The singer takes the stage at the Door County Beer Festival

Cory Chisel grew up the son of a classical musician mother, but for 40 years he avoided following in her footsteps.

“I always felt his abilities were way beyond me when I was a kid,” he says. “And it also seemed very difficult.”

But when the pandemic put an end to the Appleton-based folk rocker and co-founder of Mile of Music’s live shows and tours, Chisel found himself accessing another part of his brain.

“Writing about perseverance in the midst of a mass extinction of what we’re doing in live music — it got really hard,” he says. “I had to switch mediums to make it work for me.”

Chisel – who has collaborated with Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones and Rodney Crowell, and appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late show with David Lettermanand Late Night with Jimmy Fallon — made the transition to the work that so many of his musician friends had taken up years earlier: writing for film and television.

Although he says he can’t read a musical note, he was able to make the move with the help of his former stage mates Samuel Ferrell and Adam Drossart – both accomplished technical musicians who helped him to put his ideas into a different instrument.

“My artistic process has always been one-sided,” says Chisel. “There is some kind of radio station playing in my head. It’s almost never a rock and roll band – it’s always orchestral or symphonic – and I do what I can play with it. And with that, I left it out as is. I could sing whatever I heard in my head, and they could write it down.

Chisel has since created music for the pilots of several shows for Disney+ and Apple, including the musical central park. The collaborations opened the door to a new creative challenge for the Grammy-nominated songwriter who used to “dig into my soul” in isolation for creativity, not laughing throughout the creative process with collaborators. hilarious. But as gratifying as that creative effort was, Chisel still yearned for the stage.

“What I crave after COVID is just a reconnection with the core group of musicians I’ve spent so much of my life with and haven’t been able to play a live show with. for two years,” said Chisel. “We all live nearby, but we had to be in our own bubbles. Our main form of communication is art, and we have lost it.

On June 18, he will do so for the first time in two years when Cory Chisel and friends take the stage at the Door County Beer Festival at Maxwelton Braes Lodge in Baileys Harbor.

“I called a few people, and a few more, and soon we have people coming from Chicago, from Nashville,” he says of his friends who yearned to play together and jumped at the chance to come to Door County. “We’re just throwing a big party, which is my favorite thing to do. Play just for the simple pleasure of playing. It’s the perfect way to come back. I like driving a pirate ship.

They’ll be playing a good number of Chisel songs, but also a lot of songs that they were excited to try playing for the first time. “I don’t have to spend two hours playing my wrestling songs,” he says. “We want to throw the best backyard party possible and bring a special experience to Door County.”

Cory Chisel and Friends
at the Door County Beer Festival

When: Saturday June 18, 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Maxwelton Braes Lodge at Baileys Harbor
What: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Cory Chisel – and his friends – will headline the Midwest Craft Beer Festival. Beer samples from 45 craft breweries; enjoy food from five local vendors; and party with Chisel and Friends on the garden lawn.
Tickets: $50