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BoDeans coming to Waupaca

Band to play at Indian Crossing Casino

By Ben Rodgers


In their 30th year as a band, BoDeans will come to Indian Crossing Casino in Waupaca on Saturday, May 27.

The Waupaca County Post caught up with Kurt Neumann while he was on the road between Charlotte, North Carolina and Richmond, Virginia, on the way to the first gig of their summer tour.

“You take it a day or a year at a time and keep going down the road and keep playing as long as you can, getting the songs out and getting an audience to hear you,” Neumann said. “That’s really the key for any band is the fans, they are what keeps the band alive.”

The group hopes to attract some new fans through one of its latest projects, writing and recording songs for the Netflix series “The Ranch.”

The show’s creators, Don Reo and Jim Patterson, approached Neumann as fans of his music and wanted to include some original songs into the show’s second season.

“It made the process of writing songs a lot easier, because I didn’t have to sit around and think about what I should write today or how should it sound, or anything like that. Someone kind of defined it for me. So I was singing about the themes of home and small town values and things like that, that I grew up in as well,” said the Waukesha native.

So when it came to releasing their next record, Neumann picked some tracks from the 25 or 30 he made for “The Ranch,” and came up with the aptly titled “13.”

The 13th record from BoDeans is a little different from the other 12 albums the group has released. As Neumann said, the show’s creators gave him direction in what they wanted. Neumann just took the best songs and put it on this new album.

“We’re not pop stars, so we’re always looking for avenues to get our music out like that, and again, the creators of the show were fans of the band so it was once again the fans keeping us going,” he said. “The guys had grown up listening to us and loved our music, and it was a great opportunity you know? Being on a Netflix show is about the best place you can be for your music to go forward. It was a great opportunity to be presented with.”

But when it comes to the promotion of the music, BoDeans do it the old fashioned way, by hitting the road and playing for the fans.

“It’s nice to go out with a new record and play for your fans and introduce the new songs to them,” he said. “So we’ll be busy all summer long and into the fall playing as many shows as we can.”

In the past 30 years, Neumann can’t recall if the group has ever played Waupaca before, but he does remember coming to the area as a child and camping with his family.

As for what people can expect at what may be the first ever BoDeans show in Waupaca, Neumann said high energy and fans who like to sing along.

“Most of our fans know these songs through our 30 years, and they’re always happy to join in,” he said. “It’s real, positive energy. We try to bring a positive theme to our shows and make everyone feel good.

“I’d expect that we play some beautiful songs too. There’s a lot of beautiful stuff on the new record so we play some of those songs as well and then some of the old classics from the very beginning, all the way through the 90s, the big songs that got us popular,” Neumann said.

With such ardent fans, sometimes the music can take new meanings, such as weddings, funerals or medical hardships.

“That’s very meaningful to help someone through an illness or to help someone cope with the death of someone close to them, or to be the first song at a wedding,” Neumann said. “That’s what we’re here for man. That’s important stuff. Those are the biggest moments you get in life. To have your music part of that, I’m just humbled by it.”

Tickets for the 9 p.m. show on May 27 at Indian Crossing Casino are $30 and $35 and can be purchased online at ticketfly.com, by searching “BoDeans.” The show is for ages 18 and over.

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