Milwaukee-based singer-songwriter Trapper Schoepp has shared his gritty, swamp rock-inspired single “Devil’s Kettle,” the next offering from his upcoming studio album Siren Songs, out April 21 via Grand Phony (US) / Rootsy (EU). Siren Songs is available for pre-order.

“This song is inspired by the Devil’s Kettle, a mysterious rock formation and waterfall I encountered along Highway 61,” shares Schoepp. “A river splits below these waterfalls, with one tributary to Lake Superior and the other flowing underground to an unknown location. It is said gangsters like Al Capone would dispose of bodies in this natural phenomenon. I had the honor of recording this track with Johnny Cash’s 1930s Martin Guitar. It was called the ‘shitkicker’ guitar because it long sat on Johnny’s couch where it was often played by his friends and guests.”

Johnny Cash’s Martin Guitar was one of the many instruments Schoepp and his collaborators were blessed to use during the making of Siren Songs. Produced by John Jackson (The Jayhawks, Ray Davies) and Patrick Sansone (Wilco), these recording sessions took place at Cash’s historic Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, TN where they recorded with instruments found on the storied grounds – ranging from June Carter Cash’s Steinway piano to an old railroad spike. The end result features 12 songs filled with timeless folklore and nautical imagery.

“Devil’s Kettle” follows Schoepp’s anti-war anthem “Cliffs of Dover,” which arrived with a music video directed by Joseph Cash. Schoepp’s forthcoming album Siren Songs is his strongest collection of songs to date, steeped in a sonic palette of traditional American and Irish folk music while giving it new life.

Folks may recognize Schoepp when he became the youngest musician to share a co-writing credit with Bob Dylan on a long-lost song called “On, Wisconsin” in 2019. After coming across a previously unseen lyric sheet from Dylan’s early recording sessions, Schoepp seized the opportunity to put music to these words about his home state. Fortunately, Dylan approved to jointly publish the song, garnering acclaim from Billboard, Rolling Stone and more. Now, in a full-circle moment, Schoepp is featured on the Siren Songs album cover posing in front of the same pond where Cash would read and dispose of letters sent to him by Dylan, honoring a sacred kinship that started in the ‘60s.

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Cash