Blog Madison lends some country to Willie Nelson shows, Cold Case

Hello, own backyard! Didn't see you growing out there.

It's a story that repeats itself ad infinitum in Madison music: Local artist gets through to the outside world via some unlikely channel before most folks living around the corner catch on. A current Madison resident and a former one have both found cool ways to burrow around local borders this week. Whitney Mann, who can often be found doing by-request covers at Atwood Avenue restaurant Alchemy, announced that she'll be opening two shows this month for legendary songwriter and all-around piece of work Willie Nelson. Not his March 16 show here in Madison, of course, but a March 18 stop in La Crosse and again on March 24 in Joliet, Ill. Which reminds us, it's time to finally catch up on her 2009 EP The Way Back Home. (Coincidentally, Andrew Harrison, who plays guitar in Mann's backing band—he's the bearded fellow in the photo above—and local country outfit Brown Derby, was recently recruited as a touring guitarist for Chicago singer-songwriter Joe Pug.)

We've also heard recently from Kelly Pardekooper, who now lives in L.A. and toiled modestly in Iowa City and Madison (he even sold ads at Isthmus for a while) while picking up good reviews in No Depression and earning some new fans in Europe. His song "Crazy Girl" was recently used in an episode of CBS' Cold Case, "along with songs by Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Kenny Chesney." The episode itself, "Two Weddings," centers on murder and bigamy. "Basically it's the scene where the 'Crazy' sister of bride starts seducing/hitting on groom," Pardekooper tells The A.V. Club in an e-mail. "Kinda silly, but they used the song pretty well lyrically in the scene." This isn’t the first time a Madison-connected track has been used to help solve a murder: Instrumental-rock group Cougar's "Pulse Conditioner" popped up in a 2007 episode of CSI: NY.