Thanks for tuning in, our guests on the morning show today.
Candidate for State Senator Jenna Jacobson.
Welcome, first time with WRC.
Oh, Jenna, how are you doing?
I'm Gual Hario
doing great.
Thanks for joining us here today.
Thank you for having me.
You bet.
You bet.
So you're serving right now in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Yeah.
District
50.
Yep.
Yep.
The new District 50.
I know this used to be the previous District 50.
It did get redrawn and that leads us also into the Senate race.
Howard Markline, who of course is the incumbent, represented Richland Center for a long time and then the districts were redrawn.
He does not.
It's kind of all around us.
Yeah, that's fair.
but not Richland Center anymore.
And you live, I think, in Oregon, Wisconsin.
I do.
Yeah.
Okay.
And I believe before you went state level, you served on their village board.
I did.
Okay.
So tell me, tell us, as you climbed that ladder, why'd you get into politics?
Why be an elected official?
Yeah.
Well,
So I first ran for the village board because it was after the 2016 elections and my husband and I were talking about what we were hearing from our community and basically we heard that people didn't feel listened to, they didn't feel like government was responsive to them and I was a stay at home mom with three kids, I thought I had extra time on my hands, I did not but I thought I did and I thought well how can I help my community?
moved through this and I talked to some folks on the village board and decided that I would throw my hat in the ring to run for village board because I love getting out and talking to folks and hearing what they have to say and I think the best ideas usually come from the people who are dealing with an issue the most and so when we're talking about the village and where it wanted to go and what people were looking for for their vision for the community, getting out and talking to those folks and learning from them was the best way to do that in my opinion.
Excellent.
Thanks for serving there.
And then you stepped up to the state level, completely different level of things.
Yeah.
Represent a lot more people, a lot bigger area.
So going through that transition from village of Oregon to state assembly, what was that transition like?
Well, it's, it's funny because I'd never
considered running for a state level office.
It was actually my assembly representative who was like, hey, have you ever considered this?
And I said, no, no, no, be careful who you say no to, right?
Because she worked on me over time and eventually when the math changed and we no longer had an incumbent in the village, I thought, you know, I was thinking about
village board and how so much of our struggles at the village level were because we were losing local control and we were having a lot of unfunded mandates at the village level that we were struggling to keep up with.
We weren't getting additional funding, but the demands on us from the state were continuing to come at a fast and furious pace and how kind of back to that original idea of like who was standing up and saying like,
This is a problem.
Our community cannot continue to provide services and not get additional funding.
I also had three kiddos at that point.
Most of them were in the school system.
And so there was also the conversation of, you know, I've been working on affordable housing in the village and the interplay between the lack of funding for our schools and how that makes housing more affordable because it drives up property taxes.
And so again, I thought, Hey, I could
I can get out there and I can talk to more, you know, a bigger group of folks in the assembly district and fight for some of these things that from what I was hearing, we all cared about and wanted to see movement on.
Okay.
Now let's stay right there.
I have experience with city government, local government.
Okay.
Yeah.
So just last night was a city council meeting and they were looking at the health insurance they offer city employees and they went over the, again, astounding increase in premium costs again,
which
has been happening every year.
And the city administrator put a,
PowerPoint slide on the wall and showed them what the city levy did year over year and compared it to where just insurance premiums went up more than what the levy went up for the city of Richland center.
So I agree with you when you say local smaller municipalities are having trouble under state law keeping up with the costs.
Let's go right there.
What can be done to address that?
Well I think we have to look at how we do insurance.
I know we counties specifically have the ability to partner with the state but we have to be looking at more what we can be doing to make insurance more affordable for folks and in addition to more affordable for folks that they can get care in their communities because one of the things that we have
or feedback that I've heard from folks is, sure, maybe I can go on the marketplace and get insurance, but then I have to drive to Sparta or somewhere else that's pretty far away in order to get the care that I need, and I would like to go to my local clinic and my local hospital.
And so I think we have to take, and I don't believe that we've done this in a meaningful way, a comprehensive look at our health insurance landscape, what we're offering to our municipalities and how we can use the buying power of
however many municipalities we have 72 counties and use that to help drive down costs and provide more options for folks in the health insurance space.
Okay and then bigger picture because you're exactly on a great point there on health care and that's the one I brought up.
