Alan Sparhawk and the members of Trampled by Turtles have been friends for more than two decades. Despite different styles, the Duluth-based musicians are united by a deep respect for songwriting and community. That community became essential after Sparhawk’s wife and Low bandmate, Mimi Parker, passed away from cancer in 2022.

Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles had shared stages and built trust over a long period of time. Sparhawk even produced the band’s 2014 album, Wild Animals, which was also recorded at Pachyderm.

After Parker’s passing, Trampled by Turtles brought Sparhawk on the road wit them, and they later recorded together at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls. While recorded in a short time period, the resulting nine-song album, Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles, has the benefit of their established comfort with each other. Released May 30, the album retreats to acoustic instruments from the electronic overtones of his first post-Low solo album, 2024’s White Roses, My God.

Alan Sparhawk is The Local Show’s December Artist of the Month, and will perform with Trampled by Turtles at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul on Thursday, Dec. 11.

From rediscovering his voice after profound loss to watching his children step into their own artistry, Sparhawk goes deep in this conversation with Diane on The Local Show. He reflects on creativity, grief, and the tight-knit Duluth scene that continues to shape him.

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Transcript edited for clarity and length.

Talk to us about this new project with Trampled by Turtles.

It was pretty fun to make. I've known them since they first started. I remember seeing them play at Pizza Luce up here in Duluth, when they were just getting going, and been friends ever since Low took them out on tour when they first started. They were pretty generous with us pretty quickly as they grew and became quite popular. It was fun to watch them, and they'd invite us on stage from time to time to sing a song or two and then cover a Low song or two. 

So as bands are your friends, just conversations that happen —  you'll muse about the idea of, "Oh, we should do something together sometime." And most of the time it doesn't happen. But those guys invited me out on the road with them a year or two ago for some shows they were doing, and it was at a time I really needed a reason to get out of the house and just be around some friends. The conversation got going during that time, and then some time opened up for them when they were recording. Kind of short notice, [we] threw together a couple songs that I'd been working on and went down to the studio to see what we could do. I thought maybe we'd do two, three songs or something like that. And we ended up doing eight or nine.

I remember being really impressed with how much they brought themselves to it and put a lot of their soul into it. There's definitely two or three moments on the record that brought tears, and just in awe of their talent and the emotion and gravity that they could bring to songs that they only heard 10 minutes prior. 

Wow. Something that's very tried and true to you as an artist, Alan, is you never quite stick with one sonic sound or composition style. This is your first full acoustic record. And of course, that has a lot to do with Trampled by Turtles, because they're a string band.

And this is also a pretty stark contrast from White Roses, My God, which was almost club [beats] and had this experimental electronic sound. But it was something I'd also never heard coming out of you. White Roses, My God, came at a time when it was hard for you to hear your voice, and you were [grieving] the loss of your wife. And then teamed up with Trampled by Turtles, and then you were able to find your voice again. Can you speak a little to all that?

After Mim passed, there's a lot with loss and all the different parts of yourself that are now dealing with a new reality, a new way of seeing. Having to see things that aren't there that you're used to. Mim and I had built quite a thing. And you talk about how I tend to go from one thing to another, and I like to hope that eclectic is a good word for my interests and the different things I like to try musically. But Mim really grounded me. And together for Low, we were able to build a sound and evolve in a very controlled way over the years. And a lot of that had to do with her and the anchor that she was, and her insistence on certain qualities and a certain feel to the music. And a lot of times, I would be a lot more erratic and have this idea or that idea, and throwing around things. And Mim was really good at helping me anchor that energy and focus better. 

After she passed, there's a long period of wondering who I was and where I was at. Even the idea of hearing my own voice seemed really strange. And I know there's a lot of stories out there of people who have had loss and grief and gone into the music and used the music to express what they're feeling. But there was a long period there where I did not feel that at all. I felt it was almost an insult to the situation to try to intentionally sit down and go, "Okay, well, I'm gonna write about what this is." It seemed small compared to the reality of what was going on. 

At first I didn't really want to hear my voice. I stumbled across this electronic voice pitch changer effect that my kids had lying around, and ended up stumbling on some late-night exercises of messing with the synthesizer and drum machine and just letting whatever came out of my mouth come out. And there's something about having that different voice that cracked into the creative part of the brain. It got me past my own voice and what I was used to doing. I ended up with some things that felt strong. It took some other people walking through the room or coming by to visit for me to see that. But the voice thing was interesting. 

I was working with Nat Harvie on editing and finishing that record when the opportunity to record with the Turtles came up. Going into the Turtles thing, I was still pretty clueless about my voice, but I remember just feeling like, "Well, I've been given this opportunity. These guys are being really generous with their time and soul with me here. So I need to just trust that I have a voice, and trust these songs, and just sing them." The struggle to find yourself in music is pretty powerful, and those are usually the moments when you really find something original and find something that's alive.

