By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Jul 01, 2015 at 7:20 PM

Johnette Napolitano is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist who spent 30 years, more or less, with the alternative rock band Concrete Blonde.

"It was like being in a marriage, and now, I’m dating," says Napolitano.

Napolitano recorded the albums "Sketchbook," "Sketchbook 2," "Sketchbook 3" and "Scarred" as a solo artist. Recently, she released a limited-run, three-song EP "Naked" and has a full-length coming out this fall. "Naked" offers a sparse but full sound comprised solely of Napolitano’s voice and her guitar. It's sassy but haunting and her voice sounds every bit as strong, if not even better, than it did three decades ago.

She is on a very limited tour and will play at Shank Hall on Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25. 

Over the years, Napolitano endured her share of ups and downs, including a recent dark period in her life. However, she returns to recording and to the stage with the same soulful fierceness that fans remember her for.

Today, she lives in Joshua Tree, Calif., on five acres of land with a goat, horse and three dogs.

"I’m happy as a clam," she says.

OnMilwaukee.com: Your voice sounds stronger than ever. Do you have any secrets or are you just lucky?

Johnette Napolitano: I don’t know where it comes from, but I’m glad it’s there.

OMC: What was the recording process of your EP like?

JN: It was really fast. I’ve been busy for awhile and my home studio is woefully out-of-date. I’d been recording a bit in Garageband. I asked my friend and most esteemed colleague Brian Mansell for his opinion. Brian, like me, is a veteran of the Leon Russell tribe, and played guitar for Leon for a long time as well as handling engineering and all things tech. He works out of his mobile studio (MobileMediaLab) and we talked about it and stars aligned and Brian brought the ’Lab out here to my little Ranchette Johnette and we mic’d up the cabin and got to it.

I did not expect the sound he got out of my acoustic guitar – he gave it edge. The sound he got inspired the f*ck out of me. When he comes back in July, I am going to throw down hard. I’m excited and I haven’t been in a while. You have to trust life it has its own plan.

OMC: So you plan on releasing a full-length album at some point?

JN: Yep, Sept. 22. My damn birthday.

OMC: Do you enjoy touring?

JN: It’s tough emotionally and mentally. It’s hard for me to be away from my animals, so I’m not usually on the road for longer than a week per month. Only one week out of the month.

Even before the animals, the road’s always been a hard place for me. Before we could afford hotel rooms, we were living out of a van, and then we could only afford one hotel room for the entire band and I was pulling the boys apart from a fight over something stupid like what temperature the room should be or snoring.

This was before the Internet and cell phones and the loneliness and deprivation was unbelievable. It led to drinking, health behavior. It's more fun now. More like a paid vacation – and that’s the way it should be.

OMC: When did you discover music?

JN: I started playing guitar when I was 9 and I wrote my first song at 12. For me, being a little girl siting on my bed playing guitar is still who I am. Whether I’m at home or in a hotel. That’s my idea of a good time: to sit on the edge of my bed with a bottle of wine and play guitar.

OMC: Why did you move to a rural area?

JN: I lived in Hollywood – where I was born – but it got more and more crowded and the traffic was killing me and I started thinking about where I wanted to be and what I would be able to afford in 10 years. When I got to the desert I was like, "f*ck it. This is where I’m going to live."

OMC: Any chance Concrete Blonde will reunite someday?

JN: We’re done, but I couldn’t be prouder that we played China a couple of years ago. It was unbelievable. We headlined a festival with bands from all over the world – Finland, Taiwan, Japan, France – and we were treated like gods. Thousands of people knew our stuff and I was like, "how do they know our stuff?" It was a religious experience and I can’t call it anything less. I know a lot of American bands are afraid to go certain places, but when you spread good will, there is a whole lot of good will out there.

OMC: What are some life truths you have learned?

JN: Everybody’s lost somebody and it leads you to ask, "why you and not me?" You start to really appreciate that you’re still here. My dad crossed over and now I have to do it for him, for my musician and writer friends – one just died out of nowhere last week. I have to go out there and kick some f-cking ass and have a good time doing it. I have to do it for them.

OMC: Any regrets about choosing an unconventional life?

JN: It takes a lot of balls for a woman to live by herself. To kill rattlesnakes. To live the life she wants to live. I did that. I’m grateful. Are you asking about not having children? I have questioned it, but I think I would be a totally unproductive and overbearing mother. I am meant to do one thing: play music.


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.