User:JoeKutchera/sandbox

= Willie Wisely = Willie Wisely (born 1965) is an American pop and rock singer/songwriter, actor, producer and manager at Concord, where he works in catalog acquisitions. He has released nine studio albums and toured throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. His brother, Jake Wisely, is the former Chief Publishing Executive at Concord.

Solo Career
In 1995, musician Steven Greenberg and producer John “Strawberry” Fields signed Wisely to their label October Records, for which Wisely recorded two albums: “She” (1996) and “Turbosherbet” (1997).

Lou Carlozo at The Chicago Tribune wrote, "Wisely's latest album, "She" (October Records), brims with humor, intelligence and passionate pop craftsmanship. It has begun to garner well-deserved attention from radio stations across the country, and the success of "She" could take Wisely far beyond the Twin Cities."

Wisely composed the music for the 1996 cult-classic “Tromeo & Juliet,” written and directed by James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman. The film debuted at Cannes Film Festival and its soundtrack album included songs by Wisely.

Los Angeles Years
In 2005, Wisely released his album “Parador,” produced by Linus Of Hollywood. It came out on Not Lame Recordings and in Japan exclusively on Noise McCartney Records. In support of the album, Wisely was chosen as a World Café “Next Artist” and was interviewed and featured in performance on NPR station WXPN 88.5 FM in Philadelphia, interviewed by World Café host David Dye.

Comedian Andy Dick and Playmate of the Year Kara Monaco starred in Wisely’s music video for the song “Stayin’ Home Again”, Monaco playing Wisely’s wife. Wisely continued to work with Dick, performing, co-writing, producing the comedian’s albums “Do Your Shows Always Suck?” (Oglio 2008) and “The Darkest Day Of The Year” (2009) and contributing many original songs to Dick’s film “Danny Roane: First Time Director” (Lionsgate).

In 2008, Oglio Records (Fontana Distribution) signed Wisely to its label and released the album “Wisely,” featuring performances by long-time Paul McCartney guitarist Rusty Anderson, Joshua Grange (Dwight Yoakam, k.d. lang), Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives), Tommy Barbarella (New Power Generation), Nelson Bragg (The Beach Boys). Actress Jenna Fischer (NBC’s “The Office”) starred in the first music video from the album for the song "Through Any Window,” directed by actor, writer and director John Cabrera. Previously, Fischer had hired Wisely to compose the soundtrack for her film “LolliLove."

Return to Minneapolis
In 2020, The Minneapolis StarTribune documented Wisely’s return to Minneapolis :

“A Twin Cities fixture in the ’90s, the paisley-hued power-popper/folk-rocker is planting his roots here once again and has a lush new album to show for it titled “Face the Sun.” Fellow prodigal son John Fields co-produced, and other local vets helped out, including Jim Anton, Eric Heywood, Peter Anderson, Ken Chastain and the late Ed Ackerson.

Also in 2020, Music in Minnesota editor Erik Ritland wrote :

"Willie Wisely is something of an undervalued Minnesota legend. His time on the Minnesota music scene began in 1986 and has been going strong ever since. He has produced albums by comedian Andy Dick and Foster the People’s Mark Foster, among others. He was also Head of Promotions at First Ave for six years. His songwriting is a melodic, engaging, power pop-tinged combination of pop and rock. Face the Sun, his most recent album, was one of last year’s best.”