Garage Sounds: Bringing Down the House now available!

Stillwater, Minn. – The Washington County Historical Society's new publication, Garage Sounds: Bringing Down the House, is now available at the Warden's House Museum.

Garage Sounds, written by local musician Scott Schell, is a unique undertaking for the Washington County Historical Society. The 350-page, richly illustrated book brings to life the sounds and times when country, jazz, and rock 'n' roll music was being cross-pollinated by a new sound from Great Britain. From the beginnings in the 1950s - the music teachers, record stores, musicians (such as Butch Thompson), and radio stations (WSHB 1220, later WAVN -- now KLBB) - the books look at the sounds and groups that inspired so many local musicians.

Many widely popular dance bands came out of Stillwater High School in the 1960s and '70s. The More-Tishans, who played around the area from 1964 to 1968, and Keith Zeller, who started the Starliners in 1962 as a four-piece dance band, were just inducted into the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame last May. Others covered in the book run the gamut from country to pop to rock 'n' roll and from blues/rock to fusion. Popular performers include Jeanne Chial, Roger Mueller, Garry and Greg Johnson, Jacque Montpetit, Rick McDonald, the Babcock brothers, Mike Hurley, Rick Johnson, and Rob Uppgren.

Pictures of many favorite bands are included, among them In-Sane, The Thundermen, The Lords Four, UTA, Changing Times, NewStone Bridge, Rex Trapper, Red Pepper, Dash Riprock, Sundance, The Weables and "Captain Cookie." There's information on songwriters, promoters, and others who made the Valley music scene one of the hottest in the Midwest, as well as pictures and posters from the Stage Door, Armory, St. Croix Boom Company and other hangouts.

The author, Scott Schell, is a veteran of many area rock bands. He describes himself as a native and life-long resident of Stillwater, and a victim of mandatory piano lessons at age 8. Schell says that when he realized many of the people who had inspired and mentored him were gone, he decided he needed to get their stories down, and Garage Sounds is the result. Most of the posters, candid photos, publicity shots and memorabilia items pictures in the book came from the personal collections of the musicians.

So, if you were a teen who hung out at the Stage Door or just have a love of the music from the '60s and '70s, this book is for you! And, who knows, maybe you'll see someone or something from your past.

Garage Sounds is available in a limited hard-cover edition, and costs $40.

Schell and several of the former 1960s music greats of the area will be at the Warden's House Museum on Saturday December 13th autographing the book and listening to that good old Rock 'n' Roll.

For more information about the event, please contact the Washington County Historical Society at (651) 439-5956.