Billy Bronsted –

Northwoods Country & Roots musician Billy Bronsted plans to release 3 albums in 2022. The first of the bunch, his second studio record, Rhythm, Racket, & Romance is slated for release on May 2nd, 2022.  Billy’s album grew out of years of payin’ dues and playing little shows around the US. It is a work of real midwestern collaboration interspersed with some very personal moments.  “It represents those first few years of diving into my living life as a performing artist”. To support the album release Billy plans to hit some homegrown Wisconsin festivals and Venues on the weekends while he helps hammer on his family home during the weeks.​

After the release of This Bed of Mine, Bronsted began playing banjo in the bluegrass trio Linus and the Lute which recorded the EP It’s Real with Marc Golde at Rock Garden Studio in Appleton, WI. He would spend the next year hanging around the Fox Valley collaborating with local bands and artists such as Feed The Dog and Sam Luna.

The first few months of 2019 Billy toured with Sam Luna, where they performed solo and duo sets across 13 states for two and a half months. They started in Chicago and made stops in Louisville, Nashville, Asheville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, along with many, many other smaller towns in between. He returned to Wisconsin for the summer of 2019 to work and play gigs around the state, saving money for studio time to make his second solo record. The shows were often collaborative, with many performances paired with his drummer and longtime collaborator John Kneipp. Inspired by the American landscape he spent so much time touring through, Bronsted began writing more songs about his travels and their parallels to his working life back home. He would spend 2018 & 2019 taking in life experience, swinging a hammer,  gigging 3-4 times a week, and demoing songs for his sophomore album.

In January 2020, Billy booked a month-long tour spanning Kentucky, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Touring as the duo Billy Bronsted and the Loot, they brought the Milwaukee-based trio Listening Party and effectively stuffed six men, their bags, and all of their gear into one van and a 4’ x 6’ trailer. They returned home mid-February with even more ambitious goals for the next few years.

Of course, the world was put on pause almost immediately thereafter, but Billy took the time to keep plugging away at the record. After returning from a refreshing winter in the Rocky Mountains, he plans to release this new album “Rhythm, Racket, & Romance” recorded with the band on May 2nd 2022.

About Billy Bronsted and the Loot:

Billy Bronsted and the Loot are a Cosmic Country/Rock band from central Wisconsin. Billy and his percussionist John Kneipp were both born and raised in Tomahawk, WI, where their love for music was definitely thought of as “unique.” Growing up in Tomahawk instilled strong values of hard work and the importance of family, grounding them and shaping the way they walk through their lives. Their sound reflects this peaceful upbringing; there is a characteristic storytelling and writing style that is second nature to them. The duo’s raw and aggressive percussion mixed with Bronsted’s diverse acoustic playing styles pulls the listener back through time. Their albums evoke the milieu of the backwoods, where campfire strumming sets the tone for well-crafted narratives.

In 2008. Billy and John recorded their first series of demos as a duo with friends. Billy found himself working on multiple projects,  honing his talents and building his reputation in close collaboration with David Blessent, with whom he founded projects such as Linus and the Lute and One Strong Army. During this period, Bronsted crossed paths with many of his current collaborators.

In recent years, John and Billy have been hard at work creating their next evolution as performing artists, Billy Bronsted & the Loot. Billy brought the band to the studio to help finish the latest record “Rhythm, Racket, & Romance” which is set for release in October of 2021. The album was conceived through years of gigging all around Wisconsin, while taking time to jam and write with other artists. It is a work of real midwestern collaboration interspersed with some very personal moments.