Photo credit: Ken Hanson
Milwaukee songwriter John Sieger
Songwriter John Sieger has been at it for decades. One of seven kids, his humble Kenosha upbringing served to ground him when his music career rose to a major label recording contract. Sieger’s formula is equal parts determination, guile, support and talent.
His personal geography has moved from Kenosha (“the town that can’t buy a break”) to Milwaukee to Nashville, Tenn., and back to Milwaukee. Well, Wauwatosa. In high school in the mid ’60s, Sieger found his way into a band that led to Star Boys, a group that became part of his musical foundation. One constant since the early years would be John’s brother, Mike Sieger, on bass and harmony vocals.
Sieger also started an enduring collaboration with lyricist Michael Feldman, who later hosted the popular public radio program “Whad’ya Know?” They began working together when Feldman came to Kenosha to teach high school and chaperoned a dance. “It wasn't long before we were friends and he’d let me carry his amp into gigs so I could get in free,” Feldman says. “I began writing lyrics purely for my own amusement, goofy or funny stuff. ‘If My Old Man Were Alive Today, This World Would Kill Him Quick’ was the first I actually showed to John.”
Feldman was surprised that Sieger liked it, “and as would happen many times over the next 20-plus years, he set it to a soulful country tune and damn made a song out of my limerick.”
Star Boys were the best players town. “It was a pretty tight little band. My only gripe was that I didn’t like all the material we were doing, and I was writing a lot,” Sieger says. “I’m very hard on myself. I tell people I didn’t have any talent at the beginning.”
Move to Milwaukee’s East Side
By the ’80s, Sieger moved to Milwaukee’s East Side. “When you live in a smaller town, it is hard to find a pocket of people who think like you. It is better up here because there are more people,” he says. In Milwaukee, he discovered a group of like-minded musicians who became the R&B Cadets.
“A friend brought [vocalist] Robin Pluer by. I think she was just 21 years old. We had good vocal harmony with her, Mike [Sieger] and me. It went over,” he says. Paul Cebar joined them for a few songs at the end of their sets. He eventually joined the R&B Cadets.
Most music of that era hasn’t aged well. Yet, the Cadets were different, appealingly anachronistic. Without appearing to try too hard, they were natural bohemians who didn’t need to play three-chord songs real fast to make a point. Thanks to shows in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis’ Twin/Tone Records caught wind of the group and released the Cadets’ album, Top Happy (1986), featuring Sieger originals and choice covers.
Milwaukee’s Century Hall was the Cadets’ home turf. “It was a beautiful thing. We’d pack the place and go home with a little money in our pockets,” Sieger recalls. “I was feeling OK! It’s weird to be popular when you haven’t been.” The band worked during an era when the drinking age was 18 and were given “a guaranteed percentage of money at the door. So, if you had a good crowd, you’d benefit,” he says.
Going National
To accommodate his overflowing folio of original tunes, Sieger formed Semi Twang with guitarists Mike Hoffmann and Mike Judy as an outlet. Their first gig was in Madison, opening for Emmylou Harris; that night, their guitars were stolen from the van. The incident had a silver lining: “I was heartbroken,” Sieger says. “We had a benefit and that is when Jerry Harrison [Shorewood native and member of the Talking Heads] saw us, and then record company folks came to town.”
Sieger and Harrison collaborated on the song “Rev It Up” for Harrison’s 1986 album Casual Gods. “Had I been smart, I think I might have been able to do both the Cadets and Semi-Twang because they are really different experiences,” Sieger says, “The Cadets got people to dance. Dancing is better than applause in a lot of ways.”
Sieger exited the Cadets around the time Top Happy was released. In 1988, Semi-Twang’s debut album, Salty Tears, was released on Warner Bros. with three producers and a sound that has dated, yet some of its songs are timeless. Maybe someday Sieger will pick up the challenge to re-record the album on his own terms. Regarding the Warner Bros. experience, Sieger says that for the amount of money spent on that album he could make 10 albums today. Salty Tears was a one-and-done. What was supposed to be a seven-album deal ended early. Though Semi-Twang disbanded in 1991, they reunited in 2009 to play Shank Hall’s 20th anniversary. That gig sparked a second act that includes three albums and counting.
