Logan Springer and The Wonderfully Wild embrace their Midwest roots to create Heartland Americana steeped in the amalgamation of country and rock. Lyrically they lean towards the Country storyteller, while musically, they swing from Bluegrass’ish, Country, Southern Rock to fuzzy Blues.
Logan Springer and The Wonderfully Wild’s Midwest background informs their mission to make a style of music that is uniquely Midwestern. Springer felt like an observer, never feeling accepted or part of the story where he was raised. Because of that, he focuses on how he imagines people from his area feel and talk, getting the manner of speech correct to the Midwest.
The group’s influences range from Neil Young to John Steinbeck, with songs that tell the story of the Midwest – storms crossing the plains, long, painful winters, backwoods hideouts, and searching for a place to call home. These themes arise from Springer’s upbringing on a share crop farm in rural central Illinois, where the struggles and beauties impact the imagery and stories within their songs. Springer’s main inspiration comes from his raising and trying to understand why people from where he’s from do what they do and why they make the decisions they make, right or wrong. By capturing the everyday lives of Americans, he attempts to turn the mundane into something interesting. Springer says, “I believe we as a society overlook some amazing stories because they’re not shiny or fancy enough for people to care. Life is beautiful and tragic all the time. Pain is pain; it’s all relative.”
Leaving the farm to attend college in Iowa, followed by a circuitous route living in DC and St. Louis opened his eyes to the rest of the country and world, eventually making his way back home to the Midwest. Springer says, “Living in different parts of the country, not just visiting, has given me the ability to vocalize what I’m seeing and feeling. It’s given me more than just a rural point of view.”
Springer is, at heart, a farm boy but doesn’t go the obvious route toward Country music. While it is at the core of his writing tendencies lyrically, it was a conscious decision to move more towards the rock side of Americana. Springer says, “In our corner of the world, people are either a fan of Country music or Classic Rock music; I wanted to skirt that line and hopefully appeal to both sides.”
In 2021 Logan Springer released his debut album, “Coyote.” Since that release, he’s expanded a full band with The Wonderfully Wild. The current lineup includes Ben Schwind (bass guitar, backing vocals), Murray Lee Rice (piano, organ, guitar), Logan Myers (drums), and Tom Swanson (lead guitar, backing vocals). The band has opened for Mike and the Moonpies, Alex Williams, and The Ghost of Paul Revere.
In March of 2023 they released their follow-up album, Crow.
Music
This Davenport, Iowa-based band is a cousin of Drivin’ n’ Cryin,’ the Bottle Rockets, Southwind, Jason & the Scorchers, Drive-By Truckers & so many other roots-based well-chiseled acts that take songs to a level many artists dare not touch. It’s a stormy Midwest place, it’s blue-collar sweat, it’s smokey tunes in a warm sinister wind & all told in a voice that’s seen & experienced things.
– Americana Highways
‘Your typical country song is like the social media of music; it only shows the good parts. I want to show what life out in the middle is really like, without all of the polish,’ explains Springer on the motivational force that brought CROW into being. He makes his point with flying colours on an album that hardly allows the listener to draw breath and, for maximum impact, should be checked out at very high volume and from start to finish.
– Lonesome Highway
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