Chris Kroeze stays true to his Wisconsin roots

Kroeze will headline annual Medford Parkfest celebration Aug. 19

SHAWNA KONIECZNY

REPORTER

On Thursday, August 19, Medford will be welcoming country singer Chris Kroeze to the City Park for the annual Parkfest, presented by the Chamber of Commerce and the Medford Cooperative. The concert is free to the public, however VIP access tickets have been sold.

In preparation for Parkfest, members of the Chamber and K99 Radio host Patrick Porten spoke to Kroeze over the phone. Kroeze expressed a lot of excitement for the concert, saying that he was looking forward to being in a Wisconsin small town.

Kroeze was the runner-up on the 15th season of The Voice which premiered in the fall of 2018. The 30-yearold Barron native was coached by country star Blake Shelton. He said that the experience on The Voice and working with Blake Shelton was surreal. “Overall the whole thing was a great experience, it definitely changed my life. Gave me a good boost in my career that I needed and wanted. It was a good thing.”

For the finale of the show, Kroeze performed his original song “Human” which peaked at #39 of the Country Billboard the week of December 28, 2018. His 2020 summer hit “Summer Song” has over 200,000 streams on Spotify. Kroeze’s entire discography consists of two albums and five singles that have been released since 2018. His latest release was on April 20, 2021 with the single “Tie a Knot.”

Kroeze’s interest in music started at a young age. “When I was a little kid, we did a lot of camping around northern Wisconsin, my mom and dad and my brother. My dad always had a guitar, he’d play a few chords sitting around the campfire,” said Kroeze. “I was always kind of infatuated with it, we aren’t allowed to play dad’s guitar. But every chance we got, we’d sneak over there in the corner of the basement and strum the strings.”

His parents noticed Kroeze’s interest in the guitar so they bought him his own for his sixth birthday and he’s been playing ever since. “My dad showed me a couple of chords and gave me a big box of cassette tapes. So I started listening to it and figured out how to play what they were playing on the tapes,” said Kroeze.

For any artist or person, where one grew up plays a big role in their views on life and aspirations. Kroeze grew up in Barron, Wisconsin where he still lives today with his family. He said that growing up in Wisconsin played a big influence on his interest in country music. “A lot of country songs, you relate with the small town living.”

Kroeze started playing for audiences when he was a teenager. “Music has always been something I’ve loved. I started playing in bars when I was thirteen,” said Kroeze. “Probably from when I turned 20 until I turned 27 when I went out to L.A., I was playing in bars probably 250 -275 nights a year. So you don’t really get a break for anything. Then when I went out to L.A., I did that on TV. Then I came home from that and we hit the road. It’s been a better part of a decade that I’ve been playing like crazy.”

When Kroeze moved out to Los Angeles, California for The Voice, he learned how to perform on a much bigger stage than he was used to. He also got to meet famous musicians, including the judges of The Voice. “It’s kind of crazy, you’re kind of desensitized to it because you’re in L.A. and there’s celebrities everywhere and so get used to it,” said Kroeze.

Kroeze still stays in contact with some of the other contestants that he met on the show and he said that he and Shelton text back and forth occasionally. He said that it can be hard to stay in contact because the show moves so fast. The Voice will usually have two seasons premiere each year.

While Kroeze was very excited to move back to Wisconsin, his experience on the show helped him grow as an entertainer. “I’d like to think that I’ve become more of a performer rather than just a musician.” A big part that I always struggled with was entertaining,” said Kroeze. Playing in bars is different than having to entertain a whole audience and completely captivate their whole attention.

Kroeze’s career started to take off before COVID-19 shut the world down. He released an album and a holiday single in 2019, but only released two singles in 2020 after the pandemic started. He said that having everything shut down and his career slow down gave him a better appreciation for performing.

“When you’re playing almost 300 nights a year, there are times when it’s not fun anymore, but having it shut down and having it taken away really makes you appreciate getting to do that, being able to do that. So this year has been, hands down, the most fun I’ve ever had on stage. I’ve never seen crowds so into the music and so into just being out with other people,” said Kroeze.

Growing up playing music for others really helped Kroeze when his professional career started. He said that while it really does help to play in front of people in bars or other gigs at such an early age, it can also be a burden. “It’s a blessing and a curse. You get really good at what you’re doing, but it’s also really hard to expand what you’re doing,” said Kroeze.

Along with being a performer, Kroeze is also a songwriter. He said that there are a variety of ways that he approaches his songwriting. “There’s really no set in stone way for me anyway,” said Kroeze.

“It’s always different. I have a little home studio and sometimes I’ll just build tracks, record drums, baseline and guitars, and just see what I come up with that way. If I find a chunk of something in it that I liked, then I might try to write something to that,” said Kroeze. “Sometimes you’re driving down the road and you get an idea for a line in song or a hook for a song in your head, and you write a song around that.”

He puts a lot of his ideas for songs in his notes app on his phone, writing down random tidbits and lyric idea. Kroeze said that if someone were to look at all his notes, they’d be very confused. “Sometimes it’s hard to decipher even for myself.”

Kroeze does a lot of his songwriting in Nashville, Tenn. While he does spend a good amount of time in Nashville, he said that he has no intention to ever move there. He really enjoys living in Wisconsin even though he travels a lot. “I go to Nashville a lot for writing and I do all my recording there, but with today’s technology I got a home studio and I get to do a lot right from home and email the files down to Nashville and they put it all together in the studio,” said Kroeze.

Kroeze wants to spend as much time at home as he can with his family. “I got young kids and I don’t want to raise them anywhere else except where I was raised,” said Kroeze.

Kroeze is looking forward to performing his songs for the Medford area community. In terms of future plans, Kroeze has a number of concerts scheduled and is anticipating a new single to be released sometime this upcoming fall.

THE STAR NEWS