Trapper Schoepp w Sam Foster (of Whiskey Foxtrot)
Schedule
Wed Mar 16 2022 at 06:30 pm to 08:30 pm
Location
3227 N. Davidson Street,Charlotte,28205,US | Charlotte, NC
Schoepp explores themes of ghosts and rebirth, springtime and renewal on his new album, May DayTrapper Schoepp
In 2019, Milwaukee’s Trapper Schoepp hit a songwriter’s jackpot: a co-write with Bob Dylan. And the circumstances were wildy serendipitous. On the day Dylan entered Columbia Studios in 1961 to begin recording his first studio album, he wrote a song about Wisconsin. The lyric sheet sat unseen with a former roommate, and was later unearthed and put up for auction at $30,000. Schoepp saw the story and seized the opportunity to set music to words. After Schoepp’s effort, he was granted Dylan’s approval to jointly publish the song. This 57-year-collaboration–“On, Wisconsin”–led to features in Rolling Stone and Billboard, an album called Primetime Illusion produced by Wilco’s Patrick Sansone, and nearly a hundred international tour dates. But other ventures in the singer-songwriter’s life weren’t as fulfilling.
Schoepp spent the summer prior to the release of Primetime Illusion at the Hotel Astor, a historic 1920s hotel he describes as having “the air of a haunting Stephen King novel.” Indulging in the spookiness of his transient lodgings, Schoepp went on a ghost tour of Milwaukee, and as the specters saw fit, the tour ended back at the very hotel where he was staying. The guide shared the story of a 1935 fire that claimed the lives of a nurse and her patient, a deaf man who did not wake to the nurse’s pounding at his door. With creative liberties, Schoepp reimagined their story into “Hotel Astor.”
Schoepp explores themes of ghosts and rebirth, springtime and renewal on his album, May Day – out 5/21/21 on Grand Phony Records. “May Day is an ancient holiday that celebrates the arrival of springtime, the natural world and also workers’ rights. It’s also my birthday,” Schoepp says with a laugh. “After this trying winter, we found solace in making an album for the spring.”
May Day, the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, has historically been observed with dancing and singing around a maypole. Schoepp’s album cover features a Roaring Twenties era photo of women dancing around a maypole alongside the Washington Monument, which was found in a Library of Congress archive by his brother and bassist/singer, Tanner Schoepp, and adapted into album art by designer, Daniel Murphy (Bon Iver, The War On Drugs).
“I was born on the first day, fifth month called May/I’m here today to say I need you in the worst way,” Schoepp sings in the opening title track. Against a driving Springsteen-esque beat, Schoepp tells a transcontinental tale inspired by an untenable living situation he faced weeks before departing on a European tour. “I woke up with a frantic sense of urgency the morning the piano movers came. I finished ‘May Day’ as they were pulling up, thinking I owed it to the piano to write one more song on it.”
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Sam Foster
Sam Foster is a road dog. He lives and breathes the idea that repetition and regularity are the chisels to refine his craft. Hailing from Winston-Salem, Foster emerged on the North Carolina music scene in 2014 as a solo artist and he’s brought his brand of tenacity to eager crowds all over the Southeastern United States ever since.
Foster is a little bit country, a whole lotta rock and roll. While drawing much inspiration from legends of country music past and present, Foster’s sound can be more broadly described as rock. His roots run deep into the vein of American music, and he’s continually inspired by folk, soul, Southern rock, and rhythm and blues.
Foster’s debut album Rough Edges (The First Cuts) was released in 2015. Rough Edges was just what it sounds like -- a collection of gritty, raw home recordings cut in the living room of James Vincent Carroll. An embodiment of Foster’s DIY spirit, Foster and Carroll played all instruments on Foster’s original compositions. To follow up, Foster began working with producer and engineer Doug Davis at Flytrap Music Productions. The result was 2018’s Hardened Hearts, a conscientious nod to the gamut of Americana music.
In 2017, Foster co-founded Whiskey Foxtrot with singer-songwriter Seth Williams. After filling out their numbers, the five-piece Whiskey Foxtrot dove headfirst into touring, playing hundreds of shows across the South over four years. Whiskey Foxtrot established a following on local, regional, and global levels, and shared the stage with The Steel Woods, Tennessee Jet, Ward Davis, The Way Down Wanderers, John Howie Jr. & the Rosewood Bluff, Sunny Sweeney, Caleb Caudle, and Justin Wells. Whiskey Foxtrot released their debut, Hard Lines & Headlights, in 2020. Produced and engineered by Benjy Johnson at Earthtones Recording Studio, the album is a testament to love, heartbreak, and hard work that’s characterized by driving guitars and mournful lap steel and grounded by a pounding rhythm section. Hard Lines & Headlights was well-received by fans and critics alike.
Like most people, Foster was changed by global pandemic. Spending less time on the road and more time at home writing, Foster focused on songwriting, resulting in a long list of new songs ready to showcase live and record for posterity. Whiskey Foxtrot disbanded in early 2021, and Foster finds himself once again a solo artist. As the world enters a new chapter, so too does Foster. The good news is that he’s got new stories to tell, new shows to play, and new music to debut.
Where is it happening?
3227 N. Davidson Street,Charlotte,28205,US, United States
Tickets
USD 12 to USD 15
