ONLINE: The Sapsuckers
Mike Furr
The Sapsuckers: Nikki Grossman and Joe Hart.
press release: Whelp, wintertime is setting in and the pandemic has settled in for the long haul. So we're "back on the air" with another season of weekly livestream shenanigans! Join us for "Nightcap with the Sapsuckers" Thursdays at 8:30 pm through the winter months.
Check in on the status of Nikki's ever-expanding collection of trucker hats! Bring a hankie for some "cry time!" Hear all the newest original songs from the Sapsuckers! Watch us destroy other people's music! All that and more as we drink our way through another Pandemic Winter!
Tune in to the Sapsuckers Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/sapsmusic). We will also post to our website (www.sapsuckersmusic.com) following the livestream, so non-FB people can re-play it at leisure.
Donations always welcome!
Wisconsin-based band, The Sapsuckers, is preparing to release its first new single of 2022, and it’s unlike any other work they’ve done so far.
For one thing, it was recorded during the Covid shutdown by musicians scattered across the U.S. And the single also debuts the duo’s new sound with a full, electric backing band. The single will be released digitally on all the streaming platforms on January 22. A single release party and concert will take place on the same date at Icehouse, in Minneapolis.
The song, I’ll Know it When I See it, is an upbeat love song dedicated to the City of St. Louis. Songwriting team Nikki Grossman and Joe Hart, who have collaborated on The Sapsuckers for a decade, explain that the project was a direct response to the anxiety and difficulties that they, like many musicians, faced during the pandemic.
“All our big plans changed in the space of a couple weeks when Covid hit,” says Grossman, who sings lead vocals and plays fiddle and guitar in the band. “We had a very busy schedule, a new band line-up in Saint Louis, and plans for a new album. We were actively planning to enroll our daughter in kindergarten down in St. Louis.”
Instead, the couple found themselves locked down on their southwest Wisconsin homestead near Soldiers Grove.
With live, indoor concerts on hold indefinitely, the musicians had to get creative. They were early to take advantage of livestreaming (the couple continues to livestream on Facebook). They also launched a musicians’ skill-share and support group on Facebook, and hosted a socially distanced outdoor concert series during the summer months of 2020.
“This single is really a product of lockdown,” says Hart, who sings and plays guitar and mandolin. “Each musician performed their parts wherever they happened to be—we layed ours down in our trailer. Our engineer in St. Louis stitched the parts together in his studio.”
In addition to Grossman and Hart, the track features Chris Hepola (Minneapolis) on drums, Joey Glynn (St. Louis) on upright bass, Ryan Koenig (St. Louis) on harmonica, and Rick Contino (Brattleboro, VT) on pedal steel. The single was engineered by Ben Majchrzak at Native Sound Recording in St. Louis.
The Sapsuckers are currently working with many of the same musicians on a full-length album.
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