Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Myhre.
Hi Colleen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in 1970, I grew up on a farm west of Barnum MN. In the house or the barn, music was always on the record player or radio. I would sing to the tunes as loud as I could. I was my Dad’s personal DJ too spinning vinyl all evening long. My mom and dad’s friends were musicians and would come to the farm and jam on weekends if they weren’t already gigging somewhere else.
My mom would have me sing Tanya Tucker’s Delta Dawn for the folks and a big cheer would be granted. I was hooked. I never went outside to play with the other kids because I was gazing at the pickers and wanted nothing more than to join in with both playing instruments and singing along. I had a small old chord organ in the house that I would pick at and learn songs by ear. I knew back then that C, F, and G fit most of the country music tunes I was subjected to, my mom and dad learned that I could hear songs and figure them out on that little organ without anyone showing me how to do it.
So for my ninth birthday, they sold one of their cows to buy me a piano. Best day of my life. From there, I was learning new songs and writing my own as well. I entered every talent show or performance concert all over the county. I sang and played all through high school. Went to St Scholastica in Duluth Mn for a couple of years, studying music and learning voice with William Bastian. The best Tenor ever! That would be a whole other story in itself. Needless to say, I didn’t make it through college and found myself waitressing and singing karaoke at every karaoke bar in the area belting out Janis Joplin tunes. Followed the Grateful Dead in my early 20s until Jerry died.
I was 25 then and my friend (husband now) bought me my first guitar, a middle-line Gibson Epiphone. I had friends show me chords on the guitar and I would study how they played them. Age of 27, I got married and by the age of 30, I became a mother to my son, Saul. I had another son, Luke, in a couple more years. In that same year as my first son was born, I saw Charlie Parr at Rob’s Mahtowa Tavern and just knew that I wanted to play like him. Then and there I decided to practice more and get out gigging.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road and I wouldn’t change a thing. I couldn’t imagine any artist having a smooth road. Lucky for them if that happens. I guess I’ll start at the age of when I decided that I’d like to pursue this dream of mine, that was at the age of 30. Not having the best self-confidence, ok let’s be real, riddled with fear of not being good enough, I forged on. Ryan Bingham has a song that says being a musician is not for the weary kind.
Wholeheartedly true. I fought more battles with myself than I’d like to admit. Working full time, raising two sons, and trying to find time to gig made me feel like I was not enough. Drinking became more prominent and gigging became less. I fought the battle of alcoholism for about ten years before I got sober. I haven’t touched a drop since Jan. 8th, 2015. Now, I have the challenge of being a sober musician, trying to stay sober in bar gigs for the first time, and trying to figure out who you are. A whole bunch of mind fuckery.
So if a battle is working on yourself and trying to become a good person and a good musician, I have fought it. I’m still trying to win that war. I take pride in that and am very proud of how things are coming along for me. Performing sober is such a blessing. Organizing the band, booking, making wish lists, purchasing equipment, and joining other bands are all benefits of being sober and it gives the music, the performance, and the listeners what they deserve.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My name is Colleen Myhre. Boss Mama is my stage name. I specialize in making connections with people through my music. I write, play, and sing songs of truth, personal emotion, gambling, addiction, and love. Real human emotion and I pour it into every single note. The best way I can describe myself is soul, rhythm, and grit. I play a 1966 Guild shallow hollow-body guitar. The real Boss in Boss Mama. Heavy blues rhythm and a style of my own. I’m proud of that.
I’m also proud of the fact that I have 3 albums and am in the process of releasing my 4th coming real soon as I’m writing my 5th. I’ve been performing for 20+ years but have hit my stride lately. Trying to hit every music festival possible in the area. I play solo gigs and I also have a band called Boss Mama & The Jebberhooch. I have had great pleasure in my years of playing with some Minnesota greats.
Charlie Parr was so gracious in playing on my first album and helped me a lot with his wisdom when I first started. He was an enormous help. Other fine performers that I have been so lucky to play with are Tony Petersen, lead guitarist and banjo player of Social Animals, and now Prank Williams and Ditchbird. Nate Heynum, mandolinist of Black River Review, Jacob & Owen Mahon, and Ryan and Jesse Dermody of Brothers Burn Mountain just to name a few. Currently, recent bandmates of The Jebberhooch are upright bassist, Jeff Gilbertson, pianist Caleb Anderson and my son on drums, Saul Myhre.
My husband and I bought a small golf course in Mahtowa, MN 3 years ago. The course had shut down due to COVID and poor business. My husband was about to retire from his State job and needed to find something to do for the next 10 years. It was like a gift from heaven. It was named 29 Pines and had some baggage so we decided to name it The Rugged Spruce Golf Club, www.golfruggedspruce.com. We knew we wanted to include live music in our business. The first year, we booked as many performers as we could and had them play on the rock-covered ground where we parked the golf carts. In the second year, we decided to build a stage as we experienced success in the venture.
We were so blessed with performers that I had supported through the years agreeing immediately to play for us. It wasn’t just the music, it was the community and unconditional support of the music world. There is no feeling like welcoming people you have helped along the way and having them perform at a venue where MUSIC is the most important thing.
We have a few cover bands come in to support the local market, but most of our bands blend their originals in with traditional songs. It’s an amazing experience. The only drawback is that as we get more and more people, we have to book bands earlier and earlier to get who we want! I think people recognize that it takes years in the music industry and a lot of hard work and failure to get to this point. To be able to come out of that on the backside and be a part of something much bigger than just the music is simply what drives my train. It’s truly amazing and we both are so proud of it.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Defining success is always a hard question for me. Ok, here it goes… I’m a singer, a writer, and a guitar player, all I want to do is play the songs that I wrote and show folks my art, my gift. It’s the only way that I can truly express myself. And if people want to come and listen and possibly relate to what I have to say or feel then that to me is a success. I think as a performer, this is a really important question.
All of the glitz and glamor that comes along with some sort of fame has a dark side. “Be careful what you wish for” kind of thing. Understanding and realizing what success is, is in itself, very difficult. We always want to become better and play more. We often discount what we have accomplished and how that translates into the whole social fabric and community. I’ve somehow managed to encourage and befriend many artists who are just beginning their journeys.
When I get to see them perform at live venues in front of thousands of people, it makes my heart sing. I can feel the appreciation that I can only imagine they feel for me. These are lifetime relationships through thick and thin. All artists have ups and downs, so supporting them unconditionally is something I relish, and hope that it brings brightness to the dark times and ecstasy to the light. A place when things come together and the music exceeds just sounds, vocals and chords is absolute euphoria.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.colleenmyhre.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bossmama.music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bossmama.music/
- Other: https://bandcamp.com/colleenmyhre
Image Credits
Jace Martinetto, Ron Kutsi, Aaron Reichow, and Jill Fisher
