Flume by Bon Iver.

Who would have known that anything more than cheese, horseradish and beer would ever have come out of the smallish northwest Wisconsin community of Eau Claire? Justin Vernon, Eau Claire Memorial Highschool class of 1999, finally bucked the trend with his recent indie rock success. The 28 year-old former football player is now enjoying international success as the frontman for the band, Bon Iver. The band, made up by remanents of highschool jazz band kids, broke out with Skinny Love —performed live last year on Letterman and finished 2008 as the #1 most downloaded song on NPR. Bon Iver's first album For Emma, Forever Ago was listed among the top fifty albums of 2008 by Rolling Stone and recently went Gold in the UK; Rolling Stone profiled the band in February, calling the sound, "haunting, strummy folk rock."

Last Sunday, Justin returned to his roots—playing a fundraiser for our highschool jazz band in Eau Claire, WI. Sitting in the standing-room-only highschool auditorium, I must admit a wave of pride flooded my body as my former classmate humbly took the stage. It had been 10 years since Justin Vernon performed on the stage of Memorial High School—the same amount of it had been since I last saw Justin before heading off to college. 

After highschool Jazz I finished their own set (nailing some sick Ellington tunes), Justin shuffled out to join the 20-plus-piece band in a bright white double breasted suit.

Rolling Stone.com went on to report:  They led with “Lump Sum” (from For Emma, Forever Ago), followed by four standards—Ellington’s “Rocks In My Bed,” Nina Simone’s “Since I Fell For You,” Ella Fitzgerald’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “Miss Otis Regrets”—before doing another of his own songs, “For Emma,” which came alive under the weight of the large brass section.

After several standing ovations, Vernon closed with Frank Sinatra’s “The Lady Is a Tramp” and encored with a revelatory solo version of Mahalia Jackon’s “A Satisfied Mind.” He graciously attempted to shift the spotlight off of himself and on to the band (made up of juniors and seniors), the director, the songwriters, the community and his Bon Iver bandmate Mike Noyce, who contributed a wicked harmonica solo to “Since I Fell For You.”

It's refreshing to see good talent be not only recognized for what it is, but also that the recognition hasn't changed the kid I knew from highschool; he's still the same humble, outgoing dude that was always practicing guitar in the back corner of the band room. Go forward and kick ass, Justin. You deserve it.

Listen to Blood Bank, Skinny Love and The Wolves Act 1 & 2