Michigan music: Jay Stielstra, Michigan’s Poet Laureate
by Steve Girbach
Jay Stielstra has called Manchester home for 30 plus years, ever since building his house in the beautiful hills of Sharon Township.
But who is Jay Stielstra? Dave Siglin, Director of The Ark in Ann Arbor (1969–2008), has referred to Jay as “Michigan’s Poet Laureate” and considers Jay to be “a founding father of the Ann Arbor music scene.” Kinda makes sense, knowing that Jay has written more than 180 songs. Musical poetry in truth. Simple songs with topics covering love, nature, social injustice, life truths, Michigan, and so much more.
Jay and his musical poetry have influenced many a Michigan artist: Chris Buhalis, Judy Banker, and Dick Siegel to name a few. Mentioning Jay, and his music, in the same conversation as John Prine, Pete Seeger, and, dare I say, Woody Guthrie, is warranted — but he has a style all his own.
To go in depth on Jay’s music, and life, would take every page in this publication, for a month or two at least. But there is more. Like a published lyric/songbook, Heaven For Me — Selected Lyrics and Scores by Jay Stielstra, is a collection of more than 50 pieces of Jay’s work. And then there are the plays. Jay has written six or so plays, most of them musicals.
As a matter of fact, this year represents the 40th anniversary of North Country Opera, the first of the plays to be penned by Jay. In 1982, it was the second play to be staged at the Performance Network in Ann Arbor. The performance was taken on tour to Northern Michigan, as well as the UP, and was tremendously popular. North Country Opera is a tribute to Northern Michigan.
Set in the Buckhorn Bar, it is the north country’s own version of a timeless love story: a young man falls in love with the beauty of the northern woods and rivers — and the woman he meets there. North Country Opera has been revived in 1992, 1993, 2003, and will be again this year!
Ron Miller (who directed earlier productions of both North Country Opera and North Country Opera Continued) will direct this year’s performance of Jay’s iconic folk musical beginning in Northern Michigan October 7–15 with a closing performance at The Ark in Ann Arbor on October 18, performed by a cast of Michigan musical and theater luminaries: starring Rochelle Clark and Brad Phillips with Chris Buhalis, Kristi Davis, Peter Knox, Christina McMullen, David Menefee, and Italy-based artist Aaron Stielstra (Jay’s son). The Buckhorn Bar Band features music director Judy Banker with Michigan music favorites David Roof, John Sperendi, and Grant Flick. To learn more about the show, venues, tickets, and dates, go to www.northcountryopera.org.
It also must be noted that Jay has released four full-length recordings: Times That We Had (2002); Don’t Let Me Down Easy (2009); Michigan In Song (2013); and Heaven For Me (2017). Heaven For Me, a collection of selected scores and lyrics by Jay Stielstra, was published in 2019. To purchase Jay’s songbook or CDs, email him at: jaystielstrasongs@gmail.com.
I haven’t even scratched the surface of this incredible man’s story. We haven’t talked about Jay the promising young athlete (recruited on an athletic scholarship to attend the U of M to play football, basketball, and track, and who was Big Ten Champion in long jump, receiving his medal from Jesse Owens); Jay the Ann Arbor schoolteacher; Jay the builder (full time after retiring from teaching); or Jay the state champion Ann Arbor high school football coach (with inductions into the Mason County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Michigan High School Football Association Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2014).
Like I said, “every page in this publication, for a month or two at least.”
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