Some knew Jay Stielstra as an activist who ran for Ann Arbor City Council in 1964 and served as a board member of the Washtenaw County chapter of the ACLU.

Others knew Stielstra as an athlete who attended the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship. He played football, basketball, and track and became a Big Ten champion in the long jump.

He also was a public school teacher who introduced Black history into the curriculum at Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School and coached the football team.

Stielstra also connected with others through his creative pursuits, including novels like Meet Me at the River, musicals like North Country Opera, poetry collections like In Drought Time: Scenes From Rural and Small Town Life, and a revered catalog of music.

As a singer-songwriter, he brought all his passions together. He wrote songs about the devastation of war, social justice, the passage of time, drinking in taverns, the beauty of Northern Michigan’s woods and waters, finding and losing love, and getting old.

For over 50 years, Stielstra—who died March 1 at age 90—performed these songs on stages large and small.

“He walked through so many different communities in the course of his life,” said Barbara Schmid, Stielstra’s widow.

To celebrate Stielstra’s legacy, Schmid and Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Judy Banker are hosting a tribute and benefit show September 28 at The Ark—a place that nourished Stielstra and was one that he loved. 

Celebrating the Music of Jay Stielstra will feature a lineup of Michigan musicians performing his songs in acoustic styles from blues to bluegrass. It also doubles as a fundraiser for the Ann Arbor folk and roots music club.

“He loved for people to sing his songs,” said Schmid about Stielstra. “He would be so happy to see the lineup for this show.”

The show’s lineup includes a roster of musicians who performed with Stielstra or appeared in his musicals: Mr. B, Chris Buhalis, Judy Banker, Dave Boutette and Kristi Davis, Annie and Rod Capps, Cheryl Dawdy, Matt Jones and Misty Lyn Bergeron, Christina McMullen, David Menefee, Mustard’s Retreat, The RFD Boys, Peter Madcat Ruth, Dick Siegel Trio, San Slomovits and Emily Slomovits, Michael Smith, and Matt Watroba.

They’ll be joined by North Country Opera’s Buckhorn Bar Band with David Roof, Charlie Reischl, Judy Banker, and Dave Keeney.

“The main reason we’re doing this show is [because] Jay’s songs are so great,” said Chris Buhalis, who appeared in Stielstra’s musicals and often performs his songs.

“His writing is honest; he has an incredible economy of words—he hones his song down with a jeweler’s eye for language. He can put you in the places where the songs are and that helps you gain empathy with [the] people in [them].”

Buhalis, who also ran an open mic in Ypsilanti for 11 years, said Stielstra’s songs drew people in.

“The crowded noisy bars quieted down to listen without him asking them to,” he said. “I’ve seen Jay perform in concert halls, bars, [and] all different kinds of places. I was always amazed that he could deliver the songs no matter the setting.”

Banker, who served as the music director for North Country Opera’s tour in 2022, recalled the way people at Ann Arbor’s Old Town Tavern would join in when Stielstra sang. “It was so much fun and so uplifting,” she said. 

Crowds outside of Michigan would sing along with Stielstra as well. When he was featured at a music festival in Chicago, Banker said, “A room filled with hundreds of musicians spontaneously joined in on the chorus of Jay's song 'Leave the Bottle on the Table.' That large room filled with all those voices caught Jay off guard. It was all so moving. In earlier years, Jay also frequently played at Mr. Flood's Party," a popular blues, folk, and jazz joint at 120 West Liberty Avenue (The West End Grill is there now).

Paul Shapiro, bassist for The RFD Boys, didn’t meet Stielstra through music.

“I met Jay probably in the ‘80s on the basketball court. I knew him first as an athlete,” he said. “He was on the U-M freshman team in the early ‘50s and was very quick, [and he] had a great shot and sharp elbows. Later I found out he had been the football coach at Pioneer and had taken them to a state championship. Track and field was his main sport.”

Shapiro and Stielstra were both involved in a city basketball league team when Shapiro found out he was making music and their bond strengthened.

Ten years ago, when Stielstra came to a concert, The RFD Boys invited him to join them on stage, and he was asked to do “There’s No Fool Like an Old Fool.”

