WAIM #074 - Deer & Elk

After a lengthy hiatus from the podcast, I am back in the captain’s chair. Season 3 is sure to be packed with in-depth interviews, special guests, and more forays into the hidden corners of our culture. What Am I Making is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Jeff Gower and Jason Lantrip are two of my favorite people in the world. I won’t pretend to be objective about it, even in the guise of an interview. More than 15 years ago, the pair invited me to join The Stick Arounds, a new power pop band that they were forming. For the last decade and half we have been cranking out songs together, playing shows across the midwest, and we’ve built a true musical family along the way. That musical partnership is a foundational bedrock in my work as a singer, songwriter and guitar player. Jason and Jeff are also two of my nearest and dearest friends apart from our band activities. Over the last year and a half as I have focused my attention on touring as a solo artist, activity within the Sticks has slowed to a trickle. Gradually, we wound up getting together less often and found ourselves on a sort of hiatus. While each of us has found ways to fill that time away from a full-time pursuit of the band, Jeff and Jason have poured themselves into a new two man outfit they’ve christened Deer & Elk. Jason best described the sound of Deer & Elk as “The stuff we heard in the backseat of the car in the 70s and 80s.”Deer & Elk have channeled a very specific brand of acoustic/electric songs that evoke a period of American songwriting that is often unfairly derided. With a bevy of cover tunes and a slate of excellent original material, the duo have carved out a repertoire that is equal parts classic country, AM Gold, and soft power pop. Part of the impetus to push in this musical direction was led by work that Jason had done in the Stick Arounds incorporating more country style playing into his parts. Now, in Deer & Elk those chops can come to the fore.  Jeff’s massive songbook of covers and original material made for the perfect platform for Deer & Elk to stand tall. By incorporating a slew of classic country covers, trucker songs, forgotten folk rock hits, and the chewy sweetness of AM Gold, the pair have quickly developed an impressive catalog of sonic offerings. Their original songs, like the brand new trucker single ‘Big Penny’, feel refreshingly new, yet achingly familiar. Taking the songwriting ethos, and a pack of tunes from a maligned era might seem like a bad business move for a pair of performers in middle age, but Deer & Elk seem to have hit a nerve. While they have primarily kept their shows in the Lansing area, Jeff and Jason are playing regularly to good crowds nearly every weekend. ‘Big Penny’, an original tune about Lansing’s legendary truck eating bridge has become something of a local phenomenon. There has been coverage in MLive, Lansing City Pulse, and there is a forthcoming feature on the Behind The Mitten pod as well. Apparently Lansing has fallen head over heels for a trucker tune. The three of us also talk about the economic conditions of the present day that seem to echo the original trucker era as well. We find ourselves at a time when workers are feeling especially devalued and frustrated in their work. The wealth gap is steadily increasing between the haves and have nots, and the working man and woman rightly feel squeezed. It’s hard to know how much of that sentiment is behind what drives Deer & Elk or in the way they are being received, but it feels like part of the puzzle.Be sure to check out the full video for ‘Big Penny’ below, and you can even snag your own copy of the single now on the Phonophore Records Bandcamp page. And look for more releases in 2025 from the boys in Deer & Elk.Here now is my conversation with my dearest of friends, Deer & Elk.Cheers,Matty C Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe