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Releasing your debut album is a massive moment for any musician. It was for Tyler Ballgame, too. But it didn’t obscure the truth that earned him the opportunity:
His voice was built to be heard live.
You’ll hear the proof when you tap that “Listen” button at the top of the page. In this Studio Milwaukee Session ahead of his Wednesday night show at the Vivarium, Ballgame brought everything that makes his vocals impossible to ignore — the range, the inflection and, most of all, the emotion.
When he sings, you can hear (and see if you’re lucky enough to be in the audience) that he’s really feeling something. Even at this noontime mini-concert, Ballgame didn’t go through the motions or keep something in the tank for the “real” show. As he performed tracks from debut album For the First Time, Again, it was almost like he was singing these songs … well, for the first time. But pouring emotions into his music meant getting a handle on them first.
“I had struggled with depression for many years, and I think I stopped myself from trying for real,” he recalled while talking to 88Nine’s Erin Wolf during the mid-set interview. “I think there was some sense of control in not trying. ‘What if what if the world doesn't like you? What if what if you fail?’
“The pandemic kind of released a lot of those pressures, and then I was able to think, stop and see a lot of my suffering for what it was: just stories that I was telling myself, things that I was believing about myself that weren't true. So it gave me a chance to kind of reset and say, ‘Oh, what would I actually want to do with this life, this gift that's given to me?’”
The answer was to share it, and we all benefit through things like the new album, the show at the Vivarium and this Studio Milwaukee Session.
Studio MKE: Tyler Ballgame set list
- “For the First Time, Again”
- “Got a New Car”
- “Anywhere You Are”