Wages of Sin, The Why and The What For and Kenosha have found the reunited band operating at a mature level of what has come to be called roots music or alternative country. Sieger’s writing has taken an unabashed populist tone with the title cut of Kenosha and the swipe at Scott Walker, “The Wrong Side of the Tracks.”
As Tears Went By
Assigned to write a follow up to the Salty Tears, Sieger hit a dark period, partially due to the unexpected death of his sister. The album Quiver was eventually released in 1993 and includes gems like “Disappearing Ink” and “I Found Out.” He was productive and had a routine. “Mike Hoffmann would pick me up most days at noon and I’d have a song ready. We’d demo it at our rehearsal space on a little Yamaha 4-track cassette. Those are the ones that turned into Quiver. I released that just as I was leaving town.”
In 1993, John and his wife Linsey moved to Nashville where publishers Bug Music, whose clients included Johnny and Roseanne Cash, hooked him up with country songwriters. Dwight Yoakam recorded his “I Don’t Need It Done.” Naturally, Sieger is a bit rough on himself regarding the time in Nashville, but he says he loved the city where he met and collaborated with Robbie Fulks and Phil Lee.
His next album, El Supremo, was made in Nashville and Indianapolis, and the songs were evidence Sieger had found his stride just in time to load up the truck and move back to Wisconsin, where the short-lived band El Supremo included Sieger, drummer John Carr and bassist Mike Fredrickson. Carr would join in the next project, The Subcontinentals. And to no one’s surprise, Brother Mike would complete the rhythm section. The wild card this time would be vocalist Kelli Gonzalez. Her upbeat personality was a good foil for Sieger’s droll wit.
Gonzalez (who along with Carr performs these days with The Hungry Williams) was impressed with Sieger’s writing. “Many of the songs are so different from each other,” she says, “A lot of them sound simple, but as you get into them you find that there are many layers. His lyrics are so visual. He is a fabulous storyteller.”
“Continental Drift” and “The Subcontinental” from the band’s 2009 album The Early Years received airplay on local radio. Sieger also managed to piggyback another CD, Live At Bob’s, onto his discography around this time.
Working Well With Others
Sieger is open to collaborations. Back in 2003, Sieger released Her Country: The Songs Of Michael Feldman with backing from Springfield, Miss., legends The Skeletons. “He also recorded an album with Milwaukee blues-rock guitar master Greg Koch, A Walk in the Park. The project took flight at a chance meeting when the two met up at a coffee shop. Equally prolific on their own, the partnership yielded over 60 songs. Koch’s musical virtuosity and chord choices took Sieger’s songs for a different spin.
Sieger continued with solo projects Shaming of the True, A Rose in Red and 2020’s Modern Folk Vol. II. No doubt, his home studio has proved to be a boon here in the year where everything changed. Before the pandemic, Sieger was hosting songwriting clinics. But with that on the back burner, he set up a Patreon platform. Through that platform, fans become supporting members at whatever level works for their budget. Depending on the level, folks will receive benefits such as downloads of new songs, exclusive livestream performances, invitations to intimate, members-only performances (when the coast is clear) and even original art made by Sieger.
Sieger “got to have experiences that very few people have—and I appreciate that with a little perspective,” he says of his major label contract and sojourn in Nashville. Of Milwaukee, he adds, “We came back to be closer to our families. Milwaukee’s a lovely town with lots of great music but no real music industry. By that I mean labels. I know a lot of people are working on it—one hit could change everything. In the meantime, musicians can hone their craft here. With no live performance to speak of in the near future, there’s probably gonna be attrition. I hate seeing the venues suffer, we need more, not fewer. As for me, I’m doing more sessions in my upgraded studio, doing more song clinics, teaching guitar over Zoom and, of course, writing masterpieces!”
Blaine Schultz is a veteran Milwaukee musician who writes about music for the Shepherd Express. He currently performs with The Aimless Blades and The Riverwest Aces.
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