Image via YouTube
Back in the mid-‘80s, Scott Wooldridge, his brother Brian and small cadre of like-minded music folks relocated from Kokomo, Indiana to Milwaukee. According to legend, reading about the success of Violent Femmes and other bands, they reckoned Milwaukee was as good a place as any to hit the big time. So, they loaded up the truck and moved to Milwaukee.
Some of those folks would play in bands like the Yell Leaders, Blue in the Face, The Joker’s Henchmen and Ben Wah Beat. Brian and fellow Hoosier Joe Vent were part of the team that began the Don’t Records label, actively releasing local artists.
As a hardworking band with a jangle-pop sound, Scott fronted The Squares for a handful of releases. (Notable trivia, The Squares resident sound engineer was Jon Blick, whose presence continues to this day across Milwaukee’s music scene.)
When Scott and Brian embarked on a side project (The Wooldridge Brothers, natch), the music seemingly would obviously be an evolution of the Squares sound. Yet the WBs debut, a cassette tape, took a bit of a step away from the sometime frenzied music of The Squares, opting for a sound that reflected the depth that comes with a sense of maturity.
With The Squares effectively on hold, the WBs maintained a presence with live shows and releases even after Scott and his wife Jill moved to Minnesota in the late-‘90s to raise a family.
In 2015, Scott released his solo debut and celebrated it with a short tour. In 2017 the WBs returned with Starts At Dusk. That album that might have been subtitled Brian’s Song, as the other brother’s fingerprints, and of those of drummer/producer Scott Gorsuch, define the sound.
In 2014, Cover Up was released. A collection of artists covering tunes from the Wooldridge’s catalog demonstrates the deep connections they have made over the years.
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In the year when everything changed, Scott kept busy and began a series of live solo concerts from his basement studio, where a part of the show is him adjusting audio and camera angles on the fly.
How has the lockdown affected your creativity?
It’s hard to measure that—I think it definitely has had an impact, but I’m not sure how much of one. I can’t say my songwriting output has changed dramatically.
The main issue for me has been that I just don’t see live music in clubs anymore. That live element has always been inspiring to me, it gets me excited about a sound or particular songs or artists, and I’m always more in the mood to create in that state of mind.
I do watch livestreams and that is a bit of a substitute. But like the livestream performances I do, it’s just not quite the same as a live venue setting. It’s not a bad thing; I’m glad we have that option, it’s just not the same.
Of course, the lockdown has evolved into a new normal of living life without a lot of things we used to take for granted. So, I don’t do things like go to record stores and browse through albums or CDs. I don’t hang out at instrument stores and pretend I’m actually thinking about buying a new guitar. Music-making becomes more distant and different—it’s just not as easy to access. The climb just got a little steeper, I guess.
Hopefully we’re a lot closer to normal now. So maybe I’ll be looking at guitars again soon.
Do you have a routine or schedule for staying in practice or working on new material?
I decided early on to do a regular livestream performance twice a month. I think that has helped me a lot. It just prompts me to keep making music. Having a goal helps. And knowing that performance is going to go out to the world every couple weeks keeps me focused on practicing material, thinking of interesting covers.
Speaking of that, one of the things about the livestream that has been fun for me is coming up with cover songs. In the past, covers have been fun to do but kind of an after-thought. Now I spend a fair amount of time and effort trying figure out what songs might work for me; how to capture them with just acoustic guitar or keyboard and a single voice. And it’s been fun coming up with some slightly different takes on some songs.
I’ve also played the piano a bit more, just to change things up a bit. That’s been a good experience for me.
I started out keeping things simple and a year later things are still pretty simple. I’ve always been a low-tech person. When I started the shows, it was just acoustic guitar and vocal, no amplification, no special lighting. That had some obvious limitations, and eventually I added some lights and then a PA. It’s still real basic, though.
I also decided early on to keep the shows short, because I don’t think people stick around for long shows. When I watch livestreams I usually just tune in for a while, I might have it on in the background, or I might play it later. It just seems to me better to keep it to a manageable length; I’m sure there’s no one “right” approach to that.
I have what I call a “club sandwich” approach to the sets: I start with a cover song, play one cover in the middle of the set, and one at the end. That allows me to focus on original material and still include some fun covers.
I’ve also gone back and re-learned a lot of stuff from earlier days. The Wooldridge Brothers have some fans that go back decades, God bless ‘em, so digging up some really old songs that they might remember is pretty fun for me. Well, embarrassing at times, too, but mostly fun.
The feedback has been positive. One really cool thing about livestreams is that people can watch them from anywhere, so I have people from Milwaukee, Kokomo, and elsewhere tuning in. I do expect to perform fewer livestreams once I can play in clubs again, but I may continue to do them sporadically just for that reason.
Are you making plans for when you can resume playing in front of people again?
A very timely question! Not surprisingly, people are chomping at the bit to get back to live music, both performers and fans. I have a couple things I’m trying to finalize. I am planning on doing mainly outdoor shows at first. The only one on the books right now is my opening set for Joe Fahey on June 18 in Minneapolis.
As things get closer to normal, there will be more competition for fewer spaces. Some places aren’t ready to have indoor shows yet, some places have closed, some may not be doing music for other reasons. So, I anticipate some challenges there.
The good news for me is that here in Minneapolis, I’ll be able to play with the two musicians I’ve worked with the most, Sloan Hamilton (mandolin) and Josh Braun (pedal steel). They are more than ready to resume playing, just like me!
For the Wooldridge Brothers in Milwaukee, it’s too early to tell. It’s always been a challenge to deal with the geographic distance—not at all unsurmountable during normal times, but these are still not normal times. For now, we don’t have plans for performing. Hopefully that will change.
