Photo by Blaine Schultz
Trapper Schoepp at Jan Serr Studo May 19, 2022
Trapper Schoepp and Ernie Brusbardis IV
Backdropped by a panoramic view of the East Side, Trapper Schoepp closed out the MKE Unplugged Presents concert series Thursday night at Jan Serr Studio.
Accompanied by Ernie Brusbardis IV on violin and mandolin, Schoepp strummed his acoustic guitar and had a story for every song. “Ogallala” detailed a tour derailed by a blizzard and “Run, Engine, Run” recalled the old Mercedes Benz, long residing in a barn, that Schoepp’s grandfather gave him. He also played a pair of songs from Bay Beach Amusement Park; it just may be the first concept record about Ferris wheels and bumper cars. Schoepp’s observational lyrics detailed Paris and he wisely updated Gary Floyd’s “Freight Train” for the pandemic.
If you get the impression Schoepp is always on the move, one way or another, you’d be right. But he also settled in to play homage to his mentor, the late Martin Jack Rosenblum. The UWM instructor offered the young songwriter sage advice, and it was not hard to connect the dots from Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart,” Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and Clarence Ashley’s “The Cuckoo” which featured hot picking from Brusbardis.
Toward the end of the set, Schoepp was also accompanied by opener Matt Davies on grand piano for another slice of history. The singer’s first grandfather to America had been the gardener for the King of Sweden. But the lure of free land drew him to the Dakotas where a fierce winter storm forced him to dig a hole and cover it with his wagon for shelter. The lesson, the singer said, was if he could endure that we can find a way out of the pandemic.