“We worked it up with him quickly, and it went over well—well to the point that we put it in our repertoire,” Shapiro said. That’s the song The RFD Boys will do at the tribute concert.

Deciding which of the hundreds of Stielstra’s songs would be in the concert wasn’t easy. “We joke about his greatest hits, and there was a bit of curating to make sure we covered certain songs,” Banker said. Some choices were left to participating musicians who wanted to play favorites.

Banker knew Stielstra for over 30 years and often played music with him and often with her late husband and others. She first heard him play in the ‘80s in the basement of Dominick’s restaurant. “Listening to ‘November Love’ … I just remember tears were rolling down my cheeks,” Banker said.

When her husband suddenly died in 2012, performing with Stielstra became a “lifeline" for Banker, who has her own band now.

“I think—no, I know—that Jay touched many lives in the course of his life and the impact he had on them was enormous,” Schmid said.

When Stielstra's family held a memorial in the theater at Pioneer High School, “the kinds of stories people shared were very moving,” Schmid said.

Banker added: “When he passed away in March, for his memorial celebration, a bunch of us got together to play Jay’s songs. People from different parts of his life gave testimonials. It felt like he was there. I had the feeling everyone knew the songs.”

After the memorial, talk began about a possible public show. “Part of [the reason] is holding on to Jay and keeping his legacy alive,” Banker said. “I think many of us find there is something special about sharing Jay's songs in this way."

Over the years, Banker did Stielstra’s marketing and booking largely because she felt it was important to get his music to a wider audience. That—she said—is the most compelling reason for the event.

When Banker started calling musicians to ask them to participate, the response was overwhelming.

“A chance to remember, celebrate, and honor Jay Stielstra, the man and his music? No way would I miss that!” said San Slomovits of Gemini.

Kristi Davis said she falls “in love again with this magical ‘Mitten State’ every time I sing his songs.” So, of course, she signed on with Dave Boutette.

Chris McMullen will share a Stielstra song, too. “To spend time with Jay was to touch the wonder of words and music, the Earth, the woods, the waters, and a heart that was full enough to share it with us all.”

Dave Siglin, director of The Ark from 1969 to 2008, considers Stielstra “a founding father of the Ann Arbor music scene.” He first saw Stielstra in 1968 and was knocked out by his work.

“His songs are direct and simple in structure. … You listen to every one of Jay’s words because every word is there for a reason,” Siglin said.

Siglin wrote an introduction to the book Heaven for Me: Selected Lyrics and Scores by Jay Stielstra, which was edited by Schmid and Banker:

He has created a large body of work of songs and plays about the Michigan woods, the small towns, and the people who live in them. And, in the process of living in Ann Arbor as a coach, a teacher, and a carpenter, he became a mentor for younger songwriters, and without trying, a central figure in the Ann Arbor area music scene from those early days right up to the present. … His songs are classic examples of how profound depth can be achieved in simplicity.

The governor’s office also issued a tribute in honor of Stielstra’s memory. In 1973, Stielstra made his first public appearance at an open mic night at The Ark when it was on Hill Street. That makes The Ark the ideal venue for this show—and raising funds for it a plus for all of the performers, all of whom are donating their time. 

“Even if you [have] never heard of Jay and his music, you will find this concert—this whole evening—incredible,” Banker said.

Davi Napoleon, a theater historian and freelance writer, holds a BA and MA from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from New York University. Her book is Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theatre.

“Celebrating the Music of Jay Stielstra” takes place September 28 at The Ark, 316 S. Main Street in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $20 for general admission. Reserved seating is sold out. For more information, email Barbara Schmid at bschmid7401@gmail.com.

Related:
➥ Articles and photos of Jay Stielstra in the Ann Arbor District Library's archives
➥ AADL Talks to: Jay Stielstra [July 27, 2020]
➥ "'North Country' Fare: The 40th-Anniversary Edition of Jay Stielstra's Folk Opera Sails into The Ark [Pulp, October 10, 2022]
➥ "Stately Songs: Michigan Folk Legend Jay Stielstra feted at The Ark" [Pulp, Augusut 11, 2017]
➥ "Father of folk storytelling has more tales to tell" [Pulp, November 4, 2016]