Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Flashback to the 60s & 70s & Bobby Sherman June 26, 2025

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Dangling beads inside the doorway to “The 50’s and 60’s Room” at the West Concord Historical Society hearken to the era of Bobby Sherman. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2015)

“JULIE, JULIE, DO YA love me?” Oh, how I wished it was, “Audrey, Audrey, do ya love me?” Such were my thoughts when Bobby Sherman sang that Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1970.

Sherman died this week at age 81, leaving behind a generation of Baby Boomers like me who were hopelessly, madly in love with the teen idol. He was charismatic, good-looking with his shaggy long hair, simply everything a smitten girl could want in a crush.

An Elvis display at a St. Charles antique shop, which I visited years ago. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

And that’s exactly what our relationship was—puppy love. Like generations of teen girls before and after me, I fell in love with handsome heart throb singers. Others fell for Elvis, Donny Osmond, Justin Bieber… Ditto for boy bands.

But back in my day, in the 1960s and 1970s, the likes, looks and lyrics of Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy captured my heart. Sherman even made a guest appearance on Cassidy’s “The Partridge Family” TV show. Both were actors and musicians. And both often sang about unrequited love, as in Sherman’s performance of “Julie, Do Ya Love Me” by songwriter Tom Bahler.

Tiger Beat magazine, photographed many years ago in a St. Peter antique shop. The magazine was in print publication from 1965-2018. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

It’s interesting that, upon Sherman’s death, I could not think of a single song he sang. But when prompted with playbacks, I remembered. Mostly, though, I remember how my cousin Joyce and I paged through her copies of Tiger Beat magazine whenever my family visited hers. She would pull out her copies of this American teen fan publication and we would swoon over photos of our much-loved celebrities like Bobby Sherman. I don’t recall reading the stories, but we probably did. Photos, though, left a lasting impression. Sherman graced the cover of Tiger Beat and Sixteen magazines countless times. I can picture him still all feathered or shaggy hair, big smile and a choker around his neck.

Beyond Tiger Beat, my cousin also plastered her bedroom walls with teen idol posters. Joyce was much more tuned in to celebrity life than me. She had older sisters. I didn’t. Regardless, we shared a love of Bobby Sherman, who sang about Julie. Not about Audrey or Joyce, just two teenagers hanging out in a southwestern Minnesota farmhouse bedroom, dreaming of love while thumbing through Tiger Beat magazine.

TELL ME: Did you have a favorite heart throb singer or band? Maybe Bobby Sherman. Let’s hear. I also really like/liked Rod Stewart, Chicago, Bread, Lobo, The Carpenters, John Denver…

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Remembering singer Roberta Flack February 24, 2025

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My vintage single of Roberta Flack’s hit song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2025)

WHEN ROBERTA FLACK SANG, her words flowed effortlessly. Soothing. Her voice like poetry singing words of love.

Flack died today (Monday) at age 88, news which pulled me back to the early 1970s and her Grammy award-winning singles, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1973) and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (1974). I love those two hits of new love and of love exposed.

I filed through my vintage 45 rpm vinyls until I found Flack’s, then dropped the record onto the turntable to once again immerse myself in feelings of young love. I was in high school when Flack’s singles released and then became Billboard hits.

The songs are universal in theme, undeniably beautiful in delivery. At least that’s my perspective as a Baby Boomer who can’t read a single musical note, can’t carry a tune and knows she likes a song when she likes it.

The timing of Flack’s death during February, Black History Month, seems worth noting, too. She accomplished much as a Black woman. At the age of 15, Flack received a full scholarship to Howard University, a historically Black private college in Washington DC. She earned a bachelor’s in music in 1958, going on to teach music while also pursuing a singing career. Clearly, she accomplished her goals.

(Book cover sourced online)

In researching her background, I learned of a 2023 children’s picture book autobiography, The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music, written by Flack and by Tonya Bolden with illustrations by Hayden Goodman. The title references a piano Flack’s father found in a junkyard, then refurbished and painted a grassy green. Flack was nine years old when she got that first piano. That it came from a junkyard reminds me of the bicycles my maternal grandfather pulled from the junkyard, repaired, painted and gifted to me and my siblings. I was just as thrilled to have my own bike as Flack was to have her own piano.

Flack’s backstory of growing up in a family that valued music and recognized her talent is a love story, too. If only every child would be loved so deeply and encouraged to follow his/her dreams, what a beautiful world this could be.

TELL ME: Whose music do you appreciate and why? And if you remember Roberta Flack, I’d like to hear your thoughts on her and her work.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Minnesota Faces: Country Crooner April 24, 2015

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Portrait #18: Dunnell Lenort

 

Portrait 16, Dunnell Lenort, Village of Yesteryear 2012

 

If you were to read the biography of country and oldies rock n’ roll singer Dunnell Lenort, it would read like a country song.

Heartache and hardship. Good times and bad. But through it all, he perseveres.

I knew none of this when, in July 2012, I listened to Dunnell perform “I Fought the Law” at the 26th annual Steele County Historical Society Extravaganza at the Village of Yesteryear in Owatonna. It was an afternoon of living history, activities and entertainment.

I often wonder what brings a singer onstage to perform with a passion. So when I chose Dunnell’s image for today’s portrait feature, I googled his name to learn more. After hearing Johnny Cash on a home stereo at age five, Dunnell knew he wanted to sing.

But his journey into music starts even earlier. A stroke at only eight months old paralyzed Dunnell’s right leg and arm, beginning 20 plus years of trips to Gillette Children’s Hospital for treatment and multiple surgeries. Through it all, one thing kept this young man’s spirits high—music.

His music career has ebbed and flowed. He once performed on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and as an opening act for Roy Clark at the Surf Ballroom. (Buddy Holly performed his last show there before the February 3, 1959, fatal plane crash near this Clear Lake, Iowa, venue.)  Mostly Dunnell has entertained audiences in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. County fairs, casinos, community events. He lives in Twin Lakes, a small town in Freeborn County.

In early 2008, Dunnell’s beloved wife, Angie, underwent surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor. Things were going good until the couple was seriously injured in an automobile accident several months later.

Angie lost her battle with cancer on September 24, 2014.

On the home page of Dunnell’s website, you won’t find a photo of him. Rather, you will find an image of Angela and these loving words:

I love you Angie and will miss you so very much.—Dunnell

I would like to thank everyone who have expressed their condolences to myself and the family at the loss of my companion, friend and wife Angie. I will miss her tremendously. God’s blessings to you all.—Dunnell

Now that’s a country love song if ever I read one.

Dunnell has many performances booked already for this year, including an appearance again at the July 12 Steele County Historical Society Extravaganza. He’ll take the stage at the Village of Yesterday at 1 p.m.

If you happen to hear Dunnell perform anywhere, remember his inspirational story. His is a story of strength and love, holding strong to hope and a dream.

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This is part of a series, Minnesota Faces, featured every Friday on Minnesota Prairie Roots.

© Copyright 2015 Audrey Kletscher Helbling