Before speaking with Minnesota musician Martin Zellar, I had a few assumptions. I imagined him sitting in a beautiful Mexican home with a view of the ocean. In reality, he lives high in the mountains of San Miguel de Allende. I also assumed we were in the same time zone. Technically we are, but San Miguel de Allende doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time, which left our clocks an hour apart. Finally, I pictured Zellar as a lifelong, die-hard Neil Diamond fan. He is a fan, but not quite the lifelong devotee I expected.
What didn’t surprise me was that Zellar was just as warm and open-hearted as his songs. Whether he was reminiscing about the Midwest or reflecting on life in Mexico, he spoke with the same quiet sincerity that has long defined his music. That sincerity runs through the rough-edged honesty of Gear Daddies, the twang of The Hardways, the sparkle of NEIL!, and most recently, an album created with the help of his entire family.
Moving to Mexico has been an adventure full of surprises for Zellar’s family. It was meant to be a temporary detour for the couple originally from Austin, Minnesota and their two sons.
“It started out as an adventure we thought we’d do for a year,” Zellar said. “We wanted to give our boys a chance to gain some perspective on the world and learn another language. But that one year turned into two, and two turned into three…”
Then came the biggest surprise of all, a medical miracle and late-in-life baby for the Zellar family. Their daughter is now sixteen and was recently accepted into a college-level art program in Mexico. According to Zellar, she is a “fabulous” artist who is also musically inclined.
Zellar’s sons are also talented musicians. The eldest currently plays in two popular Twin Cities bands and tours with his dad and The Hardways.
“He’s been playing circles around me on guitar since he was in seventh grade,” Zellar laughed. “It’s been great to just watch him zoom past me.”
All that musical talent proved especially useful during the pandemic, when the family found themselves spending more time together than ever before.
“We were kind of cloistered together and we built a nice little studio in our back garden,” Zellar recalled. The family went to work, each contributing their individual talents, to create an album.
His oldest son took the lead on engineering and played guitar for the album. His younger son handled the vocal track engineering. Zellar’s daughter contributed percussion, and his wife, a talented photographer, shot the album cover.
“It was just an amazing thing to all be together and create this album,” said Zellar and further explained that he recorded the basics in Mexico and brought the tracks up to Minnesota to add his drummer and bass player, the latter of whom has been playing with Zellar for 47 years.
Creating an album, especially one like Head West, was yet another pleasant surprise for the musician.
“I probably never would have made another album, and I probably wouldn’t continue to make albums if I didn’t have my studio here now,” he said.
Having a home studio turned out to be a game changer for producing the album.
“I could take my time, sit right up there, and redo something without worrying about it,” he explained. “When you’re renting a studio, time is money, and you’re watching the clock tick. Every album I’ve ever made in the studio, there are things that I wish I would have gone back and redone. But you made decisions based on a budget.”
For Zellar, the studio clock has ticked through more than a dozen albums. His music career began in 1984 with the Gear Daddies, a band that still sells out shows today even though they haven’t recorded together since 1992. In 1995, he shifted gears with Martin Zellar & The Hardways, a roots-rock band with deep Americana and alt-country influences. They’ve released multiple records while Zellar continued to explore solo work and the family-driven album Head West.
In addition, he plays in a tribute band called NEIL!, which had me convinced he was a lifelong Neil Diamond devotee. The origin of NEIL! was actually quite different than I expected.
“I didn’t grow up in a Neil Diamond family,” he admitted. “It started out as a joke. We decided to put together a Neil Diamond tribute to open for our friends Soul Asylum years and years ago.”
Zellar explained that this was before Soul Asylum became Soul Asylum and was still called Loud Fast Rules, a scrappy post-punk energy band.
“They’re very hard-edged punk,” he laughed. “So we thought it would be this really funny Andy Kaufman-style experience and we would be objects of scorn.”
To his surprise, the young punk rockers responded oppositely.
“They loved it,” he said. “I started learning all the stuff and I was like, oh my God, this is master class level songwriting. So, it started out as this joke and I just fell in love with his music. I had to buy his catalog and just sit and listen to it. It just blew me away. And now I’m a big fan of his music and him personally.”
Having met him in the past, Zellar can attest that Diamond is a “lovely human being.”
Zellar shares more than just admiration for Diamond. Both are great storytellers and musicians. There is another similarity I couldn’t help but notice. They both have pretty big stadium songs.
“I’d rather have his stadium song,” Zellar laughed, referring to Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. (BA BA BA!)
Zellar’s (I wanna drive the) Zamboni, a beloved hockey fan favorite, was a hidden track on the Gear Daddies’ second album, Billy’s Live Bait. As one might imagine, having a “novelty” song can be both a blessing and a curse.
I asked Zellar when he realized the song had taken on a life of its own.
“One of the first times was when I got a letter from Frank J. Zamboni company on their company letterhead, thanking us for the song and the attention we were drawing to their product,” he said. “The lyrics were a clue on Jeopardy some years ago. That might have been the coolest thing that’s happened to me. You’re part of that cultural fabric.”
Though he appreciates that the song holds a special place in arenas, movies, and many hockey fans’ hearts, Zellar has mixed feelings about it.
“Mostly it’s the fact that it’s just not representative of what I do in general. It’s far from representative of what I do,” he said. “So, to have a lot of people only associate you with that song, kind of a novelty song, it’s a kids’ song, basically, in a lot of ways. It’s frustrating.”
But overall, Zellar says he is “grateful for it.”
Zellar is also grateful to be returning to Silver Bay this summer for Rocky Wall Entertainment’s Music in the Park series.
“I love it up there,” he said. “It’s just beautiful. I love the lakes and the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, last year we had really bad weather. We played later in the season and it was cold, cold, cold, and rain so we ended up playing indoors, which I know was not ideal for us or the crowd. So, knock on wood, we’re going to have good weather this year.”
At the time of this writing, August 8th, the evening Martin Zellar & The Hardways will grace the City Center Park Stage beginning at 7:30 p.m., has potential to be perfect for a concert on the shore. The event is free to attend.
Zellar is also performing at a Rocky Wall Benefit House Concert on Thursday, August 7th, with all proceeds going to help bring more music to Silver Bay. Though the living room seating is sold out, deck seating is still available.
Deck seating offers an excellent outdoor setting overlooking a “million-dollar view of Lake Superior and the Palisade Valley of Tettegouche State Park,” according to rockywalentertainment.org, where you can find more information about summer concerts and purchase tickets.
Sure, my assumptions sent the interview in a few unexpected directions, but Zellar didn’t seem to mind. He rolled with it, patient, funny, and full of stories that stretched far beyond the questions I had prepared. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that Martin Zellar is full of surprises. Catch him live and see for yourself when he plays the North Shore.
To learn more about Martin Zellar and sign up for his newsletter to stay updated on all things Martin Zellar, visit martinzellar.com.
