How would you classify your music?

Nolen: I would describe our Music as eclectic and dynamic. It’s primarily a variety of different Rock styles such as Americana, Indie, Alternative, Classic, Progressive and Metal to name a few. There are also a variety of other styles mixed in such as pop, country, folk and blues. I’d like to think Star Prairie Project is a furnace, a melting pot if you will, for all the powerful music that came before us.

Who are some of your top 5 musical influences?

Nolen: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U-2, Radio Head. It is so hard to stop at five. My influences are broad from Stevie Wonder, Elton John, James Taylor, Carol King and of course, that entire Laurel Canyon crowd of California sound from the mid 60s to mid 70s. It was an amazing time to grow up in music.

What do you want fans to take from your music?

Nolen: I would like for our music to take our listeners on a trip inside their own heads. I’d like our music to trigger introspection and expand an awareness of this journey we call life, to be emotive and touch our listeners in a personal way. That is the sublime aspect of music, how a lyrical melody can spin a yarn that reaches out and touches a person’s soul. To me, my favorite bands can reach me in a very visceral way. That emotive experience is what I hope my songs engender.

How’s the music scene in your locale?

Nolen: I live on a lake in rural western Wisconsin. The local music scene is bar bands and a few live Open Mics or Jams. But the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/ St. Paul are only 50 miles away so there is a plethora of music venues such as Prince’s favorite club the renowned 1^st Ave, The Palace and State Theatres and The Excel Energy Center. The upcoming shows in June that I’m interested in are The Cure at The Exel and My Morning Jacket And Young The Giant at The Palace Theatre. So you can see there’s a vibrant music scene within an hour’s drive.

What is the best concert you have been to? What do you like most about playing live?

Nolen: The best concert I ever saw was the Eagles during their original Hotel California tour in 1977. Joe Walsh had just joined the band and I can still remember Walsh and Felder doing their dueling guitar solos on the song “Hotel California”. Absolutely amazing!  Currently The Star Prairie Project is a studio band, a recording project. We write new songs constantly and record albums. We have released six full-length albums since the summer of 2020. That’s faster than an-album-every-six-months pace. We can write and record fresh new material at that rate because we don’t do gigs or tour. Performing live is certainly a rush but it takes loads of time and that doesn’t even count practice sessions and learning new material.  We love making new music and right now that’s our forte.

Is there a song on your latest CD release, “New Day at Dawn”, that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?

Nolen: My favorite song to listen to is “Sometimes”.  I just love that song! The way Ivy hits those high notes on the outro gives me the chills every time I hear it. The most personal and gratifying song to write was “Buffalo Bob”. It was written about a friend of mine named Mike Baron, who literally quit his investment job and moved up to the mountains in northwest South Carolina. Mike was a unique character and not least because he went by the moniker Buffalo Bob. Sadly, Mike passed on from cancer a few years ago, and I wrote the song as a tribute to him. Rudiger came up with the funny intro and did such a great job recording and performing the song. You know, had Mike been musical, that’s probably how he would have done it!

How have you evolved as an artist over the last year?

Nolen: I think over the last year my writing has evolved in both depth and breadth. I wrote the songs for “New Day at Dawn” last year.  It’s funny, by the time each new Star Prairie Project album is released, I usually have the next one already finished. This past winter I’ve been working on a 12-song concept album dealing with metaphysics and cosmology ­– quite an evolved subject matter. I thought it would take forever, but we are in the process of putting the finishing touches on it now.

If you could meet, play a gig, co-write a song, have dinner, have a drink with any band or artist (dead or alive) who would it be?  

Nolen: I’d absolutely love to co-write a song with Paul McCartney. I’ve studied his song writing and listened to his music my entire life. He’s been the single most influential person in my songwriting. That would be an experience beyond belief.

What’s next for you?

Nolen: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been working on a very ambitious concept album with Marcello Vierira, Ricardo Dikk, and Sandrine Orsini. The songs on the album deal with the most existential of questions: Who are we? Why are we here? Who created us and for what purpose? Is this all there is? Was there anything before? Is there anything after? We started the project this past January and we’ve worked steadily through the winter on it. It’s nearly complete and we’re just now adding the finishing touches. It’s been a thrill and I really think it will bend a few ears when it’s released. Next, I’m working on an Americana album with Rudiger, Ivy and Tom Tikka. We have several songs already finished and Tom and I are working on a couple of songs as we speak.

