenth. Furthermore, I liked to record things and then reconsider them, not trusting myself enough to commit to things. John was completely ruled by his instincts and sure of his decisions. Also, he hammered on me to sing with accurate pitch like no one before or since. He’d be grabbing single words and syllables from my performances that he felt could be improved as I re-sang lead vocals. Keep in mind that the album was recorded on bulky two-inch tape, not on an easily-edited digital system. Usually there was only one open track available for lead vocals and it had to be edited in the camera by John––not later as we paged through twenty takes of colorful sine waves on a computer screen, like we do now. John was a wonder with the gear, and when I couldn’t keep pace he’d get frustrated and start making decisions for me.

Most nights I’d come home from the sessions feeling as though my record was being torn away from me. He was forcing me to confront my limitations and push myself farther than I could go. It hurt and it hurt. I remember many yelling matches and a couple grudge session between John and I, sometimes ending with him bitterly acquiescing to do something I suggested, or me holding back a pit in my stomach as he did something that I felt wasn’t ‘me’. But the fight was good, and the perfection of the record (if I may be so bold) proves it. Nothing great happens easily. And our relationship was young enough, and the excitement about Unc’s label and John’s studio enough to focus everyone on getting it done and making it great.

Towards the end of the sessions, during an initial listen through of the completed tracks, realizing that we’d made a pretty cool record, I turned and said to John, “wow, a million little decisions made this amazing thing.” While hardly a quote from the Gettysburg address, it still resonates with me when I think of making great art. Nothing ever happens in an instant, it’s always the accumulation of a million different things.

I believe that I can speak for both John and I, that it’s been easy to make records that are more understated than SHE, it’s been easy to make records that are smoother than SHE. It’s also been easy to make records that sold more than SHE. But it will probably be impossible to ever make an album as inventive and as naively wonderful as SHE.

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Album Credits | Lyrics

Produced & Mixed by John Strawberry Fields & Willie Wisely
All songs by William J Wisely Jr. ©1996 Wisely Publishers ASCAP except #7 ©1990 Wisely Publishers ASCAP

GO!
Ken Chastain: percussion, programming, backing vocals, Strawb: bass, programming, piano, backing vocal Steven Greenberg: drums, Mike Ruekberg: backing vocal, WW: electric & acoustic guitar, piano recorded by Steve Wiese at Creation Audio

READY TO WEAR
Peter Anderson: drums, Ken Chastain: percussion, backing vocal, StrawB: bass, electric guitar, Wurlitzer, Moog, Farfisa, backing vocal, programming, WW: vocal, electric guitar

LOVE IS WRONG
Ken Chastain: percussion, backing vocal, outro drums, keyboards, Dorian Crozier: drums, StrawB: bass, acoustic & electric guitar, keyboards, programming, Dave Fischer: trumpets, Karen Paurus: backing vocal, WW: vocal, electric guitar

VAGABOND
Ken Chastain: drums, StrawB: piano, CHamberlain, electric guitar, programming, Dave Fischer: trumpets, WW: voacl, acoustic guitar, Piano recorded by Steve Wiese at Creation Audio

BLUES (ALL THE RAGE)
Michael Bland: backing vocal, Ken Chastain: drums, percussion, backing vocal, programming, StrawB: bass, sitar, guitars, backing vocal, Brian Gallagher: saxophone, Mike Ruekberg: backing Vocal, WW: vocal, 12-string electric guitar, harmonica

SLEEPING WITH GIRLS
Jim Anton: bass, Ken Chastain: drums, percussion, StrawB: Hammond organ, programming, Dave Fischer: trumpet, Brian Gallagher: tenor saxophone, Ray Gehring: electric guitar, WW: vocal

MAKE LOVE
Peter Anderson: drum fills, Dorian Crozier: drums, StrawB: Wurlitzer, Moog, sitar & electric guitar, Donnie Lamarca: Rhodes Piano, WW: vocal, electric guitar, Aaron Seymour: backing vocal

HIS EYE, IT’S WANDERING
Ken Chastain: percussion, backing vocal, Dorian Crozier: drums, StrawB: bass, electric guitar, accordion, programming, keyboards, Mike Ruekberg: backing vocal, WW: vocal, harmonica, acoustic guitar

LOANDER MY GUITAR
Ken Chastain: drums, programming, percussion, dumbek, backing vocals, StrawB: bass, acoustic & electric guitar, piano, backing vocal, programming, WW: vocal, electric guitar, bad drum fill, Mike Ruekberg: backing vocal.

LOANDER MY SITAR
Ken Chastain: percussion, StrawB: percussion, Mike Ruekberg: sitar, WW acoustic guitar, percussion

PLEASE DON’T TALK ABOUT ME (WHEN I’M GONE)
Ken Chastain: backing vocal, percussion, mandolin, Dorian Crozier: drums, StrawB: electric guitar, keyboards, vocoder, programming, backing vocal, outro drums, Mike Ruekberg: backing vocal, WW: vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitars, tambourine

WORKING GIRL
Ken Chastain: backing vocal, Dorian Crozier: drums, acoustic guitar, StrawB: bass, synth bass, electric guitar, backing vocal, programming, piano, Mike Ruekberg: backing vocal, WW: vocal, lead guitar

GO FASTER!
Ken Chastain: drums, percussion, talk box, StrawB: bass, piano, Andy Sullivan: harmonica

LADY OF LOVE
Ken Chastain: percussion, Dorian Crozier: drums, StrawB: bass acoustic guitar, programming, Brian Gallagher: flute, Donnie Lamarca: piano, Karen Paurus: vocal, WW vocal, electric guitar

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Lyrics