On Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., as part of Johnson Hall’s On the Road Series — there will be a concert at the Life Community Church at 46 Church St. in Gardiner that welcomes home Russell Copelin and his unconventional band. You see, this Mainer has created a persona (Ukulele Russ) that defies classification in that there is music and comedy with a complete disregard for anything remotely like convention. I first chatted with him back in September 2019 when he was coming back to Johnson Hall for the third time, so I was interested in seeing how he was doing three years later.

To begin with, when I called him at home in Talkeetna, Alaska, I only had to dial seven digits because his cell phone number originated in Benton, his old home town, so I began with an obvious observation.

Q: So you’re coming back up to your home state, right?
Copelin: Yeah, yeah. Well, I was there this last spring working, but I’m coming back up this fall, and then I’ll be back again next spring. I’m actually working again, so it’s nice. My job wasn’t essential.

Q: How did you get by during the pandemic?
Copelin: I mean, the government paid me to stay home — that’s basically it. I would rather have been not at home. It really ushered in my divorce really well (laughter).

Q: What?!
Copelin: Yeah, they made me stay at home, but it pretty much opened up here over a year before it did for you guys. I mean, that first summer I didn’t work, ya know, like coming into that next winter. But after that, I started working again because nobody cared here. They just didn’t care. Some did and they’d wear their masks and stay home, but they wanted me to wear a mask to play in a bar with one hundred people: the doors were closed, the windows were closed and nobody’s got a mask on (laughter).

Q: That kind of defeats the whole purpose.
Copelin: Yeah, exactly, so it was officially over here last winter. I remember a bunch of my friends and I were sitting around a bonfire — it was like January or something — and we were all handing around a bottle of mead that I had made. We were talking about how good it was, and I went, “Wait a minute — we all drank off that bottle!” That was when we decided that the coronavirus was over. I’ve had the first two shots and I’ve had COVID three times since then. I’d go for a booster but got it again and had to wait three months, … but I’d be sick for half a day. I was more sick after taking the shots. But on the other side of that, I’ve lost friends and family members, and apparently I’m not susceptible to it so far, knock on wood.

Q: How far afield do you get from Alaska?
Copelin: How far, working?

Q: Yeah.
Copelin: Ah, the west coast of Australia, is that far enough?

Q: That’s far enough, yeah.
Copelin: I’m doing a tour of Australia in February. I’m headlining a festival there in the Blue Mountains. I’m actually a big deal there; it’s kind of cool.

Q: Remind me again, how long have you been living in Alaska?
Copelin: I’ve been living here since 2009, and I’ve been working here since 2005, so I’ve been here for a long time.

Q: Now, I’ve been going through your stuff on Facebook and was wondering how long have you been using the looping technology in your performances?
Copelin: I’ve been running the looping act for about seven years. I figured the one-way check split was better.

Q: I’m sorry?
Copelin: I figured the one-way split on the check at the end of the night was better (chuckle).

Q: (Laughter) Okay, I got it, sorry so dense today.
Copelin: (Chuckle) Yeah, that’s OK — I couldn’t afford being in a band and making a living, there was no way. The wages for musicians in bands in bars has not increased since 1972.

Q: Good grief!
Copelin: Yeah, $100 a guy! In 1972 a hundred bucks a night was pretty good — not anymore, especially when I’m paying $5.50 for a gallon of gas. It’s expensive up here. It went down for a little while, but then the hurricane hit, and it jumped back up again.

Q: How about your shows, do you do a lot of songwriting?
Copelin: Yeah, a lot of my time is put into songwriting. I do a lot of original material. I do some cover songs, because if you play bars you just have to. But lately I haven’t been doing as much, because I’ve just gotten to the point now where I just don’t care, and evidently people like that. When I go onstage I basically tell the room that I don’t care that I’m there and they’re going to get what I want to give them (laughter). People seem to really like that. I think people like being told what to do — it’s weird.

Q: That is strange — that is really strange.
Copelin: I’ve noticed that with my comedy. It really happened during the pandemic. I just decided that I didn’t care anymore, and I was just going to go up there and have fun for myself, and if other people like it, then that’s great, too. It works out really well. I’ve been doing a lot of improv lately, and I’ve written a lot of songs on the spot for people in the crowd. I’ll take suggestions from them. I put up a sign last month that I would write your own theme song for $5 — like a menu special (chuckle) — and people did it. I made like $400 bucks. I’m like, “It may be good, it maybe horrible, but I will write you a song right now, pay me!”

Q: So, what can folks expect at this Gardiner show?
Copelin: Umm, I’ll do a little of improv, and I’m going to do a lot of my more humorous stuff. There will be a lot of new stuff, and there’s some old stuff, but a lot of it is just about my life up here and just my general observations on the audacity of the world.

Q: What’s the rest of your tour look like?
Copelin: I’m on tour on the East Coast until Christmas, and then I’ll come back here for a month. I fly out to Hawaii to do a week of shows, over to Australia for three or four weeks. Then I’ll come back and do a week of shows in Arizona. I’ll go back to Alaska for two or three weeks, then I’ll be back down in Maine again.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Copelin: Oh, man, I’m going to reveal all the secrets of Alaska reality TV shows to them — that’s right! I’ll only reveal them on Saturday night at whatever venue Johnson Hall’s having me at (laughter)! And if anybody needs a theme song, I’ll be taking orders that night, as well.

 

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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