Tales of the Rock 'n' Rock Highway

Marty Weintraub, musician, singer/songwriter, and producer, turned SEO Martech was more than a young man with a drag hairdo and several New Age Dolphin CDs. Both of which he can be found in SEO interviews laughing off as a hobby. 

For reasons unknown a larger slice of his music history goes unmentioned. 

From 1985 to 1992, he recorded with, worked for, and became partners with Arlo Hennings. The two traveled together to New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville, and on behalf of the 1990 Minnesota Music Awards, presented the Artist of the Year Award. 

By all accounts they were an inseparable force in the local music scene.

In 1985, Weintraub met Hennings and helped produce Hennings' double album novella release Burden of the Beat -The Eyelid Movie. The self-released project was sponsored by the Plains Art Museum. In addition, it was reviewed by the Minneapolis Star & Tribune as one of the most ambitious records of 1985. The Fargo Forum wrote: “a must hear and read.” City Pages Newspaper however, wrote: “it was released by mistake.” The Minnesota Historical Society archived the project. 

Video of Weintraub and Hennings performing a song from the project on the ExXtra TV program. 

From there the two went into the recording studio business together. The first studio was called Thump Studios, which operated in the kitchen area of Hennings one bedroom apartment. 

Over the course of the next few years Weintraub and Hennings produced demo recordings for many artists. One day Hennings got the idea to pitch the music of the best projects to music publishers in Hollywood. 

The effort paid off. 

As documented in the St, Paul Pioneer Press feature story, The Right Place at the Right Time, Weintraub and Hennings were now legal 50/50 partners (Arlo Hennings Publishing Co.) in a publishing/production contract with PolyGram Music International, (Universal Music Group). 

The deal lasted from 1989 to 1991. During that time 23 songs were produced. Most of them produced, co-produced, and co-written by Marty Weintraub. One artist from their roster, Dan Presley, was signed to a recording contract with Interscope Records.

Marty Weintraub Arlo Hennings	Minnesota Historical Society	Arlo Hennings Marty Weintraub	Marty Weintraub Thump Studios

Marty Weintraub Arlo Hennings PolyGram office Burbank

L-R Bob Kirsch, VP Nashville,Marty Weintraub, Dean Kay, President, PolyGram, Arlo Hennings, Jeff Brabec, VP PolyGram

L-R Dean Kay, Dave Barry, Laura Schlieske, Marty Weintrub, Marco Dardanis, Arlo Hennings, Gina Felicetta, Bob Kirsch