If you go
The Green County Fair kicks off Wednesday and continues through Sunday. The fairgrounds open daily at 8 a.m. Daily admission is $8 for adults and $3 for children ages 8 to 12. Children younger than 8 get in free. Season tickets are $20.
What: Briana Lynn Hardyman with Little Vito and the Torpedoes
When: 6 p.m. Friday, July 20
Where: Green County Fair, 2600 10th St., Monroe
Cost: Free
MONROE - Briana Lynn Hardyman bought her first guitar for $99 at Walmart when she was a freshman in college, just to learn one song.
One day she came home to discover some guys had dumped beer on it during a roommate's party, totally warping the instrument.
"It was a blessing in disguise," she said. By that point, she was ready anyway for a newer, better guitar. She was teaching herself song after song and getting more serious about music. A few years after college, she decided to switch from an acting career to music.
Hardyman, a 2001 Darlington High School grad, is returning to the area to perform Friday at the Green County Fair with Little Vito and the Torpedoes. They'll be performing oldies, country and rock 'n' roll.
"There's pretty much something for everybody. It's neat to see somebody who's 80 years old and having a great time next to a 5-year-old kid," she said.
She recently joined Little Vito and the Torpedoes after seeing their ad for a vocalist.
"I thought, what the heck? I auditioned for them and I knew from the first moment I met the guys ... we just hit it off and it went from there," she said. "I loved the fact that I was going to get to sing oldies, classic rock and country."
Drummer Vito Staccato and his band have been performing together for decades. The current lineup includes Craig Scott on guitar; Tim Krause on sax, flute, clarinet and piano; Michael Hays on keys, bass and horns; and Mark Gruenenfelder on bass.
'It was the first thing I needed to do'
Born and raised in Darlington, Hardyman left right after high school to study theater at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. With her theater degree in hand, she moved after graduation to perform in New York City.
But it increasingly became clear to her while living in New York that music was her real passion, not acting. After a music company in Nashville showed interest in a demo tape she sent them, she moved to the city in 2006 and lived there until 2010, writing and recording music and touring.
In 2009, she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. She moved back to Wisconsin the next year to recover from surgery at her parents' house.
"Anytime you go under for brain surgery, there's a chance you're not going to wake up," she said. "I wasn't sure if I was ever going to do music again."
After the surgery, she couldn't see straight or hold food down. But when she made a full recovery a few months later, she realized she needed to get back into music.
"I didn't realize that (music) was that big of a part of who I was. It was the first thing I needed to do," she said. "It was a while before I got my chops back, but I guess I just woke up needing to."
Soon she was performing again, and met her fiancee and decided to settle in Madison.
The Torpedoes is just one of several musical (and nonmusical) projects Hardyman is juggling right now.
Besides doing solo acoustic roots-rock shows, she's working with veteran musician Mauro Magellan (formerly with The Georgia Satellites, now with The Jimmys) on an album of original Americana, country rock and folk rock songs they wrote together. She says they're planning to release it within the next few months.
"I do all my music-studying with the people I play with. I learn a lot. I tend to work with people who have a lot more experience than I do," she said.
Hardyman is also working toward a graduate degree in counseling at UW-Platteville. She says she's not yet sure which focus she'll take in the program, possibly adult clinical counseling or counseling in a community school setting.
'Now I think it's pretty cool'
Hardyman grew up on a farm so she's familiar with county fair culture, but it has taken her a while to come around to it.
"Growing up, I wasn't that impressed with it. Now I think it's pretty cool, how hard people work on livestock," she said. If she has time at the Green County Fair this weekend, she wants to check out the exhibition hall because "it's really neat" to see what people are doing locally.
"Monroe is just a really, really cool place," she said.
This heatwave, however, is not: "Feel free to spray water at us or throw water balloons at us."
Just don't get beer on her guitar.
One day she came home to discover some guys had dumped beer on it during a roommate's party, totally warping the instrument.
"It was a blessing in disguise," she said. By that point, she was ready anyway for a newer, better guitar. She was teaching herself song after song and getting more serious about music. A few years after college, she decided to switch from an acting career to music.
Hardyman, a 2001 Darlington High School grad, is returning to the area to perform Friday at the Green County Fair with Little Vito and the Torpedoes. They'll be performing oldies, country and rock 'n' roll.
"There's pretty much something for everybody. It's neat to see somebody who's 80 years old and having a great time next to a 5-year-old kid," she said.
She recently joined Little Vito and the Torpedoes after seeing their ad for a vocalist.
"I thought, what the heck? I auditioned for them and I knew from the first moment I met the guys ... we just hit it off and it went from there," she said. "I loved the fact that I was going to get to sing oldies, classic rock and country."
Drummer Vito Staccato and his band have been performing together for decades. The current lineup includes Craig Scott on guitar; Tim Krause on sax, flute, clarinet and piano; Michael Hays on keys, bass and horns; and Mark Gruenenfelder on bass.
'It was the first thing I needed to do'
Born and raised in Darlington, Hardyman left right after high school to study theater at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. With her theater degree in hand, she moved after graduation to perform in New York City.
But it increasingly became clear to her while living in New York that music was her real passion, not acting. After a music company in Nashville showed interest in a demo tape she sent them, she moved to the city in 2006 and lived there until 2010, writing and recording music and touring.
In 2009, she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. She moved back to Wisconsin the next year to recover from surgery at her parents' house.
"Anytime you go under for brain surgery, there's a chance you're not going to wake up," she said. "I wasn't sure if I was ever going to do music again."
After the surgery, she couldn't see straight or hold food down. But when she made a full recovery a few months later, she realized she needed to get back into music.
"I didn't realize that (music) was that big of a part of who I was. It was the first thing I needed to do," she said. "It was a while before I got my chops back, but I guess I just woke up needing to."
Soon she was performing again, and met her fiancee and decided to settle in Madison.
The Torpedoes is just one of several musical (and nonmusical) projects Hardyman is juggling right now.
Besides doing solo acoustic roots-rock shows, she's working with veteran musician Mauro Magellan (formerly with The Georgia Satellites, now with The Jimmys) on an album of original Americana, country rock and folk rock songs they wrote together. She says they're planning to release it within the next few months.
"I do all my music-studying with the people I play with. I learn a lot. I tend to work with people who have a lot more experience than I do," she said.
Hardyman is also working toward a graduate degree in counseling at UW-Platteville. She says she's not yet sure which focus she'll take in the program, possibly adult clinical counseling or counseling in a community school setting.
'Now I think it's pretty cool'
Hardyman grew up on a farm so she's familiar with county fair culture, but it has taken her a while to come around to it.
"Growing up, I wasn't that impressed with it. Now I think it's pretty cool, how hard people work on livestock," she said. If she has time at the Green County Fair this weekend, she wants to check out the exhibition hall because "it's really neat" to see what people are doing locally.
"Monroe is just a really, really cool place," she said.
This heatwave, however, is not: "Feel free to spray water at us or throw water balloons at us."
Just don't get beer on her guitar.