(soft upbeat music) - [Narrator] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to "Music Matters."

We build community through music.

I am your host, Apolonia Davalos.

South Dakota is the state of create and we are home to many singer-songwriters, inspired by South Dakota's heart, spirit, and beauty.

We are introducing four musical guests.

Our first three musicians call the Mount Rushmore state home, and then we end with a band exploring the serenity of the Northern Plains for the first time.

(laughs) For the first time we begin in the West.

Music is more than a song, it's a place.

Black Hills', singer songwriter, Chris Huisenga, rises from the ashes with authentic tunes we can all relate to.

Valuing honesty with himself and his fans, he opens up about his breakthrough and self-discovery through sobriety.

After an awakening encounter with the law, Chris shares how his music has transformed after being sober for over a year.

"Music Matters" welcomes South Dakota's phoenix of the prairie, Chris Huisenga.

(bright music) ♪ I don't know what I wanna be ♪ ♪ When I grow up, I'll guess we'll see ♪ ♪ But for now, I live patiently.

♪ So I am from the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I grew up in Sturgis, little small town, if you like motorcycles, you know about it.

But there's a city there the rest of the year as well.

And that's where I was born and raised.

I live in Spearfish now, so just right up the road.

♪ A lot of them say, act your age ♪ Music I've always thought is a place that you go to, not necessarily just listening, you know.

it takes you to a different space,.

But in terms of relationships, a lot of songs that I have written in the past have a muse.

They come from a person, who maybe it was just one experience with that person or just maybe the person as a whole.

A lot of my lyrics come from places within other people that like, really inspire me.

I try to find the good things in everybody and focus on that and write about it.

♪ I've been around this old town a time or two ♪ ♪ And I probably will be again ♪ In terms of honesty, I've always tried to be as honest as possible, especially in my songwriting, because I can't really sing about something that I don't know about.

And I think the second that I start trying to do that people are gonna notice it, and be like, that's not good.

(laughs) ♪ They've got my ♪ I think music as a way of life is like a religion.

I think you have to make it a religion, especially if you want to do it as a job or a career.

I think it can be life giving, or life saving, for anyone at any specific time.

You know, people go through hard times and music is one of the great things that can carry you through it and pick you back up once you're once you're on the other side of it.

♪ We've all got mistakes ♪ ♪ God knows, I've made few ♪ I've been sober just over a year and that's really great.

I think development is like, as a person for me, has like, become more exponential since I've cut out being in altered states of mind.

It's so much better.

And it really does come back to that like honesty, how I value honesty and truth so much is that I think the best way to get your honesty and truth is to be, you know, clear and not be under the influence of anything like that.

And obviously I have a lot of friends that still do that, and that's okay.

Like if they wanna do it, that is their decision, not mine.

But this was my decision and I really, I much prefer it this way, because I can see clearly and write better words.

(laughs) ♪ And it feels like the world's going down on a bullet train ♪ There were a couple factors involved with my decision to be sober and stay clear, which number one was, that I recognized that I was already kind of like, on my way to getting sober either way.

Like I was already thinking about it for like six or seven months.

And usually that's about how long it takes for me to make a big decision, like that is like six months of thinking about it.

And then I was lucky enough to fall into some legal trouble because of my lack of sobriety, and that kind of gave me a push in the right direction.

And I think there's two ways that you can use an experience like that, which is you can either fall back and say, oh well, this is dumb and I'm angry at everyone, or you can say, well, hey this is a great opportunity for me to improve and just be a better person.

And so I am lucky enough to have chose the second option.

♪ 'Cause all my friends are gettin' married ♪ ♪ Having babies, buying mini-vans ♪ I think probably the most important song that I will be playing tonight would be "All My Friends."

And "All My Friends" is the most popular song.

It's also the first song that I wrote when I started taking songwriting really seriously.

And that song is important for a couple reasons.

Number one, it's all about like, friendship and connection, and you know, the truth of growing up, but also it's important because I don't necessarily resonate with that song anymore.

