The band led by Mark Blaauw-Hara spotlighted tracks from its debut album for Local Spins on WYCE, which also debuted music by The Wire Monkeys, Saajtak & more.
Long impressed by the writing of Southern bands such as Drive-By Truckers, Turnpike Troubadours and Old 97’s, Mark Blaauw-Hara felt inspired to create “country-inflected rock” that similarly reflected the milieu of northern Michigan.
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“They have a real sense of place and they have a sense of characters in the songs,” he said. “I just love northern Michigan so much that I thought, ‘What if we had something along those lines, kind of an Americana/alt-country rock group that really painted a picture of what it was like in northern Michigan?’ ”
Hence, The Lonely Lovers was born – a collective of talented regional players who recently released its debut album, “No One Needs to Know,” filled with rootsy musical stories and personalities that ooze a Michigan vibe.
“These characters travel on different journeys … but really it’s centered on Michigan and particularly the northern half of the state,” said Blaauw-Hara, 47, who moved to northern Michigan more than 20 years ago. He now splits his time between Toronto, for work, and Boyne City.
For this week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE, Blaauw-Hara showcased the tracks, “Gone” and “I Left My Heart in Paradise.” Watch the video for a duo version of “Gone” here, and scroll down to listen to the full interview and radio show podcast.
VIDEO: The Lonely Lovers, “Gone”
Growing up in White Lake, north of Detroit, and surrounded by music ranging from Bob Seger to Bruce Springsteen to Rush, Blaauw-Hara picked up a guitar at 14 and played with various musicians through high school and during his time at Michigan State University.
After settling in northern Michigan, he played with a variety of bands, including Boyne River Remedy, The Easy Picks and Sky & Signal. Through those connections and others he met the singers and musicians who would eventually become part of The Lonely Lovers project: Jen Schaap, Drew Baar, Kevin Putnam, Cody Ferrier, Greg Carpenter, Chris Koury, Ann Stebelton, Chris Graham, Jamie Beth Platte, Caroline Barlow and Hannah Harris Graham.
“A big reason for The Lonely Lovers was that I wanted an excuse to play with all of these great musicians I’d grown to know over the years,” Blaauw-Hara said of the players from the Petoskey and Boyne City area. “We call it a collective because it’s just this big grab-bag of awesome musicians.”
Schaap, 44, who grew up in Grand Rapids and moved to Petoskey in 2006, said there’s “such joy playing with people you truly love and get along with” – something that makes The Lonely Lovers a labor of love.
Schaap, who plays bass, arranged backing vocals for the album, which officially was released in August. That’s where she “really shined,” said Blaauw-Hara.
The band played numerous festivals and venues over the summer, with a “stripped-down” version of the group set to play Beards Brewery in Petoskey on Jan. 8. The Lonely Lovers also are booked for Boyne City’s Lavender Hill Farm on June 25, with other 2022 performances still being planned.
“It’s so beautiful,” Blaauw-Hara said of performing with fellow band members. “The people who are in The Lonely Lovers, they’re good people. They’re not just great musicians. There’s a certain kind of magic that happens when you get a lot of those wonderful musicians on stage together and see what happens.”
Blaauw-Hara views it this way: He provides the basic structure for the songs via lyrics and chord progressions, and they “bring what they bring best to the situation” to flesh it out.
“To me, these songs come to life when we play them in front of people,” he said.
“People react really well to the songs. They are all fictitious, but I do try to make them believable and one of my biggest thrills is when people react to the stories I tell in the songs.
“I love it when people laugh, or shake their heads knowingly, and I’ve had lots of people come up to me after shows and want to talk lyrics, and they want to know if the stuff in the songs happened to me. I say I’ll never tell.”
In addition to spotlighting the music of The Lonely Lovers, the Dec. 3 edition of Local Spins on WYCE — which focuses on local and regional music at 11 a.m. Fridays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org — featured new tracks from The Wire Monkeys, Saajtak, Roots Asylum, Edison Kitt, Lazy Genius and Austin Benzing as well as songs by Michigan Rattlers (this week’s musician’s pick by Blaauw-Hara), Drew Nelson, Wuzee & Samil and Deerfield Run. Listen to the full radio show here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (12/3/21)
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