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SISTER BAY – Katie Dahl, rock star?
No, not really. The locally-based, nationally touring singer-songwriter has long identified herself as a folk musician and continues to do so.
But Dahl said her new album, “Wildwood,” will give her folk sound a little more of a rock-type vibe than her previous work.
That’s because “Wildwood,” due for release Friday, was produced by JT Nero of Americana-rock band Birds of Chicago. Dahl said it’s folk music, but Nero helped give it an edge it might not have had otherwise.
“He’s much cooler than I am,” Dahl said of working with Nero. “Much more rock ‘n’ roll than I am. He helped me avoid my stick-in-the-mud, folky tendencies. It’s still a folk album, but JT brought more of a groove that I might have missed.”
Dahl also had Nero co-write two of the songs on the 11-track album with her, which she said is the first time she’s had a co-writer on her music.
“It’s something I’ve never done before,” Dahl said. “JT is one of my songwriting heroes.”
“Wildwood” also features two songs Dahl penned for a musical she’s writing for Northern Sky Theater. Currently titled “The Fisherman’s Daughter,” the show — about two sisters who in 1908 fight the state’s attempts to claim their land for Peninsula State Park — will be work-shopped and have a reading with Northern Sky this month.
Dahl previously co-wrote with Emilie Coulson the book and lyrics, with music by James Valcq, for the Northern Sky musical “Victory Farm,” which premiered in 2012. But she’s going solo on the new musical.
“It’s a really different experience to work on it all by myself,” she said. “I miss my collaborators, but it’s really exciting.”
“Wildwood” also has a cover of “Valmy,” a song by local alt-rocker pat mAcdonald. Dahl said she includes at least one cover on each album, usually by a Door County-based musician. It was recorded in three days in Nashville, and Dahl said it was the first album she’s made that was recorded live, with all the musicians playing together.
The album is Dahl’s fourth but the first under her name since 2015’s “Ordinary Band,” although she worked with Eric Lewis and her husband, Rich Higdon, on the Fred Alley tribute album “Solid Ground” two years ago.
“It was just time to (record a new album),” Dahl said. “I had a collection of maybe seven songs, so I worked really hard over the winter to finish four more so I could have a full collection. I had been on a schedule of an album every three years. I thought I should try to stay close to a regular release schedule.”
Along with CDs, streaming and digital downloads, “Wildwood” also will be available on vinyl. Besides ordering it through the new shop on Dahl’s website, katiedahlmusic.com, it also will be on sale at the Northern Sky office and Robin Jay Music & Gifts in Fish Creek and Base Camp Coffee in Sister Bay, with downloads at iTunes, Spotify and elsewhere.
Dahl is releasing the album with shows Friday through Sunday in the Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago areas. Her official local release concert is Nov. 30 at Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek, co-billed with Nero’s latest project, Capitol Sun Rays, which includes Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars.
This is the third album Dahl has financed through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. All met their goals, but the “Wildwood” campaign went well beyond, raising just more than $39,000 from more than 400 backers with a goal of $30,000.
Along with the usual gift packages musicians offer crowdfunding donors (albums or CDs, T-shirts and other goodies), Dahl offered private house concerts for certain donation levels, including one at her and Higdon’s home. She said all were taken, with six house concerts scattered across the Midwest coming up, as well as another package with her and Higdon making dinner for donors.
“I feel amazingly grateful,” Dahl said about the response. “By far and away, this is the most money we’ve raised … I think (Door County) is just an amazing place to be an artist because the community really stepped up to support this.”
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
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