Interview with Wylie Gustafson, the Yahoo! Yodeler

Tell us how you got hooked up with Yahoo! in 1996. How did we discover you?

I was living in LA and was one of the only yodelers there at the time (with my band, Wylie and the Wild West). An audio production house in Santa Monica called Elias and Assoc, which did soundtracks for a lot of national TV commercials, used me quite a bit in the '90s as the guy they needed for a yodel. The sound was popular at that time, along with surf guitar, for getting people's attention. A few times a year I'd go do a commercial and end up on TV. I yodeled for Mitsubishi, Taco Bell, Porsche, and Miller Light before Yahoo!.

How did you come up with the signature sound?

Black Rocket was Yahoo!'s ad agency at the time and they were looking for a yodel. When I went into the studio, they just asked me to yodel the name. In five minutes, I probably did 10 different yodels.

Were you using the Internet at that time?

I was, though I wasn't really up to speed or Internet savvy. But when they called me, I actually knew what Yahoo! was and had probably used it. It was the year Yahoo! was going public.

How did you get started in yodeling?

My dad was Montana cowboy and ranch veterinarian and he would yodel whenever he was happy -- out on horseback, at the top of the ski hill. He was a happy guy and did a lot of yodeling! It was very infectious and, of course, I wanted to be just like him. I think I was 10 when I first tried. I remember listening to yodeling on the radio in the morning, along with polka music, because we were Scandinavian/German. My dad's favorite was Elton Britt, the king of the cowboy yodelers at the time. But I really learned from an old yodeling instructional that my aunt got from a bunch of Austrian skiers. It was an old reel-to-reel tape from one of the Austrian masters of yodeling, Franzl Lang, and my cousins sent it to me when they found it. I was like a kid in a candy store.

How are Austrian and cowboy yodeling different?

There are some similarities, but Austrian is so much more complicated. It has almost a classical nature, though cowboy yodeling uses a part of the style. They take it seriously over in Austria. They used it in so many of their musical forms, especially in '30s and '40s in the Bavarian alpine region.

How has being the Yahoo! yodeler impacted your singing career?

Those three notes have changed my life. It's funny -- I've been a singer/songwriter since the 1980s and I'd spent my life trying to write that 3-minute hit song that would propel me to stardom. And it came from a completely different direction! Three notes created in a matter of a minute. Life is funny that way and it surprises you. Here I have not a hit song but a hit three-note ditty. The biggest thing was probably the notoriety and attention directed my way. It allowed me to invest in my musical career and start recording a lot more. I've basically been performing professionally for 20 years now and the Yahoo! yodel was just a big turning point. Since then we've gotten gigs like Late Night with Conan O'Brien, A Prairie Home Companion, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center. And we've traveled to places like Japan and Argentina. The yodel has taken me all over the world and let me see places I never would've seen.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask how about the Yahoo! lawsuit of 2002. We're glad we were able to settle quickly and fairly. But what happened?

I was a struggling musician and had done the Yahoo! yodel as a regional commercial, and with the understanding that it would only be used for a brief period of time. Two years later, I heard my yodel in a Yahoo! commercial. I was obviously excited to hear it but it wasn't the deal I thought we had. Someone was probably just remiss in following up on the paperwork. I contacted Yahoo! and eventually filed a lawsuit. BUT the case settled quickly, fairly, and amicably. I was very satisfied.

What are you doing now?

Ranching is a big part of my life. My wife and I own Cross Three Ranch in Eastern Washington and we train cutting horses -- horses that are used specifically to work cattle. They've been bred for last few centuries to read and react to cattle. They can cut one cow out of a herd -- to be doctored, or maybe it has a different brand and needs to be sent back home -- and you need the Mazerati of horses to get that job done because cattle are agile and quick. These horses need year-round training, which is why I built the Yahoo! Dome riding arena. I spend my time going to cutting shows on weekends. I balance horses and ranch life with musical career. I'm on my fourteenth album and we're lucky to get a lot of airplay on satellite and web-based radio stations. We're also on iTunes. I'm still one of the few yodelers out there who makes that a part of my career and the art form. We're a niche band -- it's roots-based Americana music, so we don't have a large audience but they're loyal.

What tips do you have for beginning yodelers?

I have a book published by Gibb-Smith Publishing, which includes a CD -- "How to Yodel: Lessons to Tickle Your Tonsils." You can find it on Amazon. I aimed it toward beginning yodelers. You can also find a few of my instructional videos on YouTube.

You were the emcee for the Yahoo! Yodel Challenge in 2003 and toured the country with us to find America's best yodeler. Ironically, our winner won as a write-in. Are you impressed with where yodeling has taken Taylor Ware?

Yes, I'm happy to see that Taylor has used yodeling to advance her career and get recognition. It's fun to see her having done so well -- she was on America's Got Talent and even Oprah. She basically has a career in music because of getting started in the Yahoo! Yodel Challenge.

Do you Yahoo!?

It's my homepage, for starters. I also use Yahoo! Small Business to host my site, which helps me sell several CD's a day.

Do people recognize you as the Yahoo! yodeler?

Yes. Actually, not visually, but when they're told I'm the Yahoo! dude, they light up. The kids go home and tell their parents. It's interesting to see how well known that audio logo is. Not many companies have one as powerful as Yahoo!'s. And I'm happy to be part of that. A lot of that had to do with the creative nature of people who founded Yahoo!. They were willing to take chances, have a goofy and energetic presence, and I think that yodel helped them get recognition.

How does it feel having your yodel heard by millions of people everyday?

Everywhere I go, people want to hear it. I wrote a song about it and we've made it part of our show. You can see a live performance of "The Yodeling Fool" on Youtube. It's one of our most popular live songs.

Do you own an Insta-Yodel button?

No, I don't. I'll have to get one of those!