I’ve learned that your first career was in the Air Force. What was the most important thing that you took away from that?

Nolen: The most important thing I learned from my career in the Air Force is that service beyond yourself is an admirable quality that builds character and teaches self-discipline. I spent 12 years in the UK and Europe and I enjoyed meeting people from different countries with different backgrounds and experiences. I went into the Air Force when I was seventeen years and wanted to travel and get an education about life. I really enjoyed the experience and would highly recommend it.

How old were you when you started writing songs?

Nolen: I picked up a guitar for the first time when I was 52. I never seriously thought I’d learn to play it. But as soon as I started playing guitar, I immediately started trying to write songs. I had been writing poetry for years, so it was a natural extension for me to write songs. I’d drive my guitar instructor nuts because he’d give me a popular song to learn and I’d come back the next time having rearranged the chord progression and come up with my own lyrics. I knew from the beginning I wanted to write songs and that I had to learn an instrument in order to do it. So that’s what I did.

Were your parents musical?

Nolen: No, far from it. I remember my Dad telling me that our family had no musical talent and not to bother trying to sing or try playing an instrument. I believed them, so I never tried until I bought a $25, very used acoustic guitar at a garage sale. But I suppose subconsciously they did influence me tremendously with the music they listened to. My Dad used to play records a lot. I remember listening to Patsey Cline, Jonny Cash, Herb Alpert, Frank Sinatra to name just a few I still love to listen to those artists music. It had a big influence on me.

If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?

Nolen: If I could change one thing in my life, I’d start playing piano and guitar at about 4

years old! I’ve always been an avid music listener. I constantly have music playing in the background and still love playing albums all the way through and if that’s not happening, I’m listening to Spotify playlists. As a listener, streaming music and playlists are the best thing ever. All that listening becomes cellular and subconsciously and consciously effect how I play guitar and write songs. It comes out in my songwriting without even having to try – it’s just there. It’s part of the miracle of music and I encourage everyone to get into music at any level and the deeper the better and the earlier the better.

How did you find your collaborators Rudiger and Ivy Marie?

Nolen:  We’ve worked together for a few years now. I found Ivy Marie through Rudiger and Rudiger through Soundbetter, a company that provides a wide range of recording and session work services. I was looking for a singer to sing a song I had just written called ‘Hot Damn’, later released on our third album ‘Rudiger’s Revenge’. I heard a song he had written and recorded for a television show and I knew he was the one I wanted to sing my song. Rudiger and I hit it off and next thing you know Rudiger is performing and fully producing songs for me. This happened to be during the COVID-19 lockdown period, so having nothing else to do meant that we spent the entire winter of 2020 blasting out song after song. We needed female backing vocals for a song and Rudiger suggested Ivy and the rest is history.

What is the idea behind Star Prairie Project? Why not just release solo albums? And where does the name come from?

The name comes from the village of Star Prairie in western Wisconsin near where I live, and the Alan Parson’s Project, a renowned recording project in the 70s and 80s. Alan Parson was involved in The Beatles’ “Let It Be” recording sessions and later produced Pink Floyd’s legendary “The Dark Side of the Moon”. I used to play my songs at a local open mic on Thursday nights in Star Prairie. The host of the jam, a guy that went by Star Prairie Jerry, said to me after I performed one night, “Nolen Chew Jr., you’re going to be the next John Denver.”  I said to him, “No way man. I’m going to be the next Alan Parson’s Project.” And that is where the name The Star Prairie Project came from. I knew early on I was a songwriter that wanted to create a recording project. A recording project with the best talent I could find that could help me make major-label quality songs and albums. The Star Prairie Project is becoming known for it’s professional product and the quality of the production. I take great pride in that and at the same time feel grateful and blessed, as cutting records at this level is only possible due to the incredible talent of the people I surround myself with.

What is the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?

I pulled the infamous “return all” email trick when I was working at the Pentagon. I was bitching to a fellow staff officer about the bosses and lo and behold, they could read all about it. I remember looking for a hole I could crawl into. Ha!

What is your scariest experience?

When I was in the Air Force I was flying in a helicopter that was part of a three-ship formation. We suddenly got caught up in an intense thunderstorm that was too large to fly around. For a few terrifying minutes we were flying in zero visibility with lightening flashing all around us and we lost sight of the other helicopters. The flight lead called for emergency breakoff procedures and we made an emergency landing in a farmer’s field. Coming out of that ordeal alive, I felt I had indeed cheated death.