Photo Credit by Ken Hanson
CULTURE | SPONSORED BY THE MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Does Not Believe in Writer’s Block FROM THE R&B CADETS TO SEMI TWANG, MILWAUKEE SONGWRITER JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER BY BLAINE SCHULTZ
His personal geography has moved from Kenosha (“the town that can’t buy a break”) to Milwaukee to Nashville, Tenn., and back to Milwaukee. Well, Wauwatosa. In high school in the mid ’60s, Sieger found his way into a band that led to Star Boys, a group that became part of his musical foundation. One constant since the early years would be John’s brother, Mike Sieger, on bass and harmony vocals.
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Sieger also started an enduring collaboration with lyricist Michael Feldman, who later hosted the popular public radio program “Whad’ya Know?” They began working together when Feldman came to Kenosha to teach high school and chaperoned a dance. “It wasn't long before we were friends and he’d let me carry his amp into gigs so I could get in free,” Feldman says. “I began writing lyrics purely for my own amusement, goofy or funny stuff. ‘If My Old Man Were Alive Today, This World Would Kill Him Quick’ was the first I actually showed to John.” Feldman was surprised that Sieger liked it, “and as would happen many times over the next 20-plus years, he set it to a soulful
country tune and damn made a song out of my limerick.” Star Boys were the best players town. “It was a pretty tight little band. My only gripe was that I didn’t like all the material we were doing, and I was writing a lot,” Sieger says. “I’m very hard on myself. I tell people I didn’t have any talent at the beginning.”
Move to Milwaukee’s East Side By the ’80s, Sieger moved to Milwaukee’s East Side. “When you live in a smaller town, it is hard to find a pocket of people who think like you. It is better up here because there are more people,” he says. In Milwaukee, he discovered a group of
Background Illustration by sensationaldesign/Getty Images)
S
ongwriter John Sieger has been at it for decades. One of seven kids, his humble Kenosha upbringing served to ground him when his music career rose to a major label recording contract. Sieger’s formula is equal parts determination, guile, support and talent.