Broader than that we hear a lot about the state having this big budget surplus right now and we hear the numbers coming in and the surplus is actually getting bigger.
more money than they thought coming into the state.
And it's not getting out to the communities.
That's why all the referendums, right?
Well, sort of.
So the money gets spent and then we get another surplus, right?
So the last state budget, there was around $4 billion, $4.5 billion surplus.
A lot of that got spent in the budget.
but now we're back to another surplus around two, two and a half billion dollars.
And so, yeah, so we spend it, we get another one, we spend it, we get another one.
And there's various reasons for that, but I think kind of to that point, we are, we need to be looking at how we're prioritizing our spending.
And consistently, since I've been in public office, so 2017 was when I first got elected, we have heard that schools need more funding, that, you know, our,
our schools are being cut to the bone as far as services and that they're going to having to go to referenda just to do the basic lights on activity, right?
It used to just be if you needed a new building or needed some repairs, you were going to referenda, but now it's basic lights on activity.
It's cost of living increases for your teachers.
And I think.
And the 17th Senate district is one of the leaders in the state with the number of referenda.
And so when we look at those issues, we see that there is a problem with our school funding system.
And we have to look at how we're going to address that because it's not sustainable to keep trying to limp along like we've been doing.
Jenna, right now there's a lawsuit in the state, the Wisconsin PTA.
Are you familiar with this?
The PTA, they've been joined by multiple school districts.
I think there's about 18 or 19 plaintiffs actually suing
the state.
Yeah.
Saying that the funding for public education is not in compliance with the state constitution.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we've reached a point now where a big group of education groups and school districts are literally suing to try to change the way schools are funded in the state.
Okay.
So I know you've worked on education.
Yeah.
Okay.
So how do we fix that?
Well, first I'm going to lead with
I'm not the only person that's been leading or talking about education.
There are so many people around the state who have been and I find it incredibly disappointing that it has gotten to the point where we have to be sued in order to try and address this situation, right?
I mean, that's just, it didn't have to get that far, but now that we're here,
we have to take this opportunity and do something meaningful.
One of the things that I have consistently been proposing is that whether we use the surplus or we find it in state dollars, we increase special education cost reimbursement.
We get that up.
That's a stop gap measure.
So get some money into those schools so that they can get their, at least their costs reimbursed on special education.
And then we get
Get folks in the room, right?
Get administrators, get teachers, get parents, get taxpayers in the room.
And we really hammer out the best way to fund our schools going forward because we know that the formula we have now, it's not benefiting our rural schools, it's not benefiting our urban schools.
And again, it's been broken for a long time and this tinkering around the edges, people are, they're not interested in seeing more tinkering.
They want to see a solution.
Thank you for that answer.
Okay, a little bit more about you.
And what drives you?
So on the ticket, you're the Democrat.
Yeah.
Why?
Well, because so in 2017, when I first ran for office, I also took a class that teaches Democratic women how to run for office.
And I had never joined a political party before.
The group is called Emerge.
I never joined a political party before.
And while I traditionally voted Democrat, because I felt like that aligned mostly with my values.
I kind of thought of myself as independent and I liked that flexibility, but I also realized that when I looked at which party aligned with my values most and when I looked at how I was going to do what I could to make change, that that was the vehicle that I needed to jump on to.
My friend has an analogy that I'll share with you and it says, the house is on fire and you have a red fire truck and a blue fire truck and a red fire truck.
is a moving.
And the blue fire truck has some flat tires and maybe it doesn't steer so well, but at least you can get it going, right?
And I think, and I kind of was like, yeah, I mean, Democrats aren't, no party, no party is perfect, right?
But when I thought about how I was going to get involved, where my values most aligned and where I thought I found a group of people who wanted to see meaningful change, that was the folks that I felt I could get some stuff done with.
Thank you for that.
couple of buzzwords.
I'll just kind of throw them out there one at a time because they're in every political ad everywhere right now.
Affordability.
Yeah.
So what do we do about this?
Inflation just keeps coming back and coming hot and everybody's talking about it in every level.
Yeah.
What about affordability?
So affordability is an interesting thing to me.
It's a layered issue, right?
You know, you have tariffs that are driving up costs.
You have diesel prices that are driving up costs and absolutely extreme right now.
