Gerry Spehar's guest appearances

Gerry Spehar

TrumpWatch with Jesse Lent

Independent's Day Radio

Independent's Day

Donald Trump

David Smith

Sarah McBride

Kurt Andersen

Jay Michaelson

John Kelly

Jeff Sessions

Mike Pompeo

Mark Walsh

Mike Pence

Lenny Bruce

David Cay Johnston

Harry Edwards

James Comey

David Corn

OwlTail

On his new album “Anger Management,” Colorado-based singer-songwriter Gerry Spehar takes aim at President Donald Trump with a directness not often heard in country music. Formerly one half of the Spehar Brothers, Gerry performed heavily throughout the Midwest in the 1970s, sharing bills with giants of the genre like Boz Scaggs, Merle Haggard and Townes Van Zandt. But nothing in his musical past is as overtly political as “Anger Management.” His second solo album is both a dedication to that great folk hero of protest music Woody Guthrie and a refutation of Trump’s presidency. In a special one-hour episode of “TrumpWatch” on WBAI, host Jesse Lent talks to Gerry about the feelings of dissent that inspired “Anger Management,” along with what it means to be a protest singer in the Woody Guthrie tradition now that the son of the folk hero's landlord, “Old Man Trump,” is the president of the United States.

Ep 69 (5/9/18) What is the role of protest music in the Donald Trump era? Guest: Gerry Spehar

On his new album “Anger Management,” Colorado-based singer-songwriter Gerry Spehar takes aim at President Trump with a directness not often heard in country music. Formerly one half of the Spehar Brothers, Gerry performed heavily throughout the Midwest in the 1970s, sharing bills with giants of the genre like Boz Scaggs, Merle Haggard and Townes Van Zandt. But nothing in his musical past is as overtly political as “Anger Management.” His second solo album is both a dedication to that great folk hero of protest music Woody Guthrie and a refutation of the DOnald Trump presidency. In a special one-hour episode of TrumpWatch, Gerry talks about the feelings of dissent that inspired “Anger Management,” along with what it means to be a protest singer in the Woody Guthrie tradition now that the son of the folk hero's landlord (as immortalized in the Woody Guthrie song “Old Man Trump”) is the president of the United States.

<p>On his new album “Anger Management,” Colorado-based singer-songwriter Gerry Spehar takes aim at President Trump with a directness not often heard in country music. Formerly one half of the Spehar Brothers, Gerry performed heavily throughout the Midwest in the 1970s, sharing bills with giants of the genre like Boz Scaggs, Merle Haggard and Townes Van Zandt. But nothing in his musical past is as overtly political as “Anger Management.” His second solo album is both a dedication to that great folk hero of protest music Woody Guthrie and a refutation of the DOnald Trump presidency. In a special one-hour episode of TrumpWatch, Gerry talks about the feelings of dissent that inspired “Anger Management,” along with what it means to be a protest singer in the Woody Guthrie tradition now that the son of the folk hero's landlord (as immortalized in the Woody Guthrie song “Old Man Trump”) is the president of the United States.</p>

What is the role of a protest singer in the age of Donald Trump? (Gerry Spehar)

Gerry Spehar's story is unlike many others'. The first part is pretty standard for a young, aspiring musician; he started out on a Stella guitar given to him by a kindly uncle, honed his chops and hit the road. There was some success - he bummed around Europe, playing anywhere that would have him, and he then returned home and formed The Spehar Brothers with his brother George. They worked hard, earned fans and opened for artists like Boz Scaggs and Townes Van Zandt - but Spehar hadn't built the kind of career that prevented him from leaving the popular duo not long after he and his wife Sue learned that they had a second child on the way. Spehar's selfless, courageous choice brought him another kind of success, this time in the banking world, thus providing a stable, financially secure life for his family and affording him the ability to buy a home as well as a nice guitar. He never stopped tinkering with songs, however, and when their kids were grown, Spehar and Sue began to write songs together, filling their compositions with imagery, characters, and real world experiences derived from their formative years growing up in the wilds of the Colorado Rocky Mountains as well as their own adventures traveling in the American West. But even after returning to music in earnest after a three-decade detour and tapping Los Angeles' legendary band I See Hawks in L.A. to flesh out his songs in the studio, Spehar learned that life has a way of changing your tune. Sue passed away from cancer during the final stages of producing his long-awaited comeback album, I Hold Gravity. Her shadow and her spirit loom large over that now-completed album, and Spehar has dedicated his reinvigorated music career to the memory of Sue - his life partner and creative muse. I Hold Gravity is beautiful and fearless and it presents the kind of wisdom and perspective that can only come from someone who has the benefit of experience, and who knows that tragedy is part of life.

Episode 186: Gerry Spehar