The Swampers and their many, stringed instruments.

Jerry Way writes songs that allow Chippewa Falls neighbors to rub elbows with each, other and exchange knowing glances – to revel in their community in much  the same way an inside joke allows friends to indulge in their shared past.  Way spent November through early summer this year writing melodies, lyrics, and chords for The Swampers, a ragtag bunch of community musicians with impressive credentials who bring their flutes and kazoos to the arrangements. Each summer since 2002, the group has performed an original set list in celebration of Pure Water Days. Way’s favorite piece debuting this year is entitled No Silica Sand Plant, a song whose agenda is no secret. “That one looms pretty large ... it definitely takes a stand,” he says, chuckling. They will also be namedropping the Leinie Lodge, Cray computers, the Christmas village, and Irvine Park Zoo. Each toe-tapping song will be preceded by stories and enhanced with photographs (some gleaned from lass negatives that have been preserved by the Historical Society) on a projection screen. Way says their particular strain of music is not synonymous with bluegrass. “That’s from down south,” says Way. “Swampgrass grows organically out of the swamps like marsh grass ... it’s definitely of the northland,” he says. In the sawing, chopping, lumber-jacking days of Chippewa Falls, “swampers” were the lowliest of the forest workers, cutting limbs from the trunks of already-felled trees and raking in the least pay. This collaborative project reclaims the spirit of these lowly men. “I guess we’re just humble,” says Way. “So that’s who we identify with.”

    Play that Swampgrass Music – The Swampers Annual Concert • August 11 • Heyde Center for the Arts, 3 N High St., Chippewa Falls • 7:30-9:30pm • Adults $10, Seniors $9, Youth $6, Family of four $28 • 726-9000