Milwaukee has many talented musicians, but you need not see a drop off in talent when you venture out into the state for some entertainment.
In 2006, some of these musicians, as well as other out-state artists, will be featured periodically in this column.
Dan Sebranek, 45, lives in tiny Coon Valley, about 20 miles southwest of La Crosse. Sebranek has carved out quite a niche in more than one genre of music in western Wisconsin, but also has toured around the country and in Europe while making his living part-time and full-time in music for most of his adult life.
"I think there is good musical talent in this area and around the state," Sebranek said in a recent interview. "I've been able to develop my own thing, where I travel some, but also play in this area."
Sebranek performs about 200 times a year solo and with more than one group. He plays rock and jazz with Phoenix, his original group started more than 20 years ago, has established himself in bluegrass through a group called String Ties and performs in a duo called Runaway with John Smith.
Trips to Florida, out west and other areas are mixed with regional gigs. Sebranek could have traveled a great deal more in his career. He once played with Grammy Award winner Bill Miller, who toured the country.
Michael Martin Murphy, known best for "Wildfire," once asked Sebranek to tour with him. "Bill Miller and I did do a month long tour with Murphy in the 1980s, and I met with Michael when he first moved to this area about playing guitar with him," Sebranek said. "He still is on the road a lot, and I have kind of gotten into my own thing. So, I decided not to take the offer."
Sebranek is a very versatile acoustic guitarist and vocalist. He probably is most at ease with bluegrass, but also can do rock, jazz and country with a smooth style.
The Sebranek family is very musical. Dan's late father, Virgil, played guitar and performed. Dan started playing guitar and banjo at a very early age and was performing professionally before he was out of high school in Onalaska.
"Music was always around, so I think I just picked up on it by listening, watching and playing," Sebranek said. The Sebraneks have developed Larryfest, a well-known bluegrass festival that attracts national talent like The Wilders, Lonesome River Band and others from around the country. The festival, featured in a Beyond Milwaukee column last year, is named after Dan's older brother.
Sebranek doesn't have an agent, although his wife, Mary Cortesi, handles some of the bookings, promotions and other business aspects. Sebranek often does his own set ups and hosts other performers. Sebranek and Cortesi organized DiSciascio's Upstairs in Coon Valley this year, which featured musicians from around the state and the Twin Cities.
"We like promoting and performing music in this area," Sebranek said. "Music is a form of communication that goes beyond boundaries. I remember touring in Europe before the Iron Curtain came down. I saw a band from Poland, and couldn't understand a word they were singing, but their music brought tears to my eyes.
"I just enjoy playing music, and if I can touch somebody in the process I feel I'm doing something worthwhile."
Sebranek has played in Racine, Kenosha and Greenfield over the years, but most of his Wisconsin performances in recent years have been in western Wisconsin.
Three other out-state musicians who have carved out niches include:
John Smith -- Sebranek's partner in Runaway for the past 20 years, Smith, who goes by Johnsmith, has been sharing his music with audiences all across the United States, and abroad. Driving some 50,000 miles to play over 150 dates each year, he has become a favorite at coffee houses, colleges, and house concerts alike.
In addition to being a past winner of the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk award, Johnsmith has released four CDs to rave reviews from trade publications such as Dirty Linen, Performing Songwriter, and Sing Out! Magazines. He has also served as a staff songwriter for the WrenSong Music Group in Nashville.
Smith has a new CD, called "Kickin' This Stone." Co-produced with Austin legend and Dixie Chick dad Lloyd Maines, Kickin' This Stone is a collection of 12 songs that exemplify the honesty and warmth that is Johnsmith.
Fellow singer/songwriter Buddy Mondlock summed it up when he said of Johnsmith, "I feel like every time one of (Johnsmith's) songs gets heard a little healing happens to the world."
Smith also conducts an annual tour of Ireland, and includes Celtic-style music among his performances.
Joe Price -- Price technically is from Lansing, in northeast Iowa, but performs throughout western Wisconsin. A singer/guitarist who specializes in down-home Delta-styled Blues, played on a steel-bodied resophonic guitar, Price has shared the stage with legendary performers such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Koko Taylor, Willie Dixon, Homesick James, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Clifton Chenier.
Price was a member of the legendary Mother Blues Band, a group led by Iowa Blues Hall of Fame member Patrick Hazell, which also included Bo Ramsey at one time. During Price's tenure with the group, they won the Peoria-based Prairie Sun award for Best Rhythm & Blues Band four times between the years of 1978 to 1982.
Some of the larger events that Price has performed at include the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, the Court Avenue Blues Festival, and Nitefall On The River. He is currently a Trailer Records recording artist, with three CDs available.
L.J. Booth -- Booth calls Amherst, Wisconsin, home. When he isn't playing music, you might find him doing carpentry in that area of the state.
Booth has received praise for his new CD release, "The Ox That Pulls The Cart." Diverse in style and resonant in its poetic voice, "The Ox" is a career defining work.
Puremusic.com reviewer Pat Buchanan wrote this about the CD: "This CD was my introduction to L J Booth's recordings. I first heard his music in the song circle at Camp Nashville at the Kerrville Folk Festival, and he knocked me right out. He's a great guitarist and a moving singer, but it was the depth of the songwriting that kept my interest piqued for the next L J song to come around.
"The title song of the CD first harkens back to the author's childhood in India, being humbled by the poverty stricken generosity of village people, and how such a nation could have overthrown a superpower.
" It's been my fate, to underestimate
the ox that pulls the cart
the open hand of the humble heart."
"That scenario is brilliantly juxtaposed with succeeding verses about Vietnamese farmers in the American Midwest, asking around in the hardware store about a piece of land to clear. Peterson, a local that recognizes their sound and dialect from his war experience, comes over to assist. The singer drives by their fields, and their gardens and straw hats in the sun flash his childhood before him, and he's touched by Peterson's act of kindness. This kind of songwriting is hard to find."
Born in the Philippines, most of Booth's childhood was split between India and Idaho. He also attended Homestead High School in Mequon.
With traveling in his blood, Booth hitchhiked extensively in the States and in Europe after leaving home, working a variety of jobs -- oil rigs in Wyoming, a lumber yard in Portland, planting trees in Idaho, playing street music in Germany and Switzerland, maintenance work at Crater Lake. Now, he likes to stay in Wisconsin and perform as often as he can right here in the state.
Acoustic Guitar magazine wrote: "This gifted singer-songwriter skillfully connects the dots between his own past, present and future with succinct, often powerful lyrics, appealing melodies, and agile finger picking. His keen fascination with life's journey draws listeners closer to the memories and revelations that make it worth traveling."
Look for additional out-state performers in Beyond Milwaukee later this year.