So it's kind of a bittersweet song to play, even though it's you know, blues rock, gets the people, like really, people love that song.

But, the whole chorus is literally let's have another round, which I don't really do that anymore.

So it's such a like fun song to be on both sides of that.

I was on one side when I wrote it and now I'm on the other side of it.

So it's probably the most important and it will probably be the favorite.

♪ Got the time of day ♪ ♪ And all my friends are busy bees ♪ ♪ They got their queens ♪ I am just finishing up on a solo album and it's gonna have a bunch of funk, and a bunch of pop music on it.

So it's gonna be this kind of, it's a weird, weird turn.

There'll still be some blues on there though for the people that that came here for the blues.

But that's scheduled to be released in the winter of 2022/23.

And that'll also be mixed and produced by J.

Hall.

♪ Are heading out ♪ ♪ 'Cause all my friends ♪ (bright music) - Thank you, Chris, for pioneering the pop, funk, and blues sound of South Dakota.

Music fans, stay updated on Chris Huisenga's new album release dates by following him on Instagram @iamchrishuisenga.

Next we meet artists from the east side of the Missouri River.

Our path is paved in gold as we welcome the band, "Sun Daze" from Sioux Falls, two renowned talents, Wes Eisenhauer from the hip hop band, "Soul Crate" and Brandon Phrommany, also known as alternative indie artist, "Duke the Tiger" merge as "Sun Daze" with the release of their album, "Deserted."

Wes and Brandon answer a big question, what does it mean to be a South Dakota musician?

Let's listen.

(bright music) ♪ I see your wide eyes ♪ ♪ Looking up and right beside me ♪ ♪ This is the right time to wake up to every day ♪ - What does it mean to be a South Dakota musician?

I think it's important to be here.

I think I personally have made a deliberate choice to remain in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because I feel like my ability to have an impact and to do something meaningful is exponential.

I enjoy being part of creating something and building something.

And yeah, so I think South Dakota has a lot of good things going for it musically.

- I would agree with that.

And I feel, I love participating in it, you know, just because I'm constantly inspired by other artists in Sioux Falls.

♪ Let the music take you over ♪ - I like being part of playing a show with bands from out of town or helping people come through our city and showing them what we're all about.

And a lot of times they leave with a different impression, I think, that they had maybe had before they had come here.

So I think that is an important part of just representing Sioux Falls and showing the world and the rest of the country that, you know, we have a great community here that takes this serious.

♪ We can't stop the time ♪ ♪ We can't stop the time ♪ What would you say the theme of our album is?

- I don't know, I think it's- - I'd say an amusement park, maybe?

- Yeah, I would say there's ups and downs, - Yes.

- There's like, some, it's like optimism and melancholy, - Yes.

- with a little bit of like, danceability, but really- - Heartbreak.

- Heartbreak, dreamy guitars.

So, I don't know, when I think of the vibe of our record I think of someone like staring out of a window on a rainy day and like, feeling content and happy with that.

- I think there's something for everyone on this record.

I think it's relatable in a bunch of different ways, especially lyrically.

♪ It's not the simple ♪ ♪ I can't see when the sun shines on me ♪ ♪ I can't breathe ♪ - What was fun for me, especially as Brandon being the lead vocal, to kind of think about what Brandon can do that I'm unable to do, and to write through him kind of, was a really fun experience for me.

So yeah, that's what I like about it.

- And other songs, like, you know, "When I'm Disarmed," I mean, I, it's not any, I wouldn't say that song is personal, but you know, it's definitely relatable in a sense of just trying to move on from someone that's played with your emotions, or you know, broke your heart, you know?

I feel like that's a song that everyone, not everyone, but like a lot of people need to hear every now and then, you know?

So yeah, I think there's something for everyone on "Deserted."

(upbeat music) - I think for me, the reason why I create music is it makes me feel like I'm making good use of my time on Earth, really.

