{image1}Stephanie Rearick lives the life that most left behind in college and many wonder why they did.
At 33, Rearick, and her husband Jon Hain, own a coffeehouse in Madison called Mother's Fool. They also run a record label, Uvulittle Records, and fronted a few bands together, including the psychedelic Your Mom SRO and the recently disbanded, circus rocky "Coma Savants."
These days, Rearick is focusing on her solo career and attempting to reach a larger audience.
"I would eventually like to support myself by making music. I don't have any strategic career plans but I would like to work fewer counter shifts," she says.
Rearick recently released her second album, "The Bucket Rider," and will open her Midwest and East Coast tour in Milwaukee at Linneman's, 1001 E. Locust St., on April 1. Labelmates Milkbaby and Pascal will join her.
Rearick, a singer/songwriter with piano-centered songs, wrote a score for a silent film, most of which became the tracks for "Bucket Rider," named after a Kafka short story. "I went to get a book of poetry because I thought I was going to use a name from it, but the Kafka book fell on the floor instead," says Rearick.
A classical piano player for 20-some years, Rearick composes music that is a delicate, off-balance mix of jazz, classical and alterna-pop. Her voice takes the backseat to her truck-strong piano playing, and her lyrics are peculiar, poetic and melancholy. The best track is "Tiny Hairs," a dark, humorous tale about a tiny man and his suicidal tiny wife.
Although often compared to Tori Amos because of her ivory tickling tendencies, Rearick has more of a likeness to Lisa Germano's eerie, sensual and carnival-esque style.
Rearick says Madison is a good place for her to live because it's "small enough to impact politically" even though she admits her work would probably be better received in Chicago or Oakland. But Rearick doesn't plan to move from Mad Town anytime soon. Why would she? Despite her obvious free spirit, Rearick has managed to successfully harness her passions. Her husband, her record label, her music and her social scene mutually inspire one another under the roof of a college town coffee house.
"The way each aspect of my life completely helps the other is tremendous. I'm in a good situation," she says.
Stephanie Rearick's Web site is uvulittle.com.
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.
