Album Notes

Bryce Black and his wife Kathleen have lived since 1978 on their 60-acre homestead, Ostensible Farm, on the banks of Plum Creek near Arkansaw, Wisconsin.

Their neighbors, Yata Peinovich and his wife Jean Accola, live in a remodeled country schoolhouse in Big Coulee.

Bryce’s day job is restoring vintage water pumping windmills. He regards himself as the curator of a vast museum consisting of all the windmills in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Yata is a retired social worker and helps Jean run the Accola Gallery in Durand, WI.

Bryce and Yata have had a fruitful songwriting and performing collaboration for over 20 years. They recently released their long-brewing first CD, Sheer Caffeine. It features 13 witty and thought-provoking original songs. They range from wicked social satire and irreverent whimsy, to the profound, heartfelt meditation "Loving the Questions."

One of the funniest songs on the album, "Mad Cow," (a moooving invitation to "express your inner bovine") won First Prize in the Folk Song Competition at the 2004 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference.

Bryce's rich bass voice is perfectly offset by Yata’s deft vocal harmonies and irresistible jazz/rock/reggae/blues flavored rhythm guitar work. Yata has performed on A Prairie Home Companion and was a member of Minneapolis trio Artesian Dreams (recipient of a Minnesota Music Association award for Best Folk Band).

This album was produced by Bruce Hecksel of the nationally known "Fast Forward Folk" duo Patchouli. Bruce is a man of many talents, who variously adds lead guitar, bass, banjo, keyboards, marimba, and a broad spectrum of percussion to these eclectic, imaginative folk/acoustic arrangements.