Like I feel like we have a very short window of time that's afforded to us, and that when I'm creating something and putting art out into the world, I feel like I'm using those moments that I have on this Earth for good.

And it gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

When I finish something, I often feel a feeling of being kind of surprised that we even created this stuff.

Like a lot of times I'll listen back to something that we wrote one day and I'm like, we made this.

I can't believe we made this.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So I surprise myself sometimes when I push myself and put myself into uncomfortable situations, and I feel like that makes a life worth living.

- Absolutely, and to add on to that, like it's just, yeah, it's a great feeling to like, you know, work.

It's a great feeling to make a song that you're super proud of, and it makes you want to do it even more.

♪ I'm a bonsai ♪ ♪ You're a bonsai ♪ ♪ We're the bonsai trees ♪ (bright music) - Thank you Wes and Brandon for emphasizing how creating music is a life worth living.

We all have a purpose and when we learn that purpose we become instruments for good.

Explore the emotional ups and downs of "Deserted" on all music platforms.

Learn more about upcoming concerts and new song releases by following sundaze605 on Instagram and Facebook.

More and more people are flocking to South Dakota every day, including traditional American music, singer-songwriter, Nathan Barrow, a former Hoosier.

Nathan immersed himself into studying and celebrating South Dakota history and culture.

He expresses his sincere love for his new home with the release of his new album, "Dakota."

With songs titled "My Old Prairie Home," "King of the Rodeo," "Farmers Blues," and "The Outlaw Life," to name a few.

Nathan is narrating our stories.

To begin, we first learn Nathan's story.

"Music Matters" introduces Nathan Barrow.

(bright music) ♪ We're going on a bad streak ♪ ♪ Baby left me last week ♪ ♪ Said she didn't want no bum ♪ Traditional American music, I would say, is music that never sounds new but never gets old.

It's typically drawing on old styles, like bluegrass folk, country, blues, gospel, jazz, and also exploring the spaces where they overlap in unexpected ways.

And that's the kind of music that I love and am drawn to.

♪ Panning for that gold ♪ ♪ Like the certified fool ♪ I first discovered my gift as a singer-songwriter, it was kicked off by an event in 2005 when I spent a summer in Cameroon, West Africa, living with a family who were living there at the time.

And at the end of that summer it was so transformative and I had trouble adjusting back to my junior year of college.

And so I went to a counselor on campus and explained my dilemma, and I didn't wanna, I wanted to be back in Cameroon.

And he said, "You should create something to memorialize the experience and then kind of move on."

And so I was musical.

I'd grown up doing piano then drum lessons.

I'd never written a song, but I'd decided I'm gonna write a song about my summer in Cameroon, West Africa.

And I began trying everything I knew how about songwriting and music.

It took me about four or five years, and I eventually wrote the song, which is called "Surely God is in This Place," which captured my, I felt good about it, it captured my experience in that summer.

But along the way, over those four or five years, I developed as a songwriter.

And songwriting during that process became something that was deeply ingrained with my faith, with me processing experience and emotions.

And I think I'll always do it.

I think it's such an ingrained part of me that I will always write songs, because they just sort of come.

They'll come out from from journaling, or from life experience, but it was all kicked off by that summer in Cameroon.

♪ I traded in my Hyundai for a Harley 114 ♪ ♪ I grew my hair in a ponytail ♪ ♪ And I practiced a look in me ♪ I named my album "Dakota," and I think it's for everybody.

I wrote it as a Hoosier who was moving to South Dakota.

So I didn't know a lot about Dakota.

And part of the album was researching and studying what life in Dakota was about, and learning the history, and writing songs that would help me process this new home, this new place that I was going to call home.

♪ I told 'em, doc, don't worry ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm the king of the rodeo ♪ So the overarching theme of "Dakota" album is 10 Snapshots about Dakota.

Now I'd written maybe 15 songs, four or five of which stayed on the cutting room floor.

But it was an act of research finding out about the culture and then trying to craft story-driven songs.

