Trapper & Tanner Schoepp sit down for a One On One Session at City Winery New York on December 1st, 2018. For more info visit: http://trapperschoepp.com Audio & Video by: Ehud Lazin
Setlist:
Shakedown
Drive-Thru Divorce
On, Wisconsin
Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)
RAPPER SCHOEPP
PRIMETIME ILLUSION
Trapper Schoepp was in a dark place.
The Milwaukee-based tunesmith had been on a roll, earning acclaim as one of America’s most gifted new singer-songwriters, singled out for his remarkably detailed tales of characters on the fringes of society. His Brendan Benson-produced second album, 2016’s RANGERS & VALENTINES, was hailed among that year’s finest, declared a “mini masterpiece” by Relix after being named Billboard’s “Best of the Week.” But by the time 2016 came to its end, Schoepp had split with his longtime partner, been all but forced out of his longtime home and band clubhouse by a new landlord, and worst of all, painfully re-herniated a disc in his back that had plagued him for years.
Heartbroken but unbowed, Schoepp found solace and direction in his music, devoting his substantial energies to crafting what now proves his most emotional and expertly crafted collection of songs thus far.
Produced in Milwaukee by Patrick Sansone (Wilco, Robyn Hitchcock), PRIMETIME ILLUSION sees Trapper Schoepp reaching for his own place in the canon with a truly remarkable collection of character-driven songs and stories, a carefully etched series of sonic snapshots in which people we all know struggle to fulfill their own American dream.
Schoepp credits a couple of significant events with getting him out of his ditch and back in the game. He’d told a few friends about his desire to perhaps try working on a baby grand piano, despite his inability to play the instrument. In December 2016, he returned home from another long tour and lo and behold, said friends had arranged for one to be sitting in his living room when he got home. Schoepp spent the next months teaching himself to play the hundred-year-old instrument, writing songs like “Drive Thru Divorce” and “It’s Over” using only white keys.
The other thing that happened is Bob Dylan. Growing up in small-town Wisconsin, Schoepp’s first love was racing BMX bikes on dirt trails along the Mississippi River. When he herniated a disc in his back, his mother signed him up for guitar lessons. It wasn’t quite the same, of course. But then Schoepp heard Dylan’s “Hurricane” for the first time.
In early 2017, the news emerged that way back in 1961, just months after he’d first moved to New York City, Dylan had drafted a song about 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.”
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.
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.
PRIMETIME ILLUSION further sees Schoepp confronting the way we live today head on by touching upon an array of undeniably provocative issues, tackling each with blunt honesty and empathy. “What You Do To Her” – featuring duet vocals from the great Nicole Atkins – recounts a friend’s sexual assault and its ripple effects within the community, while a cover of “Freight Train” – originally written and performed by San Francisco alt-rockers Sister Double Happiness – powerfully chronicles the grim realities faced by those suffering with AIDS.
Sadly, October 2017, saw the death of Tom Petty, another American singer-songwriter with whom Schoepp feels a deep spiritual linkage. An informal wake spontaneously broke out on Schoepp’s front porch that night, as friends popped by to share condolences, sing Heartbreakers songs, and reminisce.
With its extraordinary melding of the personal and political, PRIMETIME ILLUSION firmly places Trapper Schoepp amongst the long American continuum of singing storytellers, a pedigree and place on the family tree that inspires and drives him each and every new day.
Setlist:
Shakedown
Drive-Thru Divorce
On, Wisconsin
Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)
RAPPER SCHOEPP
PRIMETIME ILLUSION
Trapper Schoepp was in a dark place.
The Milwaukee-based tunesmith had been on a roll, earning acclaim as one of America’s most gifted new singer-songwriters, singled out for his remarkably detailed tales of characters on the fringes of society. His Brendan Benson-produced second album, 2016’s RANGERS & VALENTINES, was hailed among that year’s finest, declared a “mini masterpiece” by Relix after being named Billboard’s “Best of the Week.” But by the time 2016 came to its end, Schoepp had split with his longtime partner, been all but forced out of his longtime home and band clubhouse by a new landlord, and worst of all, painfully re-herniated a disc in his back that had plagued him for years.
Heartbroken but unbowed, Schoepp found solace and direction in his music, devoting his substantial energies to crafting what now proves his most emotional and expertly crafted collection of songs thus far.
Produced in Milwaukee by Patrick Sansone (Wilco, Robyn Hitchcock), PRIMETIME ILLUSION sees Trapper Schoepp reaching for his own place in the canon with a truly remarkable collection of character-driven songs and stories, a carefully etched series of sonic snapshots in which people we all know struggle to fulfill their own American dream.
Schoepp credits a couple of significant events with getting him out of his ditch and back in the game. He’d told a few friends about his desire to perhaps try working on a baby grand piano, despite his inability to play the instrument. In December 2016, he returned home from another long tour and lo and behold, said friends had arranged for one to be sitting in his living room when he got home. Schoepp spent the next months teaching himself to play the hundred-year-old instrument, writing songs like “Drive Thru Divorce” and “It’s Over” using only white keys.
The other thing that happened is Bob Dylan. Growing up in small-town Wisconsin, Schoepp’s first love was racing BMX bikes on dirt trails along the Mississippi River. When he herniated a disc in his back, his mother signed him up for guitar lessons. It wasn’t quite the same, of course. But then Schoepp heard Dylan’s “Hurricane” for the first time.
In early 2017, the news emerged that way back in 1961, just months after he’d first moved to New York City, Dylan had drafted a song about 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.”
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.
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.
PRIMETIME ILLUSION further sees Schoepp confronting the way we live today head on by touching upon an array of undeniably provocative issues, tackling each with blunt honesty and empathy. “What You Do To Her” – featuring duet vocals from the great Nicole Atkins – recounts a friend’s sexual assault and its ripple effects within the community, while a cover of “Freight Train” – originally written and performed by San Francisco alt-rockers Sister Double Happiness – powerfully chronicles the grim realities faced by those suffering with AIDS.
Sadly, October 2017, saw the death of Tom Petty, another American singer-songwriter with whom Schoepp feels a deep spiritual linkage. An informal wake spontaneously broke out on Schoepp’s front porch that night, as friends popped by to share condolences, sing Heartbreakers songs, and reminisce.
With its extraordinary melding of the personal and political, PRIMETIME ILLUSION firmly places Trapper Schoepp amongst the long American continuum of singing storytellers, a pedigree and place on the family tree that inspires and drives him each and every new day.
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Music