Today, Milwaukee-based singer-songwriter Trapper Schoepp has announced his new studio album Siren Songs, out April 21 via Grand Phony (US) / Rootsy (EU). Schoepp has also shared his new single “Cliffs of Dover,” a driving roots-rock song about an Iraq war veteran struggling with PTSD after returning home. Schoepp will be bringing his new music to audiences with a U.S. tour beginning on March 23 in Lake Orion, MI and making stops in Washington, D.C., New York and more – a full list of dates can be found below.
“PTSD has taken hold of an Iraq war veteran on ‘Cliffs of Dover,’” shares Schoepp. “He can’t escape the sounds of bullets and is torn up inside and out, reeling from the trauma of a failed war. I wrote this in response to war stories heard through Milwaukee’s Guitars 4 Vets organization – a non-profit I’ve worked with that provides guitars and lessons to veterans in need. This song lends lines from the World War II anthem ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ by Vera Lynn. With that song and the recent international wars in mind, this song is sung as a call to peace and a remembrance of those we’ve lost.”
Ahead of its release, “Cliffs of Dover” received early radio airplay from Twin Cities’ The Current, New York’s WFUV and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. Hailed as “a master storyteller” by HuffPost and beloved for his “rootsy, cinematic rock that charms as it soars” (NPR Music), Schoepp’s forthcoming album Siren Songs is his strongest collection of songs to date, steeped in a sonic palette of traditional American and Irish folk music while giving it new life.
Produced by John Jackson (The Jayhawks, Ray Davies) and Patrick Sansone (Wilco), the recording sessions for Siren Songs took place at Johnny Cash’s historic Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, TN where Schoepp and his collaborators recorded with instruments found on the storied grounds – ranging from Cash’s 1930s Martin guitar and June Carter Cash’s Steinway piano to an old railroad spike. The end result features 12 songs filled with timeless folklore and nautical imagery.
Folks may recognize Schoepp when he became the youngest musician to share a co-writing credit with Bob Dylan on a long-lost song called “On, Wisconsin” in 2019. After coming across a previously unseen lyric sheet from Dylan’s early recording sessions, Schoepp seized the opportunity to put music to these words about his home state. Fortunately, Dylan approved to jointly publish the song, garnering acclaim from Billboard, Rolling Stone and more. Now, in a full-circle moment, Schoepp is featured on the Siren Songs album cover posing in front of the same pond where Cash would read and dispose of letters sent to him by Dylan, honoring a sacred kinship that started in the ‘60s.
U.S. Tour Dates:
3/23 – Lake Orion, MI – 20 Front Street
3/26 – Washington D.C. – Pie Shop
3/28 – Boston, MA – City Winery
3/29 – Cambridge, NY – Argyle Brewing Company
3/30 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
3/31 – Freehold, NJ – Concerts in the Studio
4/2 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
4/14 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
4/15 – Madison, WI – Kiki’s House of Righteous Music
4/21 – Milwaukee, WI – Colectivo Backroom
4/22 – Berwyn, IL – Fitzgerald’s
U.K. and European Tour Dates Supporting Jesse Malin:
2/15 – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
2/16 – Manchester, UK – The Pink Room
2/17 – London, UK – The Garage
2/18 – Paris, France – La Boule Noire
2/19 – Utrecht, Netherlands – dBs
2/23 – Bergamo, Italy – Druso
2/24 – Ravenna, Italy – Bronson
2/25 – Mareno di Piave (TV), Italy – Corner Live
2/27 – Hamburg, Germany – Nochtspeicher
2/28 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Hotel Cecil
3/1 – Lund, Sweden – Mejeriet
3/2 – Stockholm, Sweden – Bar Brooklyn
3/3 – Oslo, Norway – John Dee
Siren Songs Tracklist:
1. Cliffs of Dover
2. Secrets of the Breeze
3. Good Graces
4. The Fool
5. Eliza
6. Devil’s Kettle
7. 7 Mile Fair
8. Diocese
9. Anna Lee
10. Silk and Satin
11. Queen of the Mist
12. In Returning
