Plain Grass Folk performs on April 12 at the annual Big Thaw concert at Unitarian Church North in Mequon.

The Big Thaw and A New Website

For everyone who attended our annual Big Thaw concert on April 12, we know it was time well spent enjoying a wonderful lineup of local bands, good food and drink and some camaraderie.

Thank you again to BiscuitCreek, The Resonators, Plain Grass Folk, KRBluegrass and The MilBillies for lending your talents and time. Also thanks to the “parking lot” pickers who kept a couple of jam sessions going in the lower level of the Unitarian Church North in Mequon, which has become the new home of this annual event.

For those who couldn’t make it, you were missed but there will always be next year. Speaking of which — there is some talk about moving The Big Thaw up on the calendar a bit in 2026. 

The reason: We’re a little concerned that some music lovers — no matter how big of fans of bluegrass they are — may not want to spend a beautiful spring day indoors. This year, April 12 turned out to be just such a day and we think attendance may have been a tad depressed as a result. 

Of course, before making big changes to the standard calendar, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know if it’s a good or bad idea, or otherwise.

How, you ask, can you let us know? Well, probably the best way is to venture over to our freshly redesigned website at www.badgerlandbluegrass.org. There you’ll find not only an email address for our board, badgerlandbluegrass@gmail.com, but also a host of other resources of use to bluegrass musicians and fans alike.

There’s a calendar showing local bands’ schedules, a history of our organization and links to previous news alerts and, of course, a place to sign up to become a member. Be sure to give it a visit and let us know what you think and what other features we could add. 

We’ll see you around soon.

— Dan Shaw, vice president of the BBMA

Members of Pickin’ Up Spee, from left to right: Jerry Smith, Poul Sandersen, Ron Wedekind and Linda Sandersen 

Pickin’ Up Speed final tour

Pickin’ Up Speed has had a great run! Now we’re retiring, but not leaving to go anywhere. 

In our current configuration we’ve been performing for more than 20 years with members Linda Sandersen on guitar and lead vocals, Poul Sandersen on bass and harmonica and vocals, Ron Wedekind on banjo and lead vocals, and Jerry Smith on mandolin and vocals. Dating to the 1990s, other band members have included Dale Palecek on mandolin, Mike Stern on lead guitar, Jim Price on mandolin, Don O’Roark on banjo, John Bashaw on banjo and Jon Stoll on fiddle.

 We’ve played at Bluegrass festivals and other venues all over Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota. It’s a good thing we’ve had campers! Poul and I moved up from a pop-up camper to a class “A” RV, followed by a class “C” motorhome, in which we traveled with our cats and dogs. We just called it our home away from home. The camper came in handy for band practices when it rained at festivals. We could be inside or under the awning.

Along the way we managed to record a band cassette album, followed by four CDs, learning hundreds of songs and all of us writing some of those songs. There are still copies of those for sale. We have also made a lot of friends along the way, jamming and performing with some famous musicians such as John Hartford and James King. Poul and Linda helped start the festivals at East Troy and at Ozaukee County Historical Society’s popular Bluegrass at the Village.

We’ll be at festivals and jams, because it’s in our blood!

Please come and join us to say “hello”. Carry on the tradition and jam or just listen, start a band, and share your love of bluegrass music!

— Linda Sandersen, member emeritus

Meet Your BBMA Band: The Heartland Howlers

The current lineup of The Hearland Howlers, from left to right: Dave Renick, Pat Horn, Drew Horn and Bob Boyer.

The Heartland Howlers Bluegrass Band had its origin in 1980 when the husband-and-wife duo Drew and Pat Horn started performing as a folk act. 

Pat had just started to learn the violin in 1978 and was blessed with a beautiful singing voice. Drew had been playing guitar for 15 years and also loved to sing. 

They performed as a duet for many years at farm markets, festivals, parties, weddings and nearly every opportunity that was presented to them. Over the next 20 years, opportunities came for them to perform with many other musicians. 

In 2000 they formed The Heartland Bluegrass Band with their friends Phil Crouch and Scott Moore. This was the only Bluegrass Band in the Kankakee, Illinois,. area and was a popular performing group until 2016. In that year, Pat retired from teaching elementary school and Drew retired after 30 years as an insurance agent. They then left Illinois and moved to the Milwaukee area to be near their youngest of 3 daughters, Rebecca, and her two children. 

It was there that they experienced something that they have in common with many other people who have started bluegrass bands in and around Milwaukee. Drew, who had been playing upright bass in the previous band, heard about a weekly bluegrass jam at The Gig, a bar in the city’s Riverwest neighborhood. 

He began attending and soon afterwards met Dale Palacek, a fellow musician and member of the Badgerland Bluegrass Music Association. Through Dale, Drew was introduced to Justin Busche. With Pat added on fiddle, The Heartland Howlers Bluegrass Band was formed in 2017.

Drew attended a bluegrass jam in 2020 at Dr. Dawg in Glendale. It was there that he met Luke Cerny, who had been a blues and rock guitarist for many years and wanted to delve into bluegrass music. 

They soon became friends and Luke replaced Dale, who was exploring other interests, as the guitarist in The Howlers. With all four singing, Pat playing the fiddle, Drew on bass, Luke playing guitar and Justin on both banjo and dobro guitar, the group progressed rapidly. 

They soon became a popular performing group in the Milwaukee area. Luke and Justin, both excellent singers, were also outstanding musicians on their respective instruments. They eventually broke away from The H owlers and started performing as a duo, as solo performers and also as session musicians with several of the area’s top bands.

By 2022, Drew and Pat were spending many of their summers in Door County, Wisconsin. While attending bluegrass jams there for over the past 30 years, they became friends with the master banjo player Tad Greene. 

Through Tad, they were introduced to another area resident musician, guitarist and singer David Cavanaugh. In 2023, the four of them started performing regularly in Door County as The DC Howlers. A recent addition to the group has been Andy Livingston, another Door County area resident who is a singer, song writer, guitarist and mandolin player.

In the colder months, Drew and Pat would attend jams at Old Germantown Brewery. It was there that they met the banjo player Bob Boyer and the singer and mandolin player Dave Renick. 

Their original Heartland Howlers band mate Dale Palacek was also coming to these jams. There was such good music and friendship between these five folks that they decided to come together, along with Drew Gill, a singer and guitarist they had met at The Gig. 

This, the latest edition of The Heartland Howlers, is now regularly performing around the Milwaukee area. Many changes of personnel have occurred in the band’s lineup since 1980, but Drew and Pat Horn, still husband and wife, have very much enjoyed more than 40 years of performing together. 

They are grateful to still be playing music and are currently blessed to be performing regularly with bluegrass bands in both Door County and the greater Milwaukee area.

– Drew Horn, BBMA president