Musician Jim Ulwelling’s solo album, This Old Town, features memories
of his childhood in Durand.

Whatever happened to Eddie Sabelko? I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve ever asked that question. I don’t even know Eddie Sabelko, but Jim Ulwelling of Biesterveld does. Sabelko is the topic of the aptly named “Whatever Happened To Eddie Sabelko?” from Biesterveld’s recently released debut album, This Old Town. As it turns out, Sabelko and Ulwelling used to ride the school bus together when they were kids. The song hearkens back to Ulwelling’s sweet memories of his childhood in Durand. It is really a sad song in some ways, as it seems to betray the singer’s inner desire to recapture memorable moments and people from his past. The theme of desiring what has been lost runs throughout This Old Town.

If you live in Durand or have spent a significant amount of time there, there are likely lyrical elements in “This Old Town” that will resonate with your experiences. In a recent interview, Ulwelling told me, “Many of the songs were written about my hometown of Durand. Some were written while I was growing up there; some were written about the town after I left.” In the Eddie Sabelko song, Ulwelling refers to Snuffy’s Pizza and Thursday night dances at City Hall. In the title track, which has been getting some radio airplay on local stations, he bemoans how he and his friends “wasted all our days, and wasted all our nights down in this old town,” referring to the lack of jobs for young people and not having much to do other than “booze” at the local bar.

The album is somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster. There is the angst of a lover leaving (“Hey, Wait”). There are the fun memories of high school frivolity in “Chinese Fire Drill” (“Get out, get out and get stupid”). Then there’s the regret of wasted time in “This Old Town.” While there is happy nostalgia in the mix, the overwhelming feeling I get from the album is a sense of mourning over what has been lost.

Nowhere is that mourning more prevalent than in “Song For One,” an epic, Pink Floydish ballad focused on grieving the loss of a loved one. The sorrow in this song is evident in the lyrics, musically, and in the instrumentation. Along with the emotive quality of the song, there is a pretty amazing, emotionally intense guitar solo by Ron Lee. This is easily my favorite song on the album, and I appreciate how Ulwelling has very effectively invited the listener into his own personal pain. It takes courage to be that vulnerable.

Lee is only one of the contributors to This Old Town. Phil Solem from The Rembrandts played guitar on five songs. Local mainstay Sue Orfield played sax on a couple of songs (her contribution to “Chinese Fire Drill” is a lot of fun). Adam Ollendorff of Kacey Musgraves and Adam Beard from Will Hoge also participated. John Richardson, former drummer for The Gin Blossoms, recorded and produced the album at his Drum Farm Studios in Menomonie.

Ulwelling had been planning to record a solo album for years before his band-mates in Polly Baker finally pushed him to go through with it. He’s glad he listened to them, as the recording experience has been highly rewarding for him personally. Ulwelling told me, “The excitement of putting this record together has me thinking that, rather than finally doing one album and calling it a day, I am looking forward to the next one!”

The name “Biesterveld” is an homage to Ulwelling’s Dutch heritage, his ethnic lineage from his mother’s side of the family. Ulwelling writes that “because of (my mother’s) battle with Alzheimer’s, I need to assure myself I will never forget a heritage that she is slowly forgetting.”

Whenever an artist shares personal experience-oriented songs, that artist has become vulnerable to the listener. Again, I applaud Ulwelling’s courage to do so. And the self-sharing that I hear in This Old Town reveals some intense personal loss ... loss of love, innocence, time, life ... and a yearning to regain what was lost.