Good music tends to come from one of two places: pain or passion. Osseo’s Brian Bethke, who will release his second album, Auburdeen, in May, has written and performed from both ends of that spectrum.

“I felt hopeless and just pissed off,” said Bethke who was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2005, a disease whose signatures are debilitating migraines and chronic pain.

    “It threw us for a loop – I lost my job, I would be in bed for weeks at a time,” remembers Bethke, who became a full-time stay-at-home dad after not being able to perform the physical tasks in his career in electronics.

Playing guitar in bars and coffee houses since he was 15 for extra money, Bethke began using writing as a way of dealing with his physical and emotional pain. He began performing acoustically at Doubleday’s and, eventually, throughout the Midwest as a way of still contributing to his three children and wife, Sarah, who had to return to work after Brian‘s diagnosis.

“I had always had the drive to be a professional musician. This made me take the next step,” said Bethke.

In May 2008, The Brian Bethke Band released The Glass Album with Bethke’s independent label, Empathy Records. Accompanied by drummer Derek Biederman and bassist Jacob Ulwelling, Bethke describes The Glass Album as more angry than his current style. After receiving some radio play and success, as well as a feature on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Spectrum West, the band parted ways.

“I feel less in-your-face, less pissed off at life,” says Bethke of his upcoming solo release. “It’s a lot about family, life, just more personal and heartfelt. Like shedding my old skin.”

And Auburdeen definitely shows a man that knows himself and the range he is capable of. If there is such a thing as a polished demo sound, Bethke achieves it.

“I like everything from metal to bluegrass, but I meant it to be country back woodsy, an old sound, like something you would find in your grandparents attic,” says Bethke.

That rough, organic quality shows through in Feral, featuring Bethke’s first attempt at a slide guitar. The song sounds like a twangy, country-devil-inspired jam. Bethke admits to almost always liking the first demo the best on his current album.

    “All the tracks are honestly from within the first 30 minutes of recording,” said Bethke.

Bright guitar contradicts perfectly with dark, cold months on Winters So Lonely, which will also be featured in the new indie film Big Star, which was filmed in Eau Claire. Finalized shows bluesy, down-home vocals you would never imagine emanating from a blond Wisconsin boy. Auburdeen’s title track is filled with ghostly “oh no’s” and “woo hoo’s” that, as others have pointed out, could be a great crowd participation song.

Bethke has sincerity in his voice on Sandlane, a nostalgic tune that sounds made for radio play. It’s a genuine sincerity that could set him apart from the other singer/songwriter or bluegrass musicians of the Chippewa Valley. 

“I know how to write songs, not music. I just feel like it’s more mellow and heartfelt than a lot of stuff around here.”

In addition to accompaniment from Biederman on the track Handler, Auburdeen also features local world flute hero Peter Phippen on the song The Kiss (check out a live video on Bethke’s MySpace page).

Bethke will kick off his own Southern Folk Tour this summer reaching as far as Georgia and Florida. “It’s super grassroots – we looked where people were buying the album and asked ‘Hey do you want us to come play you some new stuff?’”

You can catch Bethke on Wednesday nights hosting open mic at the Stones Throw. He is also a performer and organizer at this summer’s second annual Levis Fest.

    Auburdeen will be officially released May 31. You can here for free at http://virb.com/brianbethkemusic/player.