Michael Perry

And there's dozens of movies that portray exactly that scene, right? But that's not what it is.

And I feel like guys like Michael Perry and people like Maggie Ginsberg, they have this intrinsic need to contribute this Wisconsin nugget to that whole picture.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I think the two people you mentioned are really great at that.

And then as a fellow writer, you're just like, wow, I'm jealous.

I'm jealous he found that story and wrote that story.

Just like the same way I felt about the first time I read Population or 485 from Michael Perry.

Yeah.

Lapping lakes like leery loons.

It doesn't matter, does it? So it's 2007, and if indeed you're hearing Justin Vernon's voice for the first time, most likely you are introduced to Bon Iver via Pitchfork, the king-making music website that, quite frankly, set the agenda for much of the indie rock-centric universe for much of the 2000s and beyond Pitchfork gives this Bon Iver, or Bon Iver, record-- uh, no pronunciation guide is provided-- Pitchfork gives this record an 8.1 in a review written by the great critic and author and country rock-leaning scholar Stephen M.

Deusner.

And Stephen quotes the "lapping lakes like leery loons" line, and Stephen observes, correctly, that this song flume is growing less and less lucid.

For Emma, Forever Ago is an album defined by isolation, desolation, and an almost self-obliterating spiritual purity.

In that 2011 New York Times piece on Bon Iver written by the great critic and friend of the show, Jon Caramanica, Jon writes, quote, "In places, For Emma sounds like crying, deep, primal purging.

The Wisconsin author Michael Perry, Vernon's friend and a sometime collaborator, says For Emma captures the particular mood of the region." And then Michael says, "What it is to be alone in the Wisconsin swamp in late November, the sun is going away, and nature, rather than being a comfort, is instead an implacable force that fills your soul with emptiness." End quote.

Justin evidently wrote and recorded this record in three months or so.

And she has a really interesting story and is an incredible novelist.

Michael Perry, who many know and love as the sort of unofficial voice of Wisconsin.

Let me think.

Lauren Fox is a Milwaukee area novelist.

Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

As always, my name is James Gearing and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome on the show volunteer firefighter, cowboy, and author of numerous books, including the firefighter memoir, Population 485, Michael Perry.

Now, in this conversation, we discuss a host of topics, from his early life in Wisconsin, his journey into the volunteer fire service, first responder mental health, the power of mentorship, and so much more.

Now, before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment.

And this is a free library of almost 1,300 episodes now.

So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women's stories so I can get them to every single person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.

So with that being said, I introduce to you Michael Perry.

Enjoy.