One brooding afternoon I walked along Dunn’s Marsh in Fitchburg WI when a chilling cry pierced the rustling breeze. It sounded like a call of the wild through time, echoing the ancient history of life cycles. I looked up and saw an array of long, craggy wings floating on air. The majestic creatures descended…

Notice mountaineer Bills Briggs' ski tracks zig-zagging down from the summit of The Grand Teton, an unprecedented feat he accomplished on June 15, 1971, a few years before I climbed with him. Photo by Virginia Huidekoper.

Do I start by saying that Bob Dylan once backed up Bill Briggs on mandolin -- at a wedding reception performance -- while Bill sang and played banjo? Ah, that's a story for the other side of the summit.

Bill Briggs seemed like pretty much a…

The Flatlanders with Jimmie Vaughn and the Tilt-a-Whirl Band in concert, Northern Lights Theater. 

The Flatlanders seem to embody the restless and intricate cultural development called roots music. When they performed last night at Potowatomie Casino in Milwaukee, you could immediately sense the communal and, in this case fraternal, motivation at work. They’re surely brothers in Lone Star spirit, if not blood, having all been born in dusty West Texas as they…

A bit like the Wizard of Oz, avuncular Paul Geremia toils in relative obscurity, as if behind a curtain while mustering his musical wonders. This remains true despite some critics asserting that he's as good as anyone playing country blues. He dwells in the murky corners of the blues history he sheds light on.

Yet Geremia also seems to know which side his humble crust of bread is buttered on. He opened a recent recital at the UW-Milwaukee's MKE Unplugged series with a…