Typically they have a narrator, that's not me, who's telling a story.

So "King of the Rodeo" tells a story of a reckless rodeo rider, which is sort of comical.

I also wanted to incorporate humor, was one of my goals.

"The Outlaw Life" incorporates someone who's sort of having a mid-life crisis and wants to recreate themselves and go out to Sturgis.

And again, it's sort of tongue in cheek but wanted it to be fun and funny.

And there's one autobiographical song on that album called "Sometimes Love," which is a song I wrote when my wife and I first visited here in Sioux Falls.

And that evening we're looking out as the sun's setting and thinking, this is our new home.

And so I began writing "Sometimes Love."

But I would look at it as 10 snapshots about life in Dakota, life in in the Prairies out here.

And there's no like narrative that weaves them all together but just each, our character driven songs.

(relaxed guitar music) One experience of someone who was impacted by a song that I had written, which was impactful to me as well to hear, was a friend I'd known from church who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

And he ended up using a song that I had written.

It was an old hymn that I had adapted, and sort of put to a new melody, called "I am the Lords."

And that song became for him a theme song as he battled terminal cancer.

And it was the last song he listened to before, after he had been with loved ones and was ready to pass on.

That was the last song he listened to to kind of be his reminder and his theme song.

And so that was incredible to have a song that was that meaningful to somebody, that they would use it sort of as an anthem for what they knew would be like a terminal battle.

So that was beautiful and very moving.

♪ I'm second guessing myself ♪ ♪ I keep on searching for signs ♪ (bright music) - Nathan, thank you for uplifting the land of great faces, great places with your album "Dakota."

We are happy to claim you as our own.

Listen to Nathan Barrow's heartfelt musical storytelling by visiting his website, nathanbarrowmusic.bandcamp.com.

Our roots and rich are present.

Visiting us from Kansas City, "Making Movies" is a musical excursion into the cultural pulse of the Americas.

A combination of rock and roll and Latin American rhythms, "Making Movies" coins the phrase, Americana music.

From playing soccer with the Sioux Falls Rising Stars Club soccer team, and performing on the Levitt stage, South Dakota was an impactful tour destination.

"Music Matters" presents Panamanian brothers, Diego and Enrique Chi, as they share the healing power of music.

(bright music) (singing in foreign language) - My belief is that if we were to go back to when humans first started making music, it was for the purpose of of bringing community together.

And we now are studying things, like music therapy and we're bringing musicians into hospitals when someone has chronic pain and to try to combat the chronic pain in a way that doesn't use opioids, you know?

And we're using music for that and it's relatively new innovation is how it's described.

And that sounds silly to me because I think that that's what humans have been doing for thousands, and thousands, and thousands of years as a form of healing.

And that to me is like, music is metaphorically medicine but I think musically is tangibly physically medicine in the way that it interacts with our bodies.

- Yeah, and it allows community, when you come together to face the things that have divided you, or that have set you apart, you can heal those things.

(upbeat music) Well today we got the chance to Play some soccer with the, the All-Star team here.

And it was really great to meet this group of young, mostly Eritrean immigrants, that had somehow found themselves and found each other in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

- [Enrique] That was awesome.

They would speak in their language quite a bit and but it's funny 'cause like being a teenager is so universal.

They're teasing each other.

They're like, "Oh no, you are gonna sing, no you're gonna dance."

And then they'd laugh and then they'd start speaking in their language.

And even though like you couldn't understand what they're saying, it was very clear to understand what they were saying, you know, to each other.

And that was fun.

Then we played soccer with them and that was hard.

It was a blast.

But I mean, we were old, not teenagers anymore.

So they had a lot more gas than we did.

- Well we won, our team won.

- Their team won.

- [Enrique] I didn't get picked by that, so Juan Carlos from our band was a team captain, and what was his name?

- [Diego] Oh, well- - He was- - He went by Hannah Montana, - [Enrique] Because he's from Montana originally.

