'Home for Lunch' by Mike Frederickson
On the surface Mike Fredrickson’s new album Home for Lunch is another chapter in a long collection of albums that walk a tightrope stretched between catchy pop and twangy country music. Yet, as is often the case with Fredrickson, there is more to the picture than meets the eye.
Home For Lunch CD Release @ Linneman’s, 8 p.m. Friday March 10 with Alex Wilson
The songwriter and bassist’s story has been recounted before: a 1990 appearance on “Saturday Night Live” with The Spanic Boys, performing a weekly Riverwest residency with The Mosleys, joining Robbie Fulks and Paul Cebar’s bands and a career as a painter whose artworks not coincidentally grace most of his CDs.
“Artists are like houseplants now,” Fredrickson lamented in a 2020 interview. “We sit on the porch and hope somebody walks by and waters us once in a while.” (shepherdexpress.com/music/artists-beating-covid-19/mike-fredricksons-covid-era-song-everyday-reflects-anxiety- )Yet that attitude certainly has not reflected on his artistic process and work ethic. Every day he punches the clock and paints, then plays music. He puts himself in a routine that allows the muse to find him; whenever she calls he is ready.
Bristlehead?
Bristlehead was the name of Fredrickson’s 2013 album, recorded with his then-bandmates in Robbie Fulks’ group, then the name became the moniker of the band Fredrickson leads and records with. On Home for Lunch the players include drummer Dave Braun, pedal steel guitarist Leroy Deuster, Bob Jennings on keyboards and sax and guitarist Jason Klagstad.
In 2020 Fredrickson and Bristlehead recorded the album Wicked Fate produced by Mike Hoffmann (shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/mike-fredrickson-wicked-fate) Fredrickson was pleased with the experience and began working with the producer again. Hoffmann had also worked on 2018’s Till the Cows Come.
When Hoffmann died unexpectedly in 2021 (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/milwaukee-musician-and-producer-mike-hoffmann-passes) the sessions in-progress were stranded on a hard drive.
At his studio, surrounded by dozens and dozens of his paintings, brushes and easels, an upright bass and a trusty boom box, Fredrickson guided a rambling conversion of the story how Home for Lunch finally took shape.
|
|
Fredrickson trusted Hoffman’s ears on Wicked Fate; Braun played drums with brushes which added to the songs personal sound. “Art is a self-reflective, self-doubting [process] … he [Hoffmann] made you feel comfortable. All you do is question what you are doing and what its value is. Why am I doing this—why am I still doing this?”
He said Hoffmann’s tiny studio space was lined with photos of famous artists, celebrities and historic figures, a conscious decision to divert attention and to identify with an image—to get musicians to stop thinking about themselves while they were trying to perform.
“Your worst enemy is always yourself. No matter what. Here is the mic and this is my one chance to do this.” Aside from the psychology, he said Hoffmann’s value was that he was a multi-instrumentalist who could also sing.
Musically, Home for Lunch also finds Braun flexing his muscles, opening up from more than the somewhat limited timekeeping role of the previous album. Klagstad and Deuster add solos and parts that fire up and twang as called for. Jennings, as has been the case for his many musical situations, is the quiet MVP—adding tasteful keyboard and accordion parts that create dimension and depth to the songs.
It's about songwriting, Fredrickson says. “I write songs and then I want people to hear them. It about sharing songs.”
Mounting Challenges
When Hoffmann died, the bed tracks were basically done. Instrumental solos and other finishing touches needed to be recorded. Add to the fact that this chain of events took place during a pandemic, any of the usual challenges to record an album on a budget, schedule overdubs and mixing, then line up a release event to celebrate and promote the project became magnified.
Fredrickson says it was five months later that Billy Cicerelli was lined up and the project resumed. Cicerelli, the engineer who for years masterfully wrangled WMSE radio’s weekly Local Live segments is credited with salvage and production on Home for Lunch.
Over the decades Fredrickson’s songwriting has created a village of characters, real and imagined. The backstory of “Contrarian Girl” might coincide in “Golden Days.” It’s not hard to imagine these folks bartering paintings for cars. “Better Way” takes a sideways glance at divisiveness and pleads for suggestions how people might come together. “LuAnne” features a Jason Klagstad guitar solo that winds up like a pitcher on the mound.
