ZEN OF THIEVES & DOC HEIDE
Zen of Thieves is a band of Doc Heide's friends who perform songs he's written.
Birthplace of the Thunder is their first album (released January 1, 2026).
The songs offer a psychospiritual take on today's world, exploring compassion, optimism, mysticism, myth, and more.
The album's style is “transcendental chamber folk”. Using a bed of acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars, the album includes piano, cello, electric bass, electric guitar, drums, nyckelharpa, French Horn, and Irish whistle.
Performers include Eric Lewis (NARAS Best String Player Award, recently featured on soundtrack of the movie Song Sung Blue: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/artist/eric-lewis/), Grammy-nominated cellist Hans Christian (https://www.hanschristianmusic.com) & drummer Paul Taylor (another Grammy nominee: https://www.paulsnowflaketaylor.com/), Steve Koehler (Milwaukee Rep’s Come from Away & Guys on Ice: https://uwm.edu/arts/directory/koehler-steven/), Kerrville New Folk Finalist Karen Mal (https://www.last.fm/music/Karen+Mal/+wiki), Amy Chaffee (vocal coach to Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Orlando Bloom, etc.: https://www.amychaffee.com) and more.
Frederick "Doc" Heide has had a triple career in music, theater, and clinical psychology. In all three, he's been interested in how psychology and spirituality overlap.
In music, he's been Kerrville New Folk Finalist and recorded three previous albums including Lessons I Learned from the Moon (Ten Best Albums of the Year, Sound Choice Magazine), Peaceful Kingdom (which earned comparisons to Bob Dylan and Warren Zevon by critics in the US and abroad), and Christmas in Door County with Eric Lewis ("These two masters of the contemporary acoustic idiom deliver a wonderfully nuanced performance": ChristmasReviews.com).
In theater, he co-founded and has performed for decades with Wisconsin's Northern Sky Theater. Doc has written or co-written two dozen shows including the hit musical comedies Belgians In Heaven, Packer Fans from Outer Space, and Guys & Does. Over 200,000 people have attended them. https://marvelousmusicals.com//
In clinical psychology, he's won awards for his research and teaching. He is Professor Emeritus at the California School of Professional Psychology-San Francisco at Alliant International University.
Doc has just been elected as a 2026 Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. /files/1405115/WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS, AND LETTERS: 2026 FELLOWS
“Harmonically complex, words searching and literate, the effect arrestingly beautiful. These songs…take up permanent residence in one's mind and heart.” (Erik Erikkson, Door County Advocate)