Photos: Chris Emeott
Stephen Wallack hopes his music welcomes listeners back to life’s memorable moments.
Think back to childhood holidays—the gifts, the food, the company and the chaos—memories that spill into the now and forever.
For Stephen Wallack, a pianist and composer from Minnetonka, the holidays are more than a seasonal memory; they’re a feeling. “I come from a big family. I’m one of six kids,” he says. “It’s chaos. It’s beautiful. It’s unorganized. There were always people around, always something going on, but there were quiet moments that stayed with me.”
Growing up near Deephaven, Wallack recalls holidays with all the feelings and emotions they carried. He remembers the season filled with family, music and traditions. It is those memories that helped shape Reflections, Wallack’s 10-track holiday album, which was released in 2020.
While the album features familiar, classic holiday melodies, Wallack didn’t present the classics in a completely recognizable way. Rather, he reshaped them, giving them an original take of his own. “When you listen to the album, the original songs are there, but they’re hidden,” he says. “It’s more about how they feel than how they sound.”
Wallack compares the layers of the songs to the holidays of his childhood. He says the tracks aim to promote feelings of joy, nostalgia and whatever else the listener needs to feel. “When I recorded [Reflections], I went into the studio without a plan,” he says. “I just sat down and started playing. I think I recorded most of it in something like five hours.”
The process was not foreign to Wallack and mirrors much of his musical career. The artist has released six albums, yet he has never been formally trained to read or write music. Everything he knows about music is experiential—listening to music and feeling its meaning. “It’s just how it works for me,” he says. “It sort of happened around the time I was 12 years old.”
“The best compliment I get is when someone says a song took them somewhere,” Stephen Wallack says. “Music lets you go back. Even if it’s for a few minutes, you feel like you’re there again.”
Early musical influences informed how Wallack moved through his creative journey. As a preteen, he listened to pianist George Winston’s album December. He clearly recalls listening to the album, pointing to its importance to his eventual career and love for the holiday season. “I remember sitting at our family’s piano with a little Sony boombox, playing the album over and over to figure it out by ear,” he says. “That was really the beginning.”
Later, Wallack graduated from The Blake School in 1994, leaving Minnesota to explore Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, learning guitar and shifting his musical focus. It wasn’t until about 13 years ago, when he returned to his home state, that he was reunited with his love for the piano. “There was something about being back here,” Wallack says. “I was pulled back to the beginning.” That experience spurred him to focus on music professionally. As family and friends encouraged him to record his work, he knew it was a leap worth taking. “What was the worst that could happen?” he says.
Stephen Wallack and Matt Holmes put their creative talents to work at Wild Sound Recording Studio in Minneapolis. Wallack is working on his seventh album and hopes to schedule more live performance dates in the Metro.
The result: Wallack’s debut album Chapters, recorded in Northeast Minneapolis in 2019, reached the top spot on the new age music charts. His fan base quickly grew as listeners began to connect with his music. “The best compliment I get is when someone says a song took them somewhere,” Wallack says. “Music lets you go back. Even if it’s for a few minutes, you feel like you’re there again.”
Now, as a father of four children (Finn, Merritt, Ireland and Connor), the holidays hold a different meaning for Wallack. “With my own kids, I get to watch them experience the season, and it brings everything full circle,” he says. As the holidays return, Wallack points to his favorite tracks on Reflections, including We Three Kings, which he describes as darker and more atmospheric than the original version, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Fans can listen to their favorite Wallack songs during his live performances, which recently included a show at the Dakota in Minneapolis. “Performing live brings a little more anxiety,” he says with a laugh. “When you’re playing solo, it’s just you out there. While there’s nowhere to hide, it’s also incredibly rewarding.”
Wallack, who is working on his seventh album, hopes to offer more live performances, including a holiday concert. “It’s never too late to create something,” he says. “If someone hears my music and it inspires them, well, that’s everything.”
Stephen Wallack
Instagram: @stephenwallackmusic
