Schoepp, guests soar on ‘Rangers’
The McCrary Sisters sang with Bob Dylan. Brendan Benson co-fronted the Raconteurs with Jack White.
They’ve been called to service by the very best, and can be choosy about their own collaborators. But they both helped Trapper Schoepp, the 25-yearold singer-songwriter from Milwaukee, who earned their time with his polished sophomore album “Rangers & Valentines.”
Out Friday on Xtra Mile Recordings, the same label Frank Turner calls home, Schoepp’s album blows away his assured 2011 debut “Run, Engine, Run” — quite literally. From the addition of a mighty horn section on the opening tracks, to Schoepp’s vivid lyrics, sweet rasp and memorable melodies, the guest-packed album shows a step forward for the singer.
Also featured is “WTF” podcast host Marc Maron, who sings and plays lead guitar on album closer “Dream.” Maron knew Schoepp’s manager, Milwaukee native Ben Perlstein, and the two ran into each other at a Jewish deli in Nashville.
“Ben was like ‘My dudes are making a record and want some blues guitar on it,’ and (Maron) came by the next day,” Schoepp said. “It was pretty wild.”
As the album’s producer, Benson’s “attention to detail is just immaculate,” Schoepp said. “For one song he surrounded me in a circle with these old acoustic guitars. He’d hand me one to pick up and I’d play it for 20 seconds until finally I played a little dusty parlor guitar that we ended up using. It’s good to have someone along for the ride whose instincts you really trust.”
While “Rangers” is certainly a bigger album, the songs are personal.
He wrote “Tornado Alley” after witnessing the aftermath of a catastrophic tornado in Joplin, Mo., in 2011. “Ballad of Olof Johnson” is about Schoepp’s ancestor who, the story goes, survived a South Dakota winter in 1900 by living in the earth underneath his tipped over wagon.
And the album’s title and “Dream” are inspired by two mentors who died: Geo Valentine, who introduced Schoepp to artists like the Kinks and Gram Parsons; and Martin Jack Rosenblum, Schoepp’s rock history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who performed under the stage name the Holy Ranger.
“It left a very large hole in my heart,” Schoepp said. “I thought naming the album ‘Rangers & Valentines’ would be a good way to pay tribute.”
You can see Schoepp perform two songs from “Rangers” exclusively for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at tapmilwaukee.com.
And Schoepp is playing an album release show at 8 p.m. Friday at Anodyne Roasting Coffee Company, 224 W. Bruce St. Tickets are $15 at the door and anodynecoffee.com.