When Milwaukee-native folk musician Peter Mulvey rolls into Madison this Thursday night, one thing he won't have worry about is parking. That's because Mulvey, currently in the midst of his second annual No Gas Tour,"" won't just ""roll"" in - he'll be pedaling.
Mulvey - who has captivated folk music fans from Boston's subways to Dublin's street corners for the past 20 years with his unique brand of raw acoustics - conceived the ""No Gas Tour"" last year as a way to raise awareness and, presumably, lower his heart rate. The 10-day, seven-show tour covers more than 500 miles of Wisconsin countryside. He'll start in his hometown, trace Lake Michigan as far north as Algoma and then loop back to Madison Thursday, resting his legs along the way in Sheboyan, Oshkosh and Green Lake.
Mulvey, who logged 2,500 training miles last year to condition for this grueling, minstrel-like adventure, said the most surprising thing about his '07 tour was that, after biking as many as 90 miles per day, he was still able to stand up and play his night shows without tumbling over like a kicked amp.
""It's almost like you use a totally different battery to play a show,"" Mulvey said, who plans to stay in hotels during the tour, preferably within walking distance from his venues.
Like last year, Mulvey expects his stunt to save around .15 metric tons of CO2 - a statistic that is grossly understated since he would never schedule a 10-day tour with stops in such close proximity. Unlike last year when Mulvey huffed and puffed through the back roads on his faithful, old-school bicycle, this year he got a little boost from corporate sponsorship and will ride in style on a Wheels & Sprocket recumbent bike.
The sight of Mulvey churning his way along Lake Winnebago - his guitar tagging along in a basket caboose - seems destined to turn heads, and that's just what Mulvey wants.
""I'm hoping what they're thinking is, 'Wow, I bet I could do that' with whatever it is they do, whether it be getting groceries or just going to work,"" Mulvey said.
Many of his fans, heeding that advice, biked to his shows themselves last year, and though no one can solve the oil crisis single-handedly, Mulvey is perfectly happy just being ""a little pebble in the avalanche.""
When Mulvey finally does tether his bike outside The High Noon Saloon on Thursday, those who come to see him will be doing more than just supporting a positive cause, they'll also be in for an amazing show - one that has garnered an impeccable reputation, thanks to Mulvey's rich storytelling and a song catalogue that makes JCPenny's look like a leaflet.
Adding to the suspense, Mulvey himself is not sure what he'll play at the show since his latest album, Notes From Elsewhere, essentially rehashed his career thus far - stripping down his best songs to their bare bones, round-the-campfire skeletons. Mulvey said he prefers this rustic realism to his more produced albums.
""That's not how music is for me ... a song sort of exists live and it happens once and then that's gone forever, and the next time it'll happen a little differently,"" Mulvey said. He added that his writing process is similarly spontaneous - consisting of notes jotted down here and there that slowly gather ""like mulch on the ground, and every once and a while the songs seem to grow out of that.""
Still, with his baritone, textured voice that brings to mind smoke from burning logs of damp pine and a guitar that fills the hollow gaps like the crackle of hot sap, Mulvey's yarns and poetry rarely upstage his music.
Speaking of dampness, Wisconsin's latest monsoon hasn't made life too relaxing for Mulvey, who joked before his departure about the possibility of rain.
""[If it rains,] I'm going to get wet and cry,"" Mulvey said.
That aside, the show, he assured, will go on. Mulvey is set to follow Antje Duvekot, who kicks off the show at 6:30 p.m.
