Recent appearance on Oliver and Jeb's You Seem Exceptional Podcast

Earlier this semester I gave a lecture about yodeling for Lowell Brower's Folklore 100 course and a short while later, one of his students emailed me and asked if I'd be a guest on his radio show. Oliver said that he enjoyed the lecture and that he and his radio co-host Jeb would like a private yodeling lesson.

Turns out, Oliver Gerharz and Jeb Blossom host a podcast on WSUM where they interview UW faculty and staff, community members, and local politicians, ask them about their life's journeys and what led them to UW, and then end each episode by saying, "We know we've said this a lot before, but you really do seem exceptional." It's a super sweet tagline and a really interesting podcast.

In case anyone wants to hear my story, how I learned to play music, why I studied folklore and ethnomusicology, what brought me to UW-Madison, and why yodeling is important to me, you can check it out here: https://youseemexceptional.transistor.fm/episodes/learning-to-yodel-with-nate-gibson I'd also highly recommend their other podcast episodes, as they really are exceptional.

Baseball Special on WORT 5/8/24

The Milwaukee Brewers are in first place (what a game last night!), the Madison Mallards start up  again this month, and baseball season is officially in full swing. 

A surprising number of professional baseball players sang and played country music (Dizzy Dean, Johnny Bench, Barry Zito, Charley Pride, to name a few), a TON of professional country musicians played competitive baseball (including Bill Monroe, Stringbean, Roy Acuff, Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell, Judy Lee, Roy Acuff, Conway Twitty, Jim Reeves, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Garth Brooks), and an even more surprising number of my favorite country songs are about the game of baseball. I've dug up my favorite 100 examples (with a particular nod to my former hometown teams of the Brewers, Boston Red Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals) and I'll get to play roughly half of them for you. 

Tune in to Back to the Country this morning to hear The Baseball Special. Show starts at 9am (cst) on WORT 89.9 and streaming via wortfm.org. And as an added bonus, if you listen to the whole show you just might hear my hours-old tribute song to my favorite baseball player, Andy Van Slyke!

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers w/ Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives 4/20/24 @Stoughton Opera House

I'm very excited to share that the trio version of Nate Gibson & the Stardazers will be warming up the Stoughton Opera House crowds tomorrow for my very favorite band, Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives! Tickets to both shows have been long SOLD OUT, but if you're one of the lucky ones who already purchased tickets, be sure to come out early!

Marty and the band have a new Record Store Day LP coming out tomorrow morning with Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds (it's a live recording from the 50th Anniversary Sweethearts of the Rodeo tour), so as soon as you get out of the Record Store Day lines, you'll want to head to Stoughton. For those with tickets to the first show, the Stardazers will get started at 1:30, and for those attending the evening show, we'll go live at 5:55.

It's sure to be an enjoyable afternoon and evening with a Country Music Hall of Fame legend and the tightest band in show business. R-a-w-k!

101 Hodag Jokes is now available online from The Hodag Store!

Do you love cryptids? Do you love jokes? If so, perhaps you would love some jokes about cryptids! 101, to be specific. And did I mention limericks? And cute hodag illustrations? A thorough description of hodags and a 10-page bibliography of hodag references?! We've got you covered!

Marcus Cederström, Anna Rue, Fred Chao, and I (Nate Gibson) have a new jokebook out, 101 Hodag Jokes, and it is now available for sale online from The Hodag Store in Rhinelander, WI.

https://www.thehodagstore.com/product/101-hodag-jokes/715?cs=true&cst=custom

And if you are in the Rosendale NY area, please visit our friends at Postmark Books, as they also have a handful of books available!

A Polka Party on Back to the Country 4/10/24

Thirty years ago, on 4/21/94, polka was adopted as the official Wisconsin State Dance. There will be all sorts of polka events throughout the state this month to celebrate (including the big Polka Party on Pinckney on 4/18), and tomorrow’s Back to the Country program adds to the polkabration!

It seems to me, there was a time when nearly every country band included polkas in their sets and tomorrow morning I’ll be playing three hours of my very favorites: Hot guitar polkas by Merle Travis, Joe Maphis, Chet Atkins, Hank Garland, Don Rich, Jimmy Bryant, Roy Clark, George Barnes, Biller & Wakefield, T.K. Smith, and many more! Vocal polkas about baseball, cocker spaniels, apple pie, beer, and marijuana! Swing Billy polkas from King Records! Yodeling polkas! Rockabilly polkas! One-man band polkas!

It’ll be a three-hour polkabilly extravaganza from 9am-noon (CST)! Tune in via 89.9fm in Southern Wisconsin or stream via wortfm.org and don’t forget your dancing shoes!

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers & Hot Club of Cowtown at the Stoughton Opera House 4/11/24

A lot of people gathered outside my office today because they heard that Nate Gibson and the Stardazers would be playing a concert on the roof of Memorial Library.

Alas, I'm sorry to disappoint, but our next gig is actually this THURSDAY evening (4/11) at the Stoughton Opera House, opening in the lounge for the legendary Hot Club of Cowtown. We're live at 5:55pm. Hope to see some friends there for what is sure to be a great night of honky-tonk and western swing!

Black Country Music on Back to the Country 3/13/24

Just last month, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to top the Billboard country songs chart and last week, Swamp Dogg released his first-ever bluegrass album (feat. the great Kenny Vaughan on guitar!). I'm super pumped for both of these upcoming album releases. Also, last month, Camille Parker debuted on the Grand Ole Opry and a few months before that Jimmie Allen was topping the radio airplay charts.

As more and more Black artists are being recognized for their country music contributions today, I thought I'd use my next Back to the Country radio program to spin some of my favorite country records by Black musicians from the 1940s-1970s (and maybe a couple current faves, too). I think a lot of WORT's listeners are already familiar with Charley Pride, Ray Charles, Linda Martell, Tina Turner, and others, but hopefully I can introduce you to some new ones along the way.

As always, the hardest part is cutting the playlist down from thousands to just 50 or so songs, but you've just got to hear some of these amazing lacquer discs by bluegrass pioneers Allerton & Alton, 45s by Wisconsin's own Chuck Brimley and Lonnie Walker, a rare interview disc with O.B. McClinton, 78s by Jimmy Sweeney and Jimmie Newsome, country music beer ads by Ray Charles, Etta James covering the Louvin Brothers, rare live recordings by my recently departed bandmate and dear friend, Eric S Sheridan--years ago dubbed "The King of Blackabilly" by Bill Kirchen--and so much more. Showtime is 9am-noon CST and you can tune in at 89.9 FM in Southern Wisconsin or stream it via wortfm.org.