Winona, MN | Listen
For the past 8 years, the Beef Slough Boys have been traveling the backwaters and back roads of the river bluff country upriver and downriver from Winona, offering up pan-fried blues, organic originals and heirloom country classics. They are at work this winter on their third CD, and are dedicated to bringing homegrown music to any appreciative audience, from festivals to backyard barbecues.
Embarrass, MN | Listen
"Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses is a 6 piece "string band" that specializes in high-energy, modernized versions of old songs taken from Americana and Roots music along with a healthy dose of original music."
Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses is a 6 piece "string band" that specializes in high-energy, modernized versions of old songs taken from Americana and Roots music along with a healthy dose of original music.
In the last year Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses have played all over the state of Minnesota including well-received performances at Harvest Fest in Geneva, MN, Homegrown Music Festival in Duluth, MN, The Northeast Folk Festival in Minneapolis, MN and The Mid-West Music Festival as well as Boats and Bluegrass Festival in Winona, MN.
Most recently, Ray and the Horses been in the studio recording an ambitious double album (half originals / half old standards), and are looking forward to continue taking those songs on the road this fall. Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses is a high-energy renegade American roots band specializing in foot-stompin, forget-what-troubles-ya music. With energy to blow your face off, and enough soul to well your eyes, the band is best taken live with friends and strangers. Based in Minnesota's Iron Range, the group has established a passionate and equally as rowdy fan-base throughout the Northland and continues to travel further to spread their unique mix of blues, old-time, and Americana roots music. Those Damn Horses are:
* Eric Krenz - guitar, jug, vocals
* "Trapper" Al Ranfranz - harmonica, vocals
* Dave "Flea" Tech - fiddle
* Aaron Kaercher - washboard, snare, stomp, vocals
* Kyle Westrick - bass, vocals
Holyoke, MN | Listen
Brothers Teague and Ian Alexy’s first two albums as Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank placed them firmly among the pioneers of the impressive roots music resurgence going on in Minnesota. Both well-respected singer/songwriters, Teague is practically a one man band stomping his feet, banging out rhythm guitar and blowing soulful blues on the harmonica around his neck while Ian is a foot stomping guitar ace on both melodic acoustic and rowdy, rock n’ roll electric. Hobo Nephews are currently touring coast to coast promoting their new album Traveling Show.
The lion's share of Traveling Show was recorded in three marathon days at Rough Magic Studios in Brooklyn NY. Ian's old friend from his stint at Berklee College of Music Marco Benevento – who the All Music Guide calls "an outrageously talented musician" - electrifies three tracks putting his organ, wurlitzer and circuit bent toys in an exciting new Americana context. Pedal steel player Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams and The Cardinals) adds his luminous sound to two songs while members of fellow Minnesota roots music troubadours Trampled By Turtles add impeccable violin, mandolin and banjo.
Included with the physical version of Traveling Show is the 60 minute film Moments and Truths documenting the making of the record in New York City as well as sights, sounds and encounters from all over the country. Directed and edited by filmmaker/photographer Joshua Priestley, and partially shot by the band themselves, Moments And Truths is a uniquely stylized film that captures the Hobo Nephews transient life. It also captures the band at an exciting period as their musicianship, songwriting and musical vision rise to new heights.
Currently, Ian Thomas Alexy is promoting his new EP Are You Listening and Teague Alexy is prepping a release for early 2012. A new Hobo Nephew album is planned for late 2012.
Duluth, MN | Listen
A self-confessed failure (and modest to a fault), Minnesota’s Charlie Parr is nonetheless stubborn enough not to quit. Parr released his first recording, Criminals & Sinners, to mild local acclaim in 2001. (A special limited edition vinyl version of this album will be released in the late summer of 2011 to mark the anniversary). In any case, since that first recording,Charlie Parr has managed to release seven additional raw, lo-fi albums right up to the latest,When the Devil Goes Blind and perhaps his best-known, 1922. His newest batch of recordings will be entitled Barnswallow, set to be released in 2012.
He has achieved a remarkable amount of success for a folk-singer and songwriter of his untrained abilities. This is surely attributable to Charlie’s all-encompassing and encyclopaedic knowledge of the American folk, country and blues cannon, and much admired guitar playing, ranging across a self-taught mix of slide, finger-picking and quasi-frailing technique and played on National resonator guitar, 12-string and banjo.
