By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Sep 22, 2014 at 5:32 AM

Local folk-rock singer/songwriter Kyle Feerick is aiming high.

After a 7-inch 45 and then an EP, Feerick has readied his first full-length record, "The Sky It Moves," which features guitarist Sean Williamson, bassist Matt Wilson, violinist Lodewijk Broekhuizen and drummer Kevin Dunphy, along with a cast of guests that includes saxman Aaron Gardner and trumpeter Jamie Breiwick, among others.

The eight-song record is out today but gets an official launched at a gig Friday, Oct. 17 at Anodyne in Walker's Point, but in the meantime, we checked in with Feerick about his band, his new disc and more.

OnMilwaukee.com: It's taken a little while for you to work up to a full-length after the 45 and the EP. Does it feel pretty good to have accomplished it?

Kyle Feerick: Absolutely. Most of the songs on the album are ones that I have been working and reworking for the better part of 10 years. It's great to hear them played by the band on the album!

OMC: You've said the songs have been evolving for a decade. How can you tell when they're "ready" -- when they're reached the point that you want to commit them to "tape"?

KF: In my mind, a song is never ready; there are an infinite amount of melodies you could play, and words you could sing over a chord progression that you have written -- many of those variations being equally as good. So a recording is just a documentation of a song at that point in time. I am very happy to say that I'm extremely proud of the recordings that myself and the band came up with on this album. I really like the arrangements of the songs, and the instrumentation used on them.

OMC: You also said you're starting now with a blank slate. Is that daunting? Is it also liberating?

KF: It's funny, I've been asking myself the same question. I think a little bit of both. However, I've been working on new material with the band, and it's turning out great; so that's really exciting and has me focused more on the liberation side of it.

OMC: Tell us a bit about the musicians you enlisted to make the record. It's a pretty impressive group.

KF: I put together a group of musicians when I released my 45 record back in September 2012. When we played the record release show together, I knew these were the guys I wanted to write with. Not only that, many of them have talents beyond the stage; the pedal steel guitar player Sean Williamson produced the album, and violinist Lodewijk Broekhuizen recorded and mixed it Downtown at his studio lb. Recordings.

So, over the last two years, along with bassist Matthew Wilson and drummer Kevin Dunphy, we've worked on arranging a lot of my songs, a few of which I wrote almost 10 years ago, as well as writing some new material.

We released a few of them in March 2013, on the EP, "The Places We Can Go," and the rest of the songs are on this album. We were also fortunate to have the talents of many other Milwaukee musicians record on the album: Aaron Gardner on saxophone, Jamie Breiwick on trumpet, John Simons on trombone and Jared Snyder on cello.

OMC: On a totally different note, what's the best place to play in Milwaukee? Where do you feel most at home onstage here?

KF: That's a tough one... I play a lot of different places in the city. I can tell you my dream venue to play! The Pabst Theater. I would absolutely love to sing in that theater. Ah, someday.

Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.