Career in music has taken alumnus all over the world

Music has always been part of Paul Diethelm’s life.

“I come from a musical family,” the St. Cloud State University alumnus said. “I’m the youngest of four, and there was a lot of music in the house.”

While not professional musicians, Diethelm said his parents were certainly interested in music — participating in church choirs and playing at community events.

“Everybody in my family was in high school band and that kind of stuff. My brother, who was really instrumental in shaping me, is 10 years older than I am,” he said. “In the early ’70s he was playing in rock bands and playing electric guitar. I really looked up to that and that kind of got me started on down that road.”

While Diethelm initially started playing the drums, he became an axe man as a teenager. He started playing professionally as a guitarist straight out of high school, joining a local Watertown, Minnesota group with some “older” 30-somethings. He then moved to the St. Cloud area to attend SCSU in 1983, and said he joined another band right away in St. Cloud.

“It just kept going from there,” he said.

Diethelm started the three-piece band Slip Twister around 1989, and the group played around Minneapolis and “all over the place.” That stint would make connections that led to Diethelm going on the road with blues phenom Jonny Lang, touring with him on a national and international level for about eight years. As part of Lang’s band, Diethelm played on national talk shows, including Conan O’Brien, David Letterman and Jay Leno. The band opened for Aerosmith, was signed to the Rolling Stones tour, and even performed at the White House for President Bill Clinton. Along the way Diethelm met such rock ’n’ roll legends as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck and numerous others.

Once Diethelm returned home full time in the mid-2000s, he helped start the band The Fabulous Armadillos with his Slip Twister bandmates as well as a few other musicians. The Fabulous Armadillos cover multiple genres of music and are popular throughout Minnesota and the surrounding region for their theme and tribute shows. While they introduce different themes each year, the band also tours four recurring tribute shows, including tributes to The Doobie Brothers, Eagles and Pink Floyd. The fourth tribute show is “What's Going On: Songs from the Vietnam War Era,” and includes stories from veterans to honor those who have served their country. Diethelm also teams up with some of his bandmates as well as other musicians for “Rock n Roll Xmas Spectacular,” an annual Las Vegas-style Christmas show.

While music has long been a constant in Diethelm’s life, his collegiate experience was less linear. He initially pursued a degree in special education at St. Cloud State, but started having second thoughts during his student teaching rotation in the ’80s.

“I got to the end of that and I kind of freaked out. I was like, ‘Oh, this isn't what I really want to do,’” he said. “I basically quit college. I've always done music and that's always kind of what I really wanted to do.”

One night around a neighborhood campfire, Diethelm got to discussing his collegiate experience with next-door neighbor and then-SCSU professor Rex Veeder. Veeder later looked into Diethelm’s transcripts, and told him he was 21 credits shy of a Bachelor of Elective Studies. As Diethelm was involved with a recording studio in Minneapolis at the time, Veeder encouraged him to approach the studio manager about an internship there, earning him 12 credits toward his degree. Diethelm then completed some independent study courses while out on the road, ultimately earning his B.E.S. in 2003.

“I was in a band that was all over the world and I finished up my degree,” he said. “I surely enjoyed my time at St. Cloud State, one little bit at a time. I'd come and go, kind of, but I always made new connections and I always felt like it was a cool place to be.”

Diethelm even penned a song for his alma mater in 2013, “Husky Hockey Song,” that was played as a pre-game anthem for Huskies men’s and women’s hockey games.

In 2022, Diethelm was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. While nicknamed “Stretch” for his tall stature, Diethelm’s ego is not nearly as large.

“I surely felt like other people were more deserving, but they just picked up the phone one day and told me,” he said. “And I thought, ‘OK, well, that's pretty cool.’”

The induction was a full-circle moment for Diethelm, whose story has always centered around music.

“I can say that I've wanted to do it forever. Some of my earliest memories are hearing the marching band come down our street and being drawn to that and just drumming immediately. My mom said I was practically playing along with it. I had an ear for that kind of stuff, as my whole family did,” he said. “So it has certainly been my life’s passion and what I've wanted to do since I can remember.”

He encouraged others who might want to pursue a career in music to follow their dreams, but to realize there will be challenges along the way.

“Boy, it's nice if you can follow your passion and what you really want to do. Whether or not you're able to make a full-time career out of it is another thing, and is a little trickier now,” he said. “Whether it’s a cover band or an all original project — and even better if you can pull off both at the same time — a viable cover band can help financially support your more creative endeavors.

“I think if you’re following your passion in music, creating and performing what you love best, people will recognize it.”