And you have
lack of state funding for schools that are driving up property taxes you have the fact that we haven't passed meaningful reform on pharmacy benefit managers that's allowing our prescription drug prices to you know run out of out of whack and so when I think of affordability I think of what are the the everyday costs that people are facing whether that's
whether that's prescription drugs, that's your kid's school lunches, and whether you're gonna pack up lunch or fight with them over if they're gonna get the chicken nuggets or the pizza that day.
Whatever it is, you know what I'm talking about.
That's just how it goes.
But it's those everyday costs that people are tackling.
And when I'm out knocking on doors and I'm talking to folks, they're not.
feeling like things are moving on those fronts.
They're not, you know, they're seeing the gas pump prices go up.
They're seeing their grocery costs go up.
And when they're asking, you know, what are we doing at the state level to help with that?
They say, well, we've been on recess since February.
And there's this moment of like, I'm not on recess, you know, what's going on?
And I exactly.
Exactly and I think that that is a very common sentiment whether I'm you know in Oregon where I live or I'm in Platteville or Prairie to Sheen you know people are frustrated that the number one thing people say to me on the doors is please just do something anything you know we're hurting we're feeling squeezed and we're not seeing anything happening any changes happening.
You mentioned the prescription benefit managers just a few weeks ago Senator Tammy Baldwin met with me in town she said the same
thing.
I almost word for word said the same thing.
So I think I hear a theme coming.
Yeah, I mean, this is the thing that I also talk with people a lot.
We have a bill that we introduced to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, but because of the political party that the person who introduced it affiliated with, it didn't go anywhere.
We have bills that were introduced to cap the cost of prescription drugs, but rather than putting the needs of Wisconsinites first,
people put the majority party put the needs of a political party first and When I I've never heard somebody when I'm knocking doors say that's I like that I would rather you focus on the political party than what actually folks need on the ground every day and and so they are rightfully frustrated by that and I don't blame them.
I don't either.
Okay power lines 765 kilovolt power lines I've never seen an issue galvanize and unite people like this thing has done.
Yeah
So where are you at on this?
What your opinion?
Yeah, well, I mean, we have to gosh, we have to the governor had in his budget some provision that would have given an extra six months for the PSC to consider these large scale lines that was taken out by our current state senator Howard Markline.
We have to get that back in.
We have to make sure that people's voices are being heard.
We have to make sure that communities are not only informed, but they feel confident that they have all the information available to them as these decisions are being made.
We have to make sure that we're following infrastructure to the very best of our ability.
And when I say infrastructure, I'm not talking about just existing transmission lines.
I'm talking about, you know, we have.
1994 like what else can we be doing to make sure that we're preserving this beautiful natural spaces that we have but making sure that people have the power that they need as we are Introducing new industries and I'm trying to get you know build our economy and make sure that as in this ever electrified world that people Aren't or having consistent power.
So I'm gonna take you back just a minute ago.
You mentioned senator mark line and you were talking about
the power lines that are proposed.
And you said there was legislation, say that again?
So in the governor's budget, Governor Evers, when he proposed his budget this last cycle, there was a provision in there that would have given an additional 180 days to the Public Service Commission to consider these large scale projects.
And that was removed from the budget by my state Senator Howard Markline.
Like he removed every other provision that the governor put in not because of that again going back to it not because that was what was right for the state or because that was what we had been hearing from constituents, but because a Democratic governor,
so this happened in committee or
committee finance committee
Okay, the joint finance committee.
So it was in the budget when it got to that committee and when it came back out it was gone Okay,
yep and
Not to hammer on the point, but this is not the first time that the 17th Senate district has faced large-scale transmission lines going through and about 2019 or 2020 the Cardinal Hickory transmission lines came through Iowa County and Grant County So this is this is an issue that has happened before these are concerns that the residents of the 17th have raised before and We still hadn't there was no action done in between those times so
Okay
So we've gone through affordability, power lines, funding education, why you're a Democrat.
So let's get into this.
And I'm, you're really going to get a blank canvas.
I'm not going to interrupt you.
Okay.
Okay.
You are now elected.
You won.
But for 24 hours, you have ultimate authority.
Nobody can tell you no, but you can only do one thing.
What is it?
What does Wisconsin got to have that?
If you could just do it, you would do it.
Oh, I don't like that.
I don't think anybody should have ultimate authority.
That's very uncomfortable.
I don't know, Taco Bell in every community?
I'm just kidding, not actually.
Sorry, that was a bad joke.
I think I will, oh gosh, that's really, you should give some warning to people, that's a tough one.
No,
it's okay, I'm
literally.
That's really hard one because there's so many things, you know, when I think of, when I think of our state and I think of, you know, we have so many issues that haven't been addressed over the past decade or more, it's hard to know where to start.
Usually people say, what is the one thing, you know, you, the first bill you'd like to see passed?
And I always say school funding because it's a double benefit, right?
It helps our students and teachers and it helps to lower your property taxes.
And, but,
That's again, talking about the short-term solution to the long-term issue of school funding.
But yeah, I just go back to, I don't know that any one person should have that kind of authority, so it's really hard for me to even put myself in that position.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then we're gonna go here.
I feel like that's kind of a cop out, but I just don't, ugh, that nobody should have that, so.
It's your answer.
I gave you wide open to answer honestly what you did.
Yeah.
And if that's the truth and your first answer is, well, I don't have one because nobody should have that authority.
That's what you said,
right?
Yeah.
That's what I believe.
There's your answer.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Okay.
Now we're going to compare and contrast.
So there's a lot of voters out there.
Yeah.
And you see the polling is interesting to me that a lot more people than I've ever seen are identifying as independence now.
It's the kind of a movement that's happened, which means this race and a lot of races are going to be decided by those people.
Yeah.
Okay.
So what are the differences between yourself and Mr. Markline?
I'll use an example that happened in January of 2025.
This is the best way I can describe it.
So I do something as a representative, I call them office hours.
I basically pick an area in the district and I advertise that I'm going to be there, you know, press releases, social media, post, et cetera.
And I set up shop for like two hours, whether it's a coffee shop or a library.
And I say, come on by.
any, you know, have a conversation, let's talk, whatever is on your mind, whatever issues you'd like to raise.
And that January just so happened on the exact same day.
Howard had advertised that he was going to be in the same community, but at a different time for listening session.
And the newspaper, the Monroe Times, I can send you a link if you'd like, put our two press releases together.
And in
That article, there was a list of rules for Howard's listening session, how long you could speak, how he would respond, et cetera.
And mine was literally, I'm gonna be at this coffee shop for two hours, stop on by, grab a cup, let's have a conversation.
And I think that's the biggest difference.
One of the things I do the most is I get out of knock doors.
I love talking to folks.
Democrat, Republican, independent, doesn't matter.
Good ideas are not partisan.
They're just not.
And so the more you can talk to people, have a conversation with them.
and learn from them and hopefully help them, you know, learn a little bit more about, you know, whether it's a bill or a policy issue, uh, the better our state and our district can be.
And so I would say that's probably for me the biggest difference.
So you've been out campaigning for a while now.
Yeah.
And you've been serving in the assembly for a while now.
Yeah.
Met a lot of people, I'm sure.
Lots of people.
Yeah.
So I've led a lot of questions with, uh, topics that I had prepared when you're out just.
Meeting people, what are you hearing from people?
What stands out?
What do you think that people really want right now?
So now I'm about 5,000 doors knocked and the number one thing I hear by far is just do something literally anything people are feeling squeezed they are struggling and they feel like people that state government doesn't have their back that we haven't been doing anything, you know
One of the things that Howard says is I've saved $42 billion for the state over, you know, his decade or whatever in office.
That may be true, but people are not feeling that they are not when they're going to the grocery store and they're buying that literally $25 bag of candy for Halloween.
I just experienced that this past weekend.
You know, they're not saying, Oh, but the state saved X billions of dollars to saying, I can't afford my groceries.
I want to participate in Halloween, but I don't know that I have the room in my budget.
for this bag of candy.
That is what people are experiencing on a day to day basis and what they're feeling.
And they feel like nothing is getting done to help them.
And I feel, and I don't, I can't blame them.
You know, I think that's a valid feeling.
So affordability.
Yeah.
That's the top issue when you're out.
I
believe that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I do believe that.
I mean, again, $25 for 120 pieces of candy.
I understand.
Yeah.
I have two teenagers and I want to be teenagers.
So like we can go through that on our own,
but okay.
Yeah.
So I work here all day long right now, political ads.
Yes.
Oh man.
Okay.
It's fun being in a purple state, isn't it?
Cause everybody's going to get you.
So your ads, you're going after Howard on data centers.
I've heard that.
Tell me why you went there.
Well, so for me, um, I think data centers are a huge issue, uh, not
not just because people don't like them and don't want them in their communities, but I think they're also the bigger symbol of where we had the opportunity to do something and it didn't happen.
He also likes to go after me on data centers because I voted against Assembly Bill 840.
That's also the bill that a Wisconsin comedian said wouldn't regulate data centers more than cheese curts.
It really didn't do much of anything to regulate data centers.
On the other side of that, we had another bill which I co-authored that would have made sure that data centers were paying their fair share of electricity and infrastructure costs so that it wasn't getting passed on to everyday Wisconsinites.
It would have worked to protect our natural resources and provide protections for workers who are building these data centers.
And it couldn't even get a hearing.
Data centers are a huge issue in our state.
They were at that time and we couldn't get two competing bills to have a hearing to just discuss ideas.
Discuss was the best way to regulate these data centers.
We didn't pass anything to ban the non-disclosure agreements for data centers and we still provide a sales and use tax credit to data centers that was
put into the budget by Howard Markline.
And so, you know, I think people, it's not only a real issue that people are concerned about, but it is also this bigger symbol of how we had the opportunity to do something at the state level, and leadership chose not to, and people are saying, hey, it's time for new leadership then.
Okay, and then I'm gonna ask you one more, and this is going again at the political ads.
His new ones are talking about you signing on something after it was done.
Yeah.
Why?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, so first of all, there are no rules in the assembly or Senate on how and when you can sign on to bills, which is interesting.
But just very, very clearly, I communicated with my staffer that I wanted to sign on some bills.
Again, there's no rules.
There's no set timelines.
He got busy with constituent work, things that were a little bit more pressing, end of session stuff.
He put everything in a long email and send it to the clerk or maybe two emails.
I'm not entirely certain, said sign Ron.
And so they signed me on.
I mean, it was, you know, I wasn't the only legislator to do that, but I am the only one that's getting an ad.
So.
It is the nature of the beast isn't
it is it is
I will say that I think a lot of people and this is not partisan I think a lot of people get worn out with the negative ads yeah and that's in every direction because they're all day
yeah yeah it's exhausting you know I mean
People and frequently they want to hear what people are for and what you want to do.
And that's, you know, we certainly have ads that say that, but that's also why I spend so much time knocking on doors.
And I will tell you, you know, for all of those doors that I have knocked, I've only had maybe six people ask about any of the negative ads.
They want to know.
what policies are out there that can actually get, you know, that can actually do something for their, their life.
They want to communicate what they need and they want to make sure that there's somebody listening there.
Those are the, you know, the, the more important things in those conversations and I don't blame them.
I only have one more question.
Yeah.
You're here.
The election's coming.
We're just about a month away.
Yeah.
What do you want people to hear?
What's the one thing like when they, when they think of you,
Or the thing you said that you want to really resonate, what is it?
What do you want to tell the people in the district?
You know, I think the biggest thing is, you know, Howard has been in office for over a decade.
And in that time period, you know, you always hear the, well, how's your life gotten better in the past four years?
Well, think about the last decade, you know, our property taxes have gone up.
Our services have gone down.
People are struggling, fire EMS volunteers, school funding.
And so we can have more of the same.
We can keep the status quo or we can try something different.
We can elect somebody who wants to get something done and has been putting the miles on our car to make sure that people know that and that she's listening to folks.
And I think that's the biggest difference between the two of us and why it's time to flip the seat.
That's all I had.
Anything else you want to say?
No, I just thank you for taking the time to talk with me today and hear my perspective on things.
And if anybody wants to learn more about me, they can go to jenniferwisconsin.com.
Jenna Jacobson, candidate for state Senate District 17.
Thanks for making the trip to Richland Center.
Thank you so much.
Have a safe trip home.
On the radio, glad you tuned in.
Today we have something to brighten the day.
In fact, we have a young singer-songwriter who joins us in the studio.
Maine Thompson is his name.
Good to see you, Maine.
Good to see you.
Thank you for having me.
Nice to meet you, my friend.
And so let's tell a little bit about your back story.
How old are you?
I'm 14 years old based out of Madison, Wisconsin.
I'm a freshman in Memorial High School.
Wow.
And how long have you been pursuing this music thing?
I've been doing music pretty much all my life, but I just started doing shows in the summer of 2024.
And this summer has been a record year pretty much.
We've had shows pretty much every day, every day.
And then during the summer and then during the school year, we pretty much had shows every weekend.
It's been great.
It's been great.
What first attracted you to the kind of music you play?
Country music?
Yeah,
country music.
It was a Michael Jackson obsession, actually.
So I was doing Michael Jackson for a while, karaoke machine, you know, dancing in the basement.
And then, I don't know, something just clicked in me.
My mom played country music a lot.
So I don't know what made me was like, you know what?
I'm gonna do country music, but maybe it was the inspiration for my mom I mean that's where it started, but I don't know what made me want to pick up a guitar and want to want to play
and You're involved in a lot of other things at Memorial.
You're involved in sports.
Yeah
basketball and football I didn't do football this past season, but I'll be doing the next season and in track is something that I've been thinking about picking up Not a hundred percent sure on that And then MMSD actually
We'll be doing an interview on Monday from MMSD about my music.
So it's been a lot, lots, lots, lots been going on.
The wheels are turning.
Yeah.
So do you take the guitar with you for road games, you know, and play for the teammates and things?
You know, I wish.
I don't though.
I don't though.
This goes everywhere I go pretty much except, you know, school, like it's events like that, you know, where I don't need it.
But if it's in, if I'm going somewhere where the car is going to be in the car, so.
You've had a chance to do some pretty prestigious shows.
You were at Crystal Grand that long ago.
Yeah, I opened up for Keith Anderson once at the Crystal Grand, and then the second time I was at the Crystal Grand not too long ago, opened up for Kevin Bacon and Michael Bacon, Bacon Bros, I think, or what they're called, Bacon Brothers or Bacon Bros.
Thanks to Michael Alexander, who also booked me for Brafest too.
So Michael Alexander's been, he's gotten pretty close to us and we've been working pretty close with him.
It's been really great.
That's wonderful.
We have guitar in hand.
I want you to grace us with a song here, Maine, if you would.
All right.
This is an original song I wrote.
It's called, When Does the Sunshine?
Every day for one month now I've been trapped in my room feeling down It ain't good when you cross my mind It happens every day, especially in the night
I'm looking for a savior, maybe a weatherman to stop the rain.
I'm getting tired of all this rain and thunder and it ain't helping anybody except the crops and the fields.
get the chance can you answer me a question again when does the sun shine it's pretty hard to move along or get you out of my life
I don't want to move on or get you out of my life I'm getting tired of all this rain and thunder and It ain't helping anybody except the crops and
When you get the chance Can you answer me a question again?
When does the sun shine?
Good with it when you get the chance Can you answer me a question again?
When does the sun shine?
Every day for one month now I've been trapped in my room
feeling
down.
Oh my goodness.
Nice job.
Thank you.
Maine Thompson and folks, if you didn't hear at the outset, 14 years old.
Yeah.
My goodness.
You're writing songs like someone would that's a lot older than my
friend.
I've heard that a lot.
Yeah.
Actually, I wrote that one about a we're gonna say an old friend and Yeah, I wrote that one about an old friend and The music I listen to it's a lot older.
I listen to a lot of the lot of older yearning I would say yeah yearning would be the word music so take a lot of inspiration and then Everything I write comes from the heart.
So
I can tell yeah name drop George straight in there as well.
Yeah, I was actually it's a yeah
Nobody in his right mind would have left her.
I love Keith Whitley's cover of the song, but then I figured it would be, you know, not right to say Keith Whitley's version instead of George Stray.
And then at the end, Keith Whitley was also a reference in the end.
Um,
yeah.
So those are some of my favorite artists.
I get inspired by Keith Whitley on a percent.
Sure.
Yeah.
And, uh,
Where do you find the inspiration to sing things around you or conjure up things in your head like story songs and things like that?
Well, uh, usually I just, it kind of just starts off like I'll just have the guitar, I'll pick it up and I'll just, you know, kind of fidget with it or whatever.
And then I find something I like.
And then, um, before I sing, I always make sure to pull out my phone and do voice messages and voice memo so you can
So you don't forget the lyrics, so I'll start singing, and I'll be like, I like that, and I can always go back to the recording.
It's like, okay, what did I say here?
How did I do it?
And write it down, so I don't forget, because I have a bad habit of forgetting things.
Like, I'll write it down on a piece of paper, and then I'll be like, well, how does it sound?
Like, how is it supposed to fit into the song or whatever?
But yeah, a lot, I mean, it's coming straight from the heart.