He’s travelled throughout the US, Australia, the UK and Europe playing everywhere from fancy theatres to punk rock dives where the toilet seats are always missing. Folks seem to like him just fine, in spite of his less than heroic efforts at self-promotion, etiquette or hygiene.
Duluth, MN | Listen
A self-confessed failure (and modest to a fault), Minnesota’s Charlie Parr is nonethelessstubborn enough not to quit. Parr released his first recording, Criminals & Sinners, to mildlocal acclaim in 2001. (A special limited edition vinyl version of this album will be released inthe late summer of 2011 to mark the anniversary). In any case, since that first recording,Charlie Parr has managed to release seven additional raw, lo-fi albums right up to the latest,When the Devil Goes Blind and perhaps his best-known, 1922. His newest batch ofrecordings is entitled Barnswallow, set to be released in 2012.
He has achieved a remarkable amount of success for a folk-singer and songwriter of hisuntrained abilities. This is surely attributable to Charlie’s all-encompassing andencyclopaedic knowledge of the American folk, country and blues cannon, and muchadmired guitar playing, ranging across a self-taught mix of slide, finger-picking and quasi-frailing technique and played on National resonator guitar, 12-string and banjo.
He’s travelled throughout the US, Australia, the UK and Europe playing everywhere fromfancy theatres to punk rock dives where the toilet seats are always missing. Folks seem tolike him just fine, in spite of his less than heroic efforts at self-promotion, etiquette orhygiene.
Winona, MN | Listen
Riflebird is a mult-piece indie rock band from Winona, MN. Their music crosses genres, ranging from haunting melodies to driving rock. Riflebird was a newly formed band when they played MWMF last year. Now, with their debut recording soon to be available, they are excited to play the event again. Permanent members include:Lindsay Krage - Vocals, Keyboard, and French HornZach Krage - GuitarDan Wilson - Bass and Banjo
Duluth, MN | Listen
Yester is an experimental folk rock quartet composed of acoustic/electric guitars, upright/electric bass, winds, and percussion. Rich in texture, dynamics and four-part harmony, it comes as no surprise when Yester finds their music compared to bands like Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes, and Midlake that dominate the folk scene. Yester has toured through the west coast on their first EP last winter, and are in the process of putting out another EP on Forward Records with plans to tour on it over the summer months.
Stillwater, MN | Listen
Ruben released "Slow Bleed/Let Me Start" in June of 2011, and have since been featured on The Current's Local Show, WCCO, and KFAI Radio. Their blend of several types of rock ranges from Stax like ballads to swampy blues rock. Having participated in MWMF since it's inception, the guys look forward to rejoining the party with some new tunes, this time with a horn section and a bigger sound.
Minneapolis, MN | Listen
Rogue Valley is a band born of grandiose ambition: in a single year, they have written, recorded, and successfully released four full length albums, each one sonically steeped in the season of its creation. Together, the four albums tell a sweeping story of love, loss, regret and hope that is inseparable from the geography of classic American wanderlust. The 46 songs act as chapters, standing strongly on their own, yet creating an undeniably rich experience when taken as a whole. Few bands are so productive in an entire career, yet Rogue Valley and songwriter Chris Koza have realized a breadth of ambition that is beyond simple prolificacy – the entire series stands out for its dynamism, craft, impeccable production and fantastic songwriting.
Imagine Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jeff Tweedy sharing a dugout canoe across a calm river; Jack Kerouac and My Morning Jacket sitting around a campfire; John Steinbeck and Fleet Foxes hitch-hiking along county roads and highways from coast to coast. Rogue Valley makes music that fills a dynamic spectrum, from surging electric guitar rock to woodsy finger-picking ballads. The unifying trait throughout is the band's soaring, lush vocal harmonies that lift the cinematic arrangements to emotional heights.
Known as one of the Twin Cities' most dynamic live acts, Rogue Valley and lead singer/songwriter Chris Koza perform regularly at top Minneapolis/St. Paul venues (First Avenue, The Fitzgerald Theater) and festivals (Basilica Block Party, MN State Fair), and have shared the stage or supported artists like Spoon, Weezer, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Andrew Bird, Justin Vernon, The Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Mason Jennings, Eric Hutchinson, Nellie McKay, Céu, Cloud Cult, Jeremy Messersmith, Haley Bonar, Scout Niblett, and Jay Clifford, among others.
