Summerfest is underway in the Meier Festival Park along Milwaukee’s lakefront. The annual music festival brings nearly a million people to town over its run. This year they’ll see major international acts like Paul Simon, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Pink; but also more local and regional acts who have a chance to showcase themselves at the 50th edition of the Big Gig.
Here are a couple of in studio recording from two bands in that last category. We start with The Zach Pietrini Band. They're a Milwaukee-based Americana band with a new album out called Holding Onto Ghosts. They played the first track off that album for us, called Dance, and they'll perform Saturday afternoon at Johnson Control's World Stage.
After that, we hear from St. Louis native Jack Spann. He plays the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage on Saturday as well. Spann was a session musician for David Bowie as Bowie produced his final album before he passed away, and his latest album is, itself, something of an homage to Bowie. The album is called “Beautiful Man from Mars.” Spann and his band joined us in the studio last summer, and played a few tunes, including this one from the new album, called “I’m a Bird.”
