Photo credit: Kayla Jean
Well over a year in the making, Milwaukee songwriter Trapper Schoepp has released a video for “On Wisconsin,” the tune he finished for Bob Dylan.
Riffing off Dylan’s iconic video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues," Schoepp called in favors from a cast of dozens of local familiar faces singing praises of his home state including musicians, actors, filmmakers, mascots, a weatherman, politicians and record store owners. Cameos includes: Mayor Tom Barrett, Russ Feingold, Tom Crawford, Chris Demay, Dori Zori, Jim Linneman, Russ Klisch, Rich Menning, Luke Lavin, Butch Vig, Victor DeLorenzo, Bango and many more.
"On, Wisconsin" • Trapper Schoepp • Official Video
Here is the back story on how the song was born, from Schoepp’s website:
In early 2017, the news emerged that way back in 1961, just months after he’d first moved to New York City, Bob Dylan had drafted a song about Trapper Schoepp’s beloved Wisconsin, imagining a homesick rambler pining for the cheese and beer of his faraway Badger State. More than half a century later, the handwritten lyric sheet was uncovered by a former roommate and put up for auction at $30,000.
In Milwaukee, Schoepp saw a photograph of Dylan’s handwritten lyrics and decided to set them to music, recording a rollicking version of the song that he titled “On, Wisconsin.” “I just connected with it immediately,” he says. “It’s so obvious. I knew immediately that I had to finish the song. I just thought, it’s got to be done.” Schoepp put the track online and moved on, continuing to work on his own new songs. But a month or two later, a cryptic message pushed “On, Wisconsin” right back to the forefront of his consciousness. “So I’m laying in bed one night,” Schoepp says, “and my manager sends me an email that simply reads, ‘Dylan has it now.’ I immediately got pretty excited about that.”
It seemed Dylan’s management team was considering an official co-write credit with intent to publish the song, but it needed a final seal of approval. Eventually, consent was given, bestowing his official imprimatur on the collaboration.
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