We met Engine Anderson in December and wrote an article about one of his favorite activities: building and flying airplanes out of the airport in Two Harbors. We learned how he earned the nickname “engine” in his childhood.
“I was an inquisitive kid,” Anderson said. He credits his dad for the moniker ‘Engine,’ a nickname that stuck with him due to his fascination with engines and his love of aviation.
Only recently did we learn that this true Renaissance man has an equal passion for music—writing and performing. This bard of Lake County, Jerry Anderson, has dedicated years to his local band, “Guilty Pleasures,” and honed his piano, guitar, and vocal skills. Engine has played in a local band for most of the 30-plus years he’s lived in Lake County. First he was with “The Urge,” where he met and performed with Bill and Jeffrey Turnquist and Tony Thomas. Later, Engine and Bill formed “Guilty Pleasures,” a three-piece band that sees Tina Lundberg on drums and Bill Turnquist on bass.
“I call Turnquist ‘Billy, the barefoot bass player, because he doesn’t wear shoes on-stage,” Engine said.
Since the pandemic cut things off five years ago, the band hasn’t had many gigs. But they still get together to practice as often as they can.
On YouTube at @enginetunes, you can find 44 music videos he’s produced. From “Hold My Beer” and “O.L.D.” to “Old Man Winter Blues,” his songs and performance will brighten your day. “I got on YouTube with help from my daughter in order to deliver the Christmas song that I write every year for my adopted Holiday Family.,” Engine said. Since his real family is far away, Engine’s Holiday Family in Duluth includes him in their festivities. “I promised to write one each year as a present,” he added. He also writes a Christmas song for the Experimental Aircraft Association chapter holiday gathering.
COVID-19 interfered with the holidays in 2020, and Engine had no way to perform for his Holiday Family, so his daughter set him up on YouTube. He doesn’t have elaborate technology, just a simple Kodak point-and-shoot camera, but the quality of the videos is quite good.
Engine has written hundreds of songs over the years but tends to forget them as he writes the next one. “A side benefit of YouTube has been that I no longer forget the songs when they’re done,” Engine said.
Engine sometimes plays an electric guitar or piano in his videos, but he skillfully plays an assortment of acoustic guitars most often. Electric guitars are his pride and joy; one is a “precious old Gibson” a friend gifted him, and the other is an Epiphone he bought for himself decades ago.
(Submitted photo)
“I have seven or eight guitars, mostly hiding under the beds in my little house, and I like to switch them up to get a certain feel when I record,” Engine said.
Four years’ worth of his videos show him wearing an assortment of hats or none at all. With a wry smile, a wink, and a nod, his impish face adds a special charm to the music.
Mostly retired now, Engine still works as a piano tuner occasionally. “The piano is the dictionary of music,” Engine said.
Engine’s mother played the mandolin in an all-girl string band before having kids. Engine found his mom’s mandolin moldering in the attic corner and asked his mother about it. On his 12th birthday, she gifted him a new mandolin. Around that time, the Beatles were making a splash on the American music scene. Like many teens, Engine was inspired by them to pick up the guitar. He got a guitar and started tinkering around. A friend taught him a few “campfire chords,” and he was off to the races. Engine said, “I learned a lot from people who knew more than me.” He wrote his first song when he was in his teens.
His daughter Gina, who lives in the Twin Cities, helped get Engine going on YouTube. She’s an accomplished musician and singer in her own right. And Engine says one of his grandsons has taken up the six-string.
“Music brings me joy,” Engine said. “And I never met anyone who says, ‘I don’t like music.’”
You can see Engine anytime at youtube.com/@Enginetunes.
