Back when I was working as an attorney at Faegre & Benson, I went to see Martin Zellar perform Neil Diamond’s songs on a Sunday night at the old O’Gara’s Bar and Grill at Snelling and Selby in Saint Paul. The show was advertised to begin at 8:00 p.m. I arrived a little early and made my way into the bar’s attached performance space. When the show had yet to begin by 9:00 or so, I was told it wouldn’t crank up until 10:00. Drat! Monday, Monday. I was worried about getting up for work the next morning and went back home.
Zellar was the front man for the alt-country flavored Minnesota band Gear Daddies. I never did get to see Martin’s Neil! show, but I finally caught up with Zellar himself at the Dakota this past Thursday evening. It was his first time at the Dakota — he said he had declined previous invitations, feeling it was too classy for him (my words, not his).
Reviewing his life and career through his songs, Zellar put on a powerful show. I love the occasional grittiness of his vocals. He is a charismatic performer. He seems to me ruggedly handsome. Unlike James Dean, he is tall and lanky, but he otherwise looks like Dean might have looked if Dean had lived to age 62 rather than die in the wreck that took his life at age 24.
Zellar is still doing the Neil! show on occasion. Thanks to YouTube I found a video that gives some idea of what I missed on that Sunday night way back back when. The video comes from an appearance in recent years at Crooners Supper Club in the Twin Cities suburb Fridley. I will have to catch up with him there the next time around. His son Wilson backs him on lead guitar. Singer Ali Gray contributes the harmony part.
Peforming before many of his old friends, some of whom are featured in the songs, Zellar placed the songs in context Thursday night. “This was on the setlist before I knew you were here,” he said at a few points in the show as he called out to his friends by name.
Zellar said “2-18” was one of the first two songs he wrote at age 17. U.S. Route 218 is the primary north-south highway that runs through his home town of Austin, Minnesota. The song was originally released as a single in 1987 on the independent label Gark. It turned up on the final Gear Daddies album Can’t Have Nothin’ Nice in 1992.
“Statue of Jesus” is off the Gear Daddies’s album Let’s Go Scare Al (1988). Originally released on the independent label Gark, the album was rerelased on Polydor after PolyGram signed the band. Zellar frankly discussed his love for his parents, his drinking days, and his continuing struggles with depression, some of which can be heard in the song. He plucked this song from the album for the show Thursday night.
Polydor was, to say the least, a major label. Billy’s Live Bait (1990) was the album the Gear Daddies recorded for Polydor. “Stupid Boy” attracted the attention of David Letterman when Letterman heard a staffer playing it. It landed the band an invitation to appear on the show after the album seemed to have completed its sales cycle. The Letterman appearance gave the album new life. Video of their performance on the Leterman show is posted on YouTube.
Billy’s Live Bait is a strong album. Indeed, the first three tracks are particularly strong. “Stupid Boy” was the first. “Sonic Boom” was the second. The song comes directly out of his experience growing up in Austin. He said the “sonic boom” was created by Air Force jets flying over his home back in Austin.
“Wear Your Crown” was the the album’s third track. He included all three of these songs in his set Thursday night.
Zellar recounted his resistance to including “(I Wanna Drive The) Zamboni” on Billy’s Live Bait. Polydor management was insistent. He reached a compromise. They could include it on the album, but only as a hidden track.
Despite Zellar’s precaution, the song took on a life of its own. He may not be entirely happy about feeling obligated to include it in his shows. However, the story he told about later running into the guy who drove the Zamboni at the ice rink where he played hockey in Austin was hilarious (and X-rated). Suffice it to say that the Zamboni guy is grateful to Zellar.
The final Gear Daddies album was an odds-and-ends compilation they titled Can’t Have Nothin’ Nice (1992). Their cover of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” seems to me to refute the title.
The band fought with Polydor, released that odd-and-ends compilation on their own, and broke up pending subsequent reunions. Zellar has gone on to a fruitful solo career. I am drawing here mostly on his setlist last week. He didn’t include songs from terrific recordings such as Born Under (1994), The Many Moods of Martin Zellar and the Hardways (1998), or Roosters Crow (2012). They are full of rich and rewarding material. “Lie To Me” and “Clues” will have to stand in for these recordings. You can hear the continuing impact of country.
The twang of “Clues” is a clue in itself.
During the show he credited Del Shannon and Bruce Springsteen as major influences on his songwriting. He said that he first heard Del Shannon’s “Runaway” on the American Graffiti soundtrack double album — 41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti — at his uncle’s house. “Runaway” inspired him to be a songwriter. He said that he identified Shannon as a fellow depressive through the song. He discusses it in “About that song.” Playing it Thursday night, he tried unsuccessfully to whistle the organ solo on Shannon’s recording. I nevertheless appreciated his inclusion of the song in his set.
He singled out Springsteen for his gifts as a storyteller. He raved about Minneapolis’s own Replacements for the songwriting of Paul Westerberg. Westerberg showed Zellar how he could be himself in lyrics. The video below captures Zellar playing the Replacements’ “Here Comes a Regular” with his son Wilson on electric guitar during Thursday night’s show.
Many of his personal remarks were oriented to his family. He repeatedly referred to his father. He recounted his father’s struggles with heart disease while Zellar was growing up. His referred to his father’s six open-heart surgeries and his family’s related financial struggles.
All but one of Zellar’s remarks during the show were self-deprecating. He talked about his reluctance to ask the woman whom he later married for a date. She was too beautiful for him, he said. He thought there was no way she would go out with him and he didn’t want to suffer rejection. After he had run into her a few times at his shows, however, one of them suggested they should try a date.
I need to see the show again — I can’t remember which of them it was. Zellar opens his own heart non-surgically on “A Thousand Little Things,” a tribute to his wife Carolyn. They have been married now for more than 35 years. The recording was released as a standalone single in 2017.
Zellar recorded “A Thousand Little Things” while working on Head West. The album made for the sole exception to his self-deprecation. He expressed unqualified pride in it. It is a family affair, including the dedication “with much love to my mom & dad.” He recorded the disc at his home studio in Mexico. His son Wilson played the guitar parts. Daughter Clementine added a little percussion. His son Owen engineered it. His wife took the photos for the packaging. “Head West” is the title track.
“We Ran Wild (Back in the Day)” tells his story with a wry allusion to the “Zamboni” song. “Who would have that cow would give milk this long?” This might have been the last number he played Thursday night. I know we left on a high note.
