By Adam Hammer

St. Cloud Times

ST. JOSEPH — Like many local neighbors and friends his age, Bobby Vee is planning to sample “retirement living.” He’s just doing so after more than 50 years of steady touring and churning out top 40 hits.

“Those things that I’ve cherished, I’ll now have more time to do,” Vee said.

Sitting down for a cup of coffee at The Local Blend in St. Joseph, a regular stop for Vee whose family runs Rockhouse Productions recording studio a few doors down, he said he is hesitant to declare any firm retirement plans. Like many career musicians, retirement is a foreign concept to Vee.

“I don’t know what it means right now,” Vee, 68, said. “Sometimes I think I’d just wake up in the middle of the night and grab all my stuff, jump in the car and start playing at a gas station somewhere.”

One thing is for sure. Tonight’s Joetown Rocks concert to kick off the 104th annual Church of St. Joseph Fourth of July Parish Festival will be his sixth and final headlining performance there. Vee and his sons Jeff and Tommy Velline have helped plan and headline Joetown Rocks since its first year.

“We want to commemorate our whole run from Rockin’ Round the Clock to Joetown Rocks and say, ‘There it is gang. See you around town,’ “ Jeff Velline said.

Vee also is stepping back from touring the United States and Europe.

Throughout his career, Vee has maintained a steady international touring schedule with about 50 shows in 2010, which was a lighter load than past years.

For the first time since 1960, Vee will be a more familiar face at the post office or the local coffee shop than on the ’60s pop rock tour circuit.

“He’s the nicest, down-to-earth guy you could ever meet,” said Rich Schwegel, chairman of the Joetown Rocks concert committee.

But that doesn’t mean he’s casing up his guitar and never playing again.

Vee may still periodically step on stage or do guest spots, but when he does, it likely will be at a small-town venue close to home.

“We haven’t spent a lot of time in our home area in recent years. We’re always over here or over there,” Vee said. “When you get caught up in logistics, you forget about the journey. I’m just going to enjoy the ride more.”

He’s going to make more time for traveling with his wife, Karen, painting, writing and spending time with his children and grandchildren.

Vee and his boys recently time-traveled back to Vee’s carefree garage band days with his older brother, Bill Velline, in the Fargo, N.D., band The Shadows when they set up a recording space in the garage at Vee’s winter home in Tuscon, Ariz. They already have recorded close to an album’s worth of music in a week.

The theme of the recordings is family favorites and songs including covers of old pop tunes, some Hank Williams remakes and a new rendition of “Since I Met You Baby,” a top 100 single for Vee in 1960.

They’re still not sure what they’re going to do with the recordings, and they don’t seem real concerned about it either.

“We’re just making great music and having fun doing it,” Jeff Velline said. “We have a can’t-fail expectation and the music is just so real and so honest.”

Music archivist, friend and fan Bob Celli, who runs the Bobby Vee Facebook Fan Club page, said many fans were upset at the news of Vee’s retirement plans. But Celli thinks releasing new music periodically will feed many fans’ appetites.

“I’m glad he’s taking some time for himself, but I think he’s going to get itchy fingers to play,” Celli said. “The fans are all very upset, but then I tell them, ‘Hey, he’s been working since he was 15. Give him a break.’ And then they all understand.”

Celli has worked closely with Vee since the 1980s. They first met in 1973.

Celli played an integral role in Vee’s two-CD “Rarities” compilation in 2010. “Rarities” featured more than 60 songs from the EMI vaults, many of which were previously unreleased.

Celli said there is still enough unreleased music for another CD, but there are no plans to release a part two.

Looking back on the hits he’s recorded and the concerts he’s played, including a run on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in Branson, Mo., the Palladium in London and even county fairs, Vee’s still-boyish smile comes through with every story he recalls.

“There are no bad gigs. There really aren’t,” Vee said. “We were in London at the Palladium for the last show of our tour there and then we came back home, and the next show we did was on a flatbed truck in Iowa. The speakers were (swaying from side to side) and I thought to myself, ‘This is the best shot I could’ve ever had.’ “

Although he has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there is a gold record hanging on the wall there that commemorates his career that started Feb. 3, 1959, the day a plane crash killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “the Big Bopper” Richardson.

The plaque reads: “… Bobby Vee broke into the ranks of rock and roll through a tragic twist of fate and went on to become one of the biggest rock and roll stars of the pre-Beatles era …”

Vee has outlasted many of this rock and roll peers. Guys such as Johnny Preston (“Running Bear”) and Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon (”A World Without Love”) have died recently and others such as Tommy Roe retired years ago.

“Tommy Roe, after a show in Sloan, Iowa, I think I was talking to him about another gig and he said, ‘You know, I don’t think I’m going to do this anymore.’ I said, ‘Right.’ He said, ‘No, that’s it.’ And that was it.

“It makes you think what makes people stop, and what they’re doing and why would they want to do it. Tommy Roe will tell you.”

And Bobby Vee will tell you, too.

“I’ve had this wonderful career, and I want to feel good about my creativity. That’s what I want,” Vee said.