When he, when they moved from Montreal to the U.S. they moved to Montana.

So they call him Hannah.

And yeah, so he was picking all of his friends.

He didn't pick any of our band except for Dio, He did pick you, picked me.

- But we won.

We won.

- I know.

- [Enrique] We won five to three.

(upbeat music) - Enrique and I, we were both born in Panama, and ended up immigrating to the United States, grew up in the Midwest.

And as we started making music together, it was really natural to wanna include the things that we grew up hearing, from the rock and roll that our dad was into, to all of the salsa, (speaking in foreign language) that our mom was listening to.

And it just felt like there was a natural energy in both of those musics that that could come together.

And so our expression of music naturally was gonna inhabit a little bit in both of those worlds.

- And Panama, is obviously the home of the canal.

And because of that, it has been a place for international business.

And so in a way that I think maybe more true than the United States, just because of the density of it, it's such a small place, Panama is described as a crisol, which means a melt a melting pot.

And it really is the whole globe collided in this little tiny country, because of the canal and various other reasons, but that being the prime one.

So we can't help but be open to other cultures and how those intersect.

Diego and I, his name is Enrique Diego Chi and our great-grandfather immigrated from China to Panama.

And so the concept of being multicultural, or different languages, different foods, different music is just kind of baked in.

And so with "Making Movies," it feels so natural to do that.

And there's certainly authenticity in staying true to who you are.

But being Panamanian is being open to multicultural.

- Or rather at least melting it all down, you know?

- Yeah.

- Getting it all melted down, mixed together.

(singing in foreign language) - We have this saying, you know, that we messed up the word Americana.

We like to put a little apostrophe in the middle, and spell it with a K so that it breaks it up makes you have to pronounce it like Ameri-kana, which is how you would say it in Spanish.

Because that word kind of refers to meaning anything from the Americas.

And a lot of times when you hear that word in English, it can make you think of a genre.

And that genre doesn't necessarily encompass everything, not even everything that's in the United States.

And so for us, since our own heritage is already such a blend, I mean like I think I said, we're Chinese-Panamanian, we have a grandmother who was from here in Alabama in the United States, and we have family that's from Africa, family that's Native American to the the tribes of this area, you know?

It's- - Panama.

- Tribes of Panama.

So we have such a mix within ourselves that then our music is gonna naturally encompass all of that.

But what's kind of unique about the Americas is that this is maybe the only place on the planet where you have people from everywhere that came here.

Like, you know, every country has its own diversity, but in the Americas the unique phenomenon happened with just people from all around the world and ended up traveling and coming through to these lands.

And that's what's made up the world of United States, and all North and South America as we know it today.

(singing in foreign language) Social media to me is not inherently wrong and we are on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, but we also are are starting to see that having a healthy separation from it can be good.

So one thing that we're experimenting with is just having a text line, like a bat phone.

So you can text us, even call us, actually.

- You can call.

- It's (816) 583-0169, and it pings all four of the band members' phones and we can just have a direct text conversation.

And my thought is maybe you just got off Instagram 'cause after the pandemic you're like, I don't wanna be on social.

So maybe you are on Facebook but you're not on Twitter, or whatever it is, we all, pretty much, at this point can text, and it can feel a little more direct.

So as we grow and learn about how to handle social media, just know that there's a text line you can be directly connected to "Making Movies."

- [Diego] Yeah, text us anytime, 816-583-0169.

It's almost like, like a 1800 number but you're just calling "Making Movies" world.

(singing in foreign language) - Thank you, Enrique and Diego, for embracing our diverse South Dakota community and for sharing your heritage, energetic musicianship, and Americana sound.

Connect with "Making Movies" today.

Visit their website makingmovies.world, or text the band directly at 816-583-0169.

Thank you to our show sponsor, Rare House Recording Studio.

Thank you to our series sponsor, the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation.

And thank you for watching "Music Matters."

I am your host, Apolonia Davalos.

I love you, mwah!

(giggles)