Most of the times I can't, like, it's not like, okay, I'm gonna write.
This is what I'm going to write about.
This is how I'm going to write it.
These are going to be the lyrics.
Most of the time it just starts off as a freestyle and I always find a deep connection to the lyrics that I write.
When I was your age, you know, I tried to write songs.
It was baby, I'm cool.
You know, you are too thin.
You know, I mean.
Not as deep as what you're writing here.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Well, what about plans for the future?
You got some shows and gigs lined up.
We do actually will be, uh, we have two shows.
We have two shows lined up so far this weekend.
Um, yeah.
One, one, one show for, uh, for sure.
I think that's.
Sportsman's uh tomorrow saturday saturday will be at sportsman's and then
uh musketeer
yeah musketeer and then uh we're planning another one here so it's not guaranteed but yeah
working on that
yeah i mean there's we have so there's so many lineup like i said this has been this whole year has been it's been a blessing and there's been there's so many shows we're booking for next year already i can't keep track of it i mean i mean i just it's so much but i'm thankful to be doing them all the shows that i have you know
So
wonderful.
So you've mentioned some of the inspirations.
Is there an artist out there today that's recording that you'd maybe like a dream to work with them or do a duet or write a song together?
Chris Stapleton, a hundred
percent.
I think Chris Stapleton.
I think Chris Stapleton has one of the best voices in music history of all time.
I think he's uses his voice is outstanding.
You know, even when he does covers, you know, I've never seen him live, but I've seen videos and stuff.
I'm like, man, this guy's
He's amazing.
Chris Stapleton's amazing.
I cover a lot of Chris Stapleton's music.
Yeah, Chris Stapleton, 100%.
Bane Thompson up and coming artist in the studio with us today, an honor to have you in here.
I was going to ask you what class we're getting out of, but you don't have school in Madison today.
No, no school.
That's awesome.
Free, man.
Yeah.
So you had to get up a little early and come to Risen Center today.
I did,
but I was, I liked the journey.
So
I did.
And the chance to play music.
I'm sure that's, uh, yeah.
You got the chair where you need it to be.
You're a tall young man here for the listeners that can't.
Six
five.
Six five.
Six
five,
yeah.
And the doctor said only to get taller, so.
Really?
So are you a post player now on the basketball team or are you?
Center.
Center, yeah.
Center.
Yeah, center.
I'm not the best at shooting.
I just do my job, get the rebounds, put up the board.
That's about it.
Man, you're unnatural.
So you told me, because I was admiring your guitar playing, you told me that you just picked this up earlier this year.
Yeah, I picked it up earlier this year.
And I've just been writing ever since.
I think the first song I ever learned
Might have been purple rain by Prince actually so I do that one a lot.
It's one of my favorite ones to do.
I love that song
That's interesting.
Yeah, so from Prince and Michael Jackson to
yeah,
I'm
not I'm not I'm not too much a fan of Prince actually I just love the purple rain song I have my opinions about Prince musically like I think it's a great instrumentalist, but Maybe my dad had this whole talk about you know, Michael Jackson and Prince.
I'm like no nobody's gonna ever talk Michael Jackson
True true.
We've Prince may be one of the greatest guitar players.
Yes.
I 100% agree
on
that
Yeah.
Very true.
Well, let's show us what else you've been working on.
You got another original for us.
I do have another original.
This is a, it's called, have you seen it all?
Um, this one I wrote, uh, I'll give it a little meat backstory behind this one.
This one I wrote, um, uh, people say I sing a lot of sad music.
So when I wrote this, I was like, you know, fine, I'll write some, you know, a little more upbeat.
And, uh, so this was just about seeing so much more to the world than just the little problems we based our life around.
Um, you know, just,
there's so much more you know i'm not the best at talking i've been told i sing better than i can talk so i'll let the music do the talking
main thompson live on wrco
have you ever seen the rain or took a midnight train to georgia
Have you ever seen that what you need could be right there in front of you?
Could be on a stage or a big time movie screen.
It could be something you'd never seen.
Or have you seen it all?
Have you lived it all?
Have you seen it all in midnight light sky or sunrise in Colorado?
Don't knock it till you're trying It might hurt but it's worth fighting It might cost but it's worth buying Just to see it all
There's another midnight train going south where you can see the midnight stars set on the sky Sometimes I wonder where you are and if you even miss me Or have you seen it all?