Minneapolis, MN | Listen
Rogue Valley is a band born of grandiose ambition: in a single year, they have written, recorded, and successfully released four full length albums, each one sonically steeped in the season of its creation. Together, the four albums tell a sweeping story of love, loss, regret and hope that is inseparable from the geography of classic American wanderlust. The 46 songs act as chapters, standing strongly on their own, yet creating an undeniably rich experience when taken as a whole. Few bands are so productive in an entire career, yet Rogue Valley and songwriter Chris Koza have realized a breadth of ambition that is beyond simple prolificacy – the entire series stands out for its dynamism, craft, impeccable production and fantastic songwriting.
Imagine Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jeff Tweedy sharing a dugout canoe across a calm river; Jack Kerouac and My Morning Jacket sitting around a campfire; John Steinbeck and Fleet Foxes hitch-hiking along county roads and highways from coast to coast. Rogue Valley makes music that fills a dynamic spectrum, from surging electric guitar rock to woodsy finger-picking ballads. The unifying trait throughout is the band's soaring, lush vocal harmonies that lift the cinematic arrangements to emotional heights.
Known as one of the Twin Cities' most dynamic live acts, Rogue Valley and lead singer/songwriter Chris Koza perform regularly at top Minneapolis/St. Paul venues (First Avenue, The Fitzgerald Theater) and festivals (Basilica Block Party, MN State Fair), and have shared the stage or supported artists like Spoon, Weezer, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Andrew Bird, Justin Vernon, The Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Mason Jennings, Eric Hutchinson, Nellie McKay, Céu, Cloud Cult, Jeremy Messersmith, Haley Bonar, Scout Niblett, and Jay Clifford, among others.
Winona, MN | Listen
Organically homegrown in Southeast Minnesota, Adja Gildersleve expresses her eternal love for the midwest through folky lyrical harmonies and rhythmic chords. Her words are personally sincere and meant to relate with the audience. Adja's vocals/guitar mixed with Kelly Mason's smooth trumpet creates a charmingly unique sound. Great appreciation of the region is illustrated in the debut album "Minnesota Nice!"
Winona, MN | Listen
Breakaway, formerly known musically as Froseph, is the haunting, experimental freak folk project of Joe Kujawa. Breakway's sound fits somewhere between some of his favorite artists like Zola Jesus, Animal Collective, and Joanna Newsom. He is based out of Winona, MN and has been recording his own music and booking his own tours for the past several years.
Minneapolis, MN | Listen
Bella Ruse's combination of airy folk and crunchy pop transforms rooms into secret gardens and paints pictures of invading bombardiers, salty sea love, and super glued hearts. Surrounded by a laboratory of instruments - typewriter, suitcase organ, glockenspiel, and kazoos - singer Kay Gillette's antique voice and Joseph Barker's mournful guitar twist and twirl and dip and dive and carry you deep down the rabbit-hole into their magical musical world.
They've been traveling the country in a van powered by vegetable oil for two years, opening for Sarah Mclachlan, Heart, and Kate Nash along the way. Their songs have been heard on MTV and Showtime and their most recent album, KUHZOO, spent eight weeks on the CMJ Radio Top 200. They were the Needle in the Haystack artist on MTVmusic.com and Performer Magazine calls Gillette's voice 'truly unique.'
St. Paul, MN | Listen
This rhythmic trio composed of Jonas Taghavi (Drums), Evan Slack (Lead Guitar), and Gavin Taylor-Stark (Bass) is led by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Lydia Hoglund. Her flexible, dynamic, and flooring voice creates a whole sound that will "massage your ears" as many have put it before.
Olympia, WA | Listen
Kimya Dawson is a Grammy winning, platinum selling singer songwriter most widely known for her work on the JUNO soundtrack and her former band, The Moldy Peaches. She has released 6 solo albums, including a children’s album “Alphabutt”. She has been featured in Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, NY Times, NME, Q, AOL, etc. She has performed live on the View, at the Independent Spirit Awards, TED/Boulder, was invited to perform on Sesame Street, and also performed at the REM Tribute at Carnegie Hall.
Kimya’s new solo album “Thunder Thighs” was self released October 18, 2011 on her own imprint Great Crap Factory. The album features guest performances from Aesop Rock, members of the Strokes, Mountain Goats, Forever Young Senior Citizen Rock and Roll Choir, Kimya’s 5 year old daughter Panda, and many more.
“Kimya Dawson straddles the line between precious and profound”.- Rolling Stone
“a veteran of the scrappy anti-folk circuit, with stream of consciousness songs that balance the caustic and the childlike”- NY Times