There's a lot of highlightable songs on With Trampled By Turtles. And one I want to point out is "Not Broken." When I first heard that song, I thought it was Mimi's voice. It's your daughter Hollis. The way her mother is reflected in her vocals – it was very touching to hear that. Can you talk a little bit about bringing Hollis in for this record. And I know now she's experimenting in different bands too, and both your kids are performing. 

Both my kids love music, and they write stuff, and have figured out their own place in it as they become adults. Hollis is a songwriter. She loves singing. And Cyrus is the same. Cyrus has been out on tour with me, playing bass. That song, "Not Broken," was actually a song that Mim and I were working on at the very end there, and just never got a chance to record it. And after she passed, I kept working on the song a little bit and finished a couple things. But I just remember feeling really strongly that that part, the — "It's not broken, I'm not angry" line, really was Mim's line, and that was her part of that song. And I felt like some other voice should do that. And of course, knowing by then that Hollis could sing and she was there, it was pretty easy to just have her take a crack at it. I had heard her in the studio before, and was really shaken by how much her voice sounds like Mim’s ... Genetics is pretty powerful. Obviously, we've all as a family been hearing each other speak and sing all our lives, and sometimes that can have a bearing on the way people will reflect who's around you.

I've heard you speak about how Duluth's music scene almost has a family vibe to it. And I can think of a number of artists from Duluth that you've supported or helped out or took under your wing in some way, including Alan Church, Haley McCallum and Gaelynn Lea, and now Nat Harvie, who I've played on my show quite a bit. And it's cool to see you teaming up with another Duluth musician. 

I mean, it's a small enough town, and I'm just here and pretty accessible for the most part. Over the years, of course, it's a small scene, so you get to know people as they come and go and grow up here. And there's opportunities to work with other people. It works both ways. Paul Metsa, who's a longtime artist from up north here, invited me recently to sing a song with him that he'd written as a protest song called —

"No Kings, No Crowns"

So that vibe is just there. It happens in Minneapolis and bigger cities, of course, too, but it gets more obvious in a small town. I've been here a long time, so there's always people we run into, and there's a lot of talented people. I've been glad to work with Nat. Nat is a musician, artist, but also a really great engineer, producer. There's an old friend of mine, Toby Thomas Churchill, just sent me a link to some stuff that he has coming up on Spotify that's really strong. He's been an artist that I've always really looked up to.

And Derecho Rhythm Section is another project you've been doing with Al Church and Cyrus.

And Izzy Cruz, who's been around doing a lot of stuff too. When my son first started picking up the bass, he was really into funk and R&B. And as a desperate, hopeful parent, of course, did my best to catch up and to follow that and to be there for that. And Al Church happened to stop into town at the right time, came over and played some drums. And I'm a big believer in the way groups move — the way rhythm works when it's people making the rhythm, and trying to build something with each bringing their different parts there.

As someone who has put out a lot of records, and records a lot, and tours a lot, and performs a lot, how do you know when something's ready? Or how do you know when you're like, "Okay, this is the sound that I want."

[Laughs]

I think of Double Negative, that record, from Low to Things We Lost in the Fire. They feel like such sonic masterpieces.

I don't know that I'm actually that great at that. I've always really relied on other people. Whether it's in the funk band that Cyrus is bringing in — "Hey, this is a really great tune. We should play this." Hearing it on their playlist and, "Wow, this is a great song. We should learn this. "

You talked about some of the records that Low did. I would say just about every record we were working with someone who, to some degree or another, you'd have to put a little trust in. Not necessarily that they were telling you what to do or tell you when things were right. But it just helps to have that last 10%, sometimes 30%, of the reassurance in the room, someone else going, "This sounds great," or "This is getting close." Or introducing a new way to see a song — "Hey, let's drop the drums out here." And like, "Oh, there it is! Okay, great. Now, I see." In the end, it's more just feeling when it's right. Nine times out of 10, it's a collaboration, and it's putting the trust in the people who you are working with. 

I would say, most every recording I've ever done, I did not have any idea of what it would sound like going into it. You have your perspective like, "Well, here's this tune," and then you can look at the situation and go, "Well, I know with this person there's going to be a tendency this way." But hopefully you're going in and you end up with something that surprises you. 

Those last few records that Low did with BJ Burton, we were going in and going, "Let's make sounds we've never heard before. Let's surprise ourselves." If you bring in a song, and a little bit of experience, and some rapport with who you're working with, and you have enough time to work and search, you'll find it. I love what happens after you've been uncomfortable for a few minutes.

Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles. With Nona Invie. 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 11, at the Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul. Details.