Photo courtesy of Alex Ballard
Alex Ballard
Alex Ballard
Milwaukee was an unlikely magnet for musicians as the ‘90s began—and not only for players from small towns in the Badger State. The Squares and The Joker’s Henchmen moved here from Indiana, Wobble Test from New Hampshire, and Baku Press was formed by two young guys from Missouri. One of them soon made a name for himself as one of the city’s finest songwriters with his next band, Sugarfoot.
After several mostly dormant years, Alex Ballard and Sugarfoot return with a new single, “Ghosts.” The recording shimmers like a mirage on the horizon of Americana, a catch-all term that didn’t exist when Ballard began to write seriously and solo circa 1992.
“What were we calling it back then?” he asks. “Roots rock?” Those were still the days when learning about non-mainstream music was “a holy journey,” he calls it. “It was like magic—meeting people, trading records with friends, indie magazines and college radio.”
A self-described “music geek,” Ballard was energized by punk rock and inspired by music with roots in an older America—X, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt.
Country Everywhere
Photo courtesy of Alex Ballard
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
But two things stand out as formative: As a teenager in Missouri, his parents were hippies into rock and jazz, but “everywhere you went in town, it was country & western and sawdust on the floor,” Ballard recalls. “My parents didn’t like country, and I didn’t think I did either, but country was just there,” absorbed by osmosis. And then came the night when Baku Press opened for the still unknown Jayhawks at the Stone Toad. “I remember talking to Gary Louris about music—they had this Gram Parsons vibe going on. I was influenced by them, Uncle Tupelo, Wilco …”
When Baku Press broke up, Ballard and his wife went on a road trip and wound-up in Seattle for what turned out to be a relatively short sojourn. He didn’t care for that city, and not just for the weather. “I’m a Midwest person. When I moved to Seattle, I realized I am a Midwest person,” he says.
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The Milwaukee he returned to “was a great scene. I felt welcomed by the musicians and the music writers. The good, basic structure for a scene was here,” he says, far as the city was from the nodes of power in the music industry. Sugarfoot released an album ranking with the Jayhawks’ best, 1999’s Take a Picture, with 10 songs by Ballard and two by guitarist Jim Eannelli. By this time, Ballard mastered the devices of classic pop songcraft with hooks, refrains and visual lyrics supported by a four-square rock beat performed with urban twang. The irresistible jangly folk-rock of “Sugar Daddy” would have been a hit—in the ‘60s or a better world.
Much has happened since, including a series of sessions at Madison’s Smart Studio—some of it lost through the crash of a hard drive—along with parenthood and Covid. “I had a really dry spell, but a year and a half ago I started writing again,” Ballard says, challenging himself with new approaches.
A meditation on aging, loss and the possibility of miracles, “Ghosts” was recorded without a rehearsal at Milwaukee’s Star Toast Studio. Sugarfoot’s lineup includes Matt Davies (keyboards), Jeffrey (H) Harington (bass, backing vocals, production), Jeff Jara (drums), Dan Johnston (electric and baritone guitar) and Ballard (lead vocals, acoustic guitar).
“You wouldn’t know I’m inspired by Miles Davis—there’s no connection in a tangible sense between my music and his, but the inspiration comes from the way he managed musicians,” Ballard explains. “I’ll write a structure but create a space where good musicians can play at their best.”
Alex Ballard and Sugar Foot perform Saturday, May 31 at Linneman’s with Thriftones and Dirty Sweet.
