Hi folks,

Ike here, with some news for ya.  After 12 years of the Ike, Betse, Nate, and Phil show, we’re gonna take a well-deserved break.  I believe the Funk & Wagnalls word for that is “hiatus”…basically a fancy way to say we don’t know what the future holds, but we know we’re gonna be giving The Wilders some time off to check out life from a different focus and direction for a year, and then see how we feel after that.  We do have some shows in December around home, and have a few special select performances planned for 2012. 
 
Friends, the last 12 years have been the most amazing experience…we wish we could sit you down and tell you all the tour stories, let you stand in the middle of this outrageous band while we’re playing and feel the fire, let you see from the stage all the welcoming and rocking faces that make every night meaningful, and throw you in the van so you could come visit all the big parts of the world we’ve been so lucky to see.  We are so thankful to all of you:  our fans, our friends, and our families…we could never have done any of this without your support and love.  That is the one thing we know for sure. 
And another thing:  we have to give a big hearty thank you and hug to our long-time agent, Mary Brabec.  We could have never achieved what we have without you.  You made opportunities magically appear for us and always took the extra step in spreading the Wilders love.  Thank you, Mary.
We are really proud of our most recent album, “The Wilders”… it was released earlier this summer on Free Dirt Records.  John Smith, label owner, is another true believer and we thank you, John, for putting out this album, and for all you’ve done for us too.  Phil produced it, and we wrote and played our hearts out and we’re really proud of what we made.  Maybe ya wanna check it out, if ya haven’t already… you can see and order it on our site … the No Depression blog gave it a thumbs-up recently, and we appreciate that.  
So, now what?
Well, let’s enjoy and see what happens (good advice for almost any situation).   We’re not doing a “farewell tour” or anything like that…”hiatus”, remember?  But if ya want, come on out and see us before we take our break.  We’re gonna play a little bit in December with our St. Louis friends, Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three.  Look for us in St. Louis, Lawrence, KS and Columbia, MO.  Then we head down to the Ozarks for a couple of shows, too…Hey, just check out the tour page …it knows more than we do.

We do have a few goodies booked for 2012 and we’re excited about those.  Keep an eye on the tour page for the announcements… but in 2012, for the most part, we all get to see again (for better or worse) what a Wilder-less year looks like.  Could be cool…or could be nasty…or anything in between.  We’ll just have to see…
Everybody knows bands don’t stay together forever…except the Rolling Stones…and the wonderful polka band formed out of the dust of the Korean War and northern Minnesota, “Dutch” Drebbel and his Fiddle-Faddle Fellahs (actually, we made that up…but it probably exists anyway).  But the good thing is:  music lasts forever.  Thank you for listening to ours, and for inspiring it as well.  We really couldn’t have done it with out you.
Much love to y’all… we are THE WILDERS from KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI!!!  Thanks for listening.
Your pals,
Ike, Betse, Nate, and Phil

Hi folks!

It’s late in September, and this means it’s post-Winfield. This time of year feels like a turning point, as Winfield is such a heartfelt reunion and kind of an anniversary for us. In 1996, Phil, Ike, and myself went on Stage 5 in the campgrounds to perform this brand new stuff (to us), the beginnings of a new band. We didn’t even have a name yet so we scrambled and agreed on “High Strung String Band” – although our performance looks more like we should have called ourselves “Excited but Nervous New Band”. Despite those early nerves, we were having so much fun starting this new project. Early fans from that first Winfield made us feel like we should keep on working. So we did. And fifteen years later, we played our 11th Walnut Valley Festival. And we still felt excited (though maybe not as nervous), and we still felt so much encouragement and support from all the fans. Thanks, WVF. All the staff, crew, and volunteers deserve a great big thanks. And all you fans, know that we brag about you all around the world.

So now we move on into Autumn… October brings a new string of live performance dates (see full tour schedule here), starting with a hometown throwdown! This is a continued run to support our 2011 self-titled new album release.

We’re loving the radio play and fan feedback about all the different material on this recording. You can check out the tune listings here and order direct from us on our website. Be sure to have a look at what critics are saying about it in the right hand column of this newsletter.

Drop us a line any time on our new website… or just simply respond to this email – we love hearing from you!

Thanks always for your support, and we’ll see ya down the road!
~Betse

Check out a song from our session

So The Shed unfortunately got a case of woodworm. We donated a track to a compilation album that they have produced, to raise funds to restore the wormy damage.

Here’s a link to the CD info page on The Shed’s site.

We want to see The Shed continue great coverage of all kinds of creative musical artists – it was one of our favorite stops on the whole tour.

Howdy folks!

Well, we had just a tremendous time in the Northwest this month. Started out a little more south in Salt Lake City, then Pickathon (our second time and we sure enjoyed performing and also catching so many great artists), a great fun show at The Tractor Tavern in Seattle, a “christening” of the new Green Frog in Bellingham, outdoor chillin’ at Kenmore, a Montana country wedding, and then more festival love at Blue Waters and Grand Targhee… Our good friend (and former bass player from 13 years back), Clayton Brown, joined us for the whole tour, on drums, kicking it up for set finales and feeling right at home since he already is a Wilder. We were overdue for a NW run, and thanks y’all for making us feel right at home again!

What’s next?

Our album “The Wilders” is still pretty dang new…

We’re loving the radio play and fan feedback about all the different material on this recording. You can check out the tune listings here and order direct from us on our website. Be sure to have a look at what critics are saying about it in the right hand column of this newsletter (which is viewable in our newsletter’s full version here)

Getting geared up for the Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield!) It’s less than a month away… It’s the 40th anniversary of this beloved festival. We’re excited to be coming back!

We have a Midwest tour coming up in October… Includes KCMO, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, and the Harvest Fest in Mulberry, Arkansas. Dates are posted on our tour dates page, and more details coming in next month’s newsletter.

Drop us a line any time on our new website… or just simply respond to this email – we love hearing from you!

Hope you have a happy end of summer/beginning of fall… Best wishes from The Wilders.

We made the album right here in Kansas City… Chad Meise engineered it, Phil Wade produced it, Paul Andrews took the photos for it, Free Dirt Records released it, all after we spent over a year working on it to hopefully make our best album yet.

The BBC got to play it first. We released it in the UK ahead of the US release, because we did a big six week tour there this spring (thanks all of y’all in the UK for making it such a memorable time). We had a great response from fans in the UK who came to see us at shows after buying it.

Some of our local stations have been spinning it already: KTBG, KANU, KKFI… we appreciate the local love.

Tim Finn of the Kansas City Star had some good things to say about it:

It does have some challenging material on it – including a few minor 4-letter words on a couple songs. That’s a disclosure just in case it concerns you. It has drums again on some songs, and some electric guitars and bass. And glockenspiel (a first for a Wilders album). It’s also got Ike’s guitar that you love, Nate’s hard-hitting bass, Phil’s full sound on that dobro, banjo, and more mandolin sweetness, and Betse’s fiddle that goes from a whisper to a scream. It’s got all of us singing, including a song with Nate’s lead and one with Betse’s lead. It’s all original material written by us (plus one written by our Rural Grit friend Pat Frazier). It’s us. It’s The Wilders.

We want to know what you think about it. Drop us a line here once you’ve heard it.

Wilders love you!

Can’t wait to see familiar places & faces – and there’s always room for new friends in the Wilders club!

And hey… did you know we have a kicking new album coming out? It’s so very personal and shows a whole new level of what The Wilders is all about.

Or aboot, depending on where you live!

See some of ya soon… and American friends, we’re coming to see some of you this summer/fall, too! Stay tuned…