Have you lived it all?
Have you seen it all?
The midnight light
sky or sunrise in Colorado don't knock it till you try it in my heart but it's worth fighting in my cause but it's worth buying just to see it all
So much more to be found So don't think you have it bad Or don't make it seem so sad Cause there's no such thing As a life that's better than yours Have you seen it all?
Have you seen it all the midnight light sky?
Or sunrise in Colorado?
Don't knock it till you try it.
It might hurt, but it's worth fighting.
It might cost, but it's worth buying.
Just to see it all.
Have you ever seen it?
I like it.
How can people get a hold of your music if they
like?
Everything you use, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon Music, everything, even YouTube, it's on everything.
That one right there was an unreleased song, so we're actually
trying to plan an album here.
So that's probably going to be on the album.
Um, but so far only have two songs released.
Um, it's rewrite the past idea with billboard charting being the race impulses.
Um, and then, uh, when does the sunshine song I did right before this?
Wonderful.
Uh, I, I've done this for 40 years and I've had, uh, lots of musical guests in here.
I don't know if you've ever had anybody, especially 14, I keep, keep coming back to your age, but I'm just so blown away.
You know,
How well you do.
I think your future is really bright.
So thank you.
Goals for the future.
Do you set goals?
I
mean, I do set, I mean, goals wise, I mean, I just want to be successful in music.
I can't determine, I can't say, I can't define what successful means to me right now.
As long as I'm doing music, I'm pretty much happy.
Um, but I know when I, when I've reached that point in my life where I feel like I'm successful and I'm, you know, stable with where I'm at and I'm happy with where I'm at.
That's when I'm, when I've reached a successful rate.
I mean, of course everybody wants to do, you know, sold out arenas, you know, and all that stuff.
That's, that's, you know, that's the end goal.
But, you know, if I'm just, I'm just happy doing music, you know, even if I'm just doing local shows, you know, it still brings, you know, joy to me.
Even when I'm doing places where like nobody's there, nobody's listening to my music.
It's just, I love to sing in general.
So whether people are watching or not.
It's something I love to do.
Madison, Wisconsin, your home base.
So do you intend to stay there?
You may be relocating someday?
Nashville or somewhere like that?
Nashville's a go.
I mean, not to live in Nashville.
I mean, I want to get my music heard.
I like where I'm at right now.
Well, Madison is a hot bed for music.
That's for sure.
Maybe not so much for country music.
We
got some good music, man.
We got some good local music.
We got to embrace our local talent more.
Most definitely.
You mentioned some influences, some people you like to work with.
One of my favorite artists that's putting out music right now is Zach Top.
And you told me that you like his stuff as well.
Would you play one?
Yeah.
This is called South of Sanity.
Oh, absolutely.
Maine Thompson, one more time here on
WRC.
And she's 2,000 miles away She says she loves me on the phone as she cries She wishes I'd come home to stay But I'm somewhere outside of Mizzou
They just called my name from the sea When we hung up she was talking leave on How am I supposed to sing and play When she's left me Somewhere south of Sanity
And still just north of insane The show is over and I tried twice to call her back But no answer either time
Alteracing like a fast car around the track And I can't get her off my mind And I'm somewhere outside Albuquerque They just called my name
She was talking leaving How am I supposed to sing and play When she's with me Somewhere south of San Diego Still just north of Starting to believe
And I'm somewhere outside Amarillo They just called my name from the stage When we last talked, she was talking leaving I got a show
She's left me somewhere south of Sanity Still just north of insane
Thank you for playing that.
That was somewhere south of Sanity.
Yeah, that is awesome.
Maine Thompson, M-A-N-E, Thompson.
Yeah, look for it.
Thank you so much.
Next time we see you, we'll probably have to pay for your appearance, you know, maybe.
No, no, no.
If I'm singing, you got me.
If I'm singing, you got me.
So nice to meet you.
Good luck with the rest of the school year.
Thanks for having me, man.
You betcha.
And we'll talk to you real soon, I hope.
For sure.
Thank you so much.
And again, it's at Sportsman's and Musketeer, right?
Yeah, Sportsman's and Musketeer Saturday.
Saturday.
Saturday.
7.30 to 10.30.
Saturday night.
Man, check it out, folks in the area.
Don't miss it.
Maine Thompson in the studio with us today on WRCO.