June 2024 Recap

With The Big Wu, Pryes Block Party, and a trip to Wisconsin for Blue Ox. The month was bookended by shows from both Frogleg (6.1 and 6.28) and Jon Sullivan Band (6.1 and 6.29), 93 miles apart.

Apr 30, 2025

6.1 Frogleg, Jon Sullivan Band and Twine at Green Room

Three of the leading bands on the scene were brought together for this epic night at the Green Room in the heart of Uptown Minneapolis!

Frogleg:

JSB:

Dynamite solo here from Alex Gelking on “Spanish Moon”:

Twine:

“Dark Timber”

6.2 Shotgun Ragtime Band at Driftwood

SRB # six hundred and something featuring an exceptional Morning Dew out of Space with Mike C absolutely ablaze! The song starts about the 45:30 minute mark in the youtube vid below from the band.

Setlist went something like this:

Greatest Story Ever Told

Ship of Fools

Weather Report Suite>

Let It Grow

Hell In A Bucket

Cumberland Blues

Crazy Fingers

Drums>Space>

Morning Dew

Might As Well

6.4 Jon Sullivan with Jason Fladager at 331 Club

Playing first was singer songwriter Paul Lawrence, who had Ryan Young of Trampled by Turtles sitting in on fiddle along with Daryn C aka The High Rev on drums and a dude playing pedal steel guitar for a really cool classic Americana sound:

Then Jon Sullivan took the stage, accompanied by Jason Fladager on acoustic guitar. Jon is of course an absolute powerhouse singer and I always appreciate seeing him. They did an array of tunes including “A Lovely Day” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”:

“Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox”:

6.5 Dylan Salfar Band at Bunker’s

The Band’s “Ophelia”:

6.6 WE Collective at Gluek’s

with Will Effertz, Keyez Williams on keys, Miles Wright on sax, Jason Bush of Mango Jam on bass, and I can’t see who that is playing drums. Guest singer, I believe her name is Breonna, sat in for “Valerie”.

6.7 Thomas Abban at Turf Club

This Minnesota artist is fantastic on guitar and had a cool and unique voice, occasionally veering into falsetto. He did some fast fingerpicking on acoustic and shredded with excellent control on electric guitar. I preferred when he was on stage solo as I was honestly more than a little freaked out by the ski masks on the drummer and bassist. This was my first time seeing Abban and I was impressed!

6.12 Arkansauce at Turf Club

Back to the Turf in St. Paul for the four piece string band Arkansauce, who I’d seen play at Blue Ox Music Festival a time or two. They got into what might be deemed Spacey Bluegrass at points and played many originals and the Grateful Dead classic “They Love Each Other”.

“TLEO”:

6.12 Lenz and Frenz at 331 Club

About 7 miles down University Ave, JJ Lenz was holding down his last Wednesday of the month which is always worth attending. Joining this time was Gavin haskin on mandolin and others.

6.13 Twine with Joe Dunn and Snowman at Gluek’s

Twine-Leg! Joe Dunn and Snowman, both of Frogleg, have an especially fun and happy chemistry onstage as evidenced by the many smiles.

6.14 Histronic at Pryes Brewing Block Party

With the beginning of summer comes block party season and plenty of music outdoors. Keyboardist extraordinaire Kevin Dorsey’s funk/ synth jam outfit Histronic played along the Mississippi on West River Parkway at Pryes, which has in recent years really stepped up their outdoor music game! I’ve definitely seen some diverse and fun bands there the last couple summers. This show featured saxist Brian “Snowman” Powers prominently, as well as Vinh Nguyen on guitar and Javier Trejo on guitar and percussion.

6.14 Lighter Co. at Dual Citizen Brewing

Another double shot of Lighter Co. this weekend as they played Dual Citizen Brewery, which is just barely in St. Paul (hence the name) off University Ave. They were slated to play Pryes the following afternoon.

6.15 Caballo Cosmico, Lighter Co, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears at Pryes Block Party

It was an early start on this Saturday, as Javier Trejo’s Caballo Cosmico kicked off the day at noon sharp. They’re a dynamite band with cool latin rhythms and Javier sometimes sings en espanol.

Caballo Cosmico:

Lighter Co.:

it started raining during this set, then it started raining even harder. It made for a pretty epic version of “Freebird”, as you can see below

A scorching ”Hey Joe”:

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

took the stage after a lengthy rain delay and the trio played a rocking set of fuzzy blues.

6.20 WE Collective at 56 Brewing

That was some weird blue lighting the band was cast in. With Will, Miles W on sax, Yonle on bass, and Derek Fagerwold on drums. Not sure who the fiddle player was.

6.20 WE Collective at Gluek’s

It’s pretty rare for a band or a musician to play two shows in one night, but Will Effertz manages to pull it off now and then with apparent ease. It’s not quite as easy as hopping in the car and going a few miles down the road to the next joint like it is for us fans. Nonetheless here was Will for his second show of the evening. Also performing a double header was Miles Wright on sax who was at 56 earlier. Taking center stage was Izzy Cruz on percussion and ukulele. The band was rounded out by Joe Barron on bass and Jon Ross on drums.

6.21 Derecho Rhythm Section at Icehouse

Alan Sparhawk’s fabulous newish funk band was back in town and playing an early Friday night on Eat Street in South Minneapolis. Those in attendance were gobsmacked by the funk and I remember walking away thinking this is could be the hottest new band in the state.

6.21 Kung Fu Hippies at Bunker’s

Brad Ray and Co were throwing down at the Funky Bunk!

6.22 The Big Wu at Hook and Ladder Theatre’s Under The Canopy Series

For a few years now it’s been a tradition that the Wu plays around this time of year under the tent that Hook and Ladder set up outside. They have a couple dozen events in the series and the Wu is always a highlight. Stanley “The Baron” Behrens of War and Canned Heat was on hand and played a couple numbers on harmonica and saxophone. Setlist included:

Southern Energy

Precious Hands w Nicholas David

Red Sneakers

Gimme A Raise

Big Love

The Wheel

Dancing in the Streets

Shoot The Moon

Mardis Gras

Rhode Island Red

Jazz 88

6.23 Celebration of Life for Spider John Koerner at The Cabooze

This was a lovely tribute to the folk icon who passed away about a month beforehand and had the Cabooze packed on a hot summer day. John Koerner was a legend in the Minneapolis music scene, having played around town since the early 1960s., often as part of the Koerner, Ray and Glover trio. When Bob Dylan was s student at the University of Minnesota, Koerner was an early mentor to Dylan, and Bobby Z writes about those days in his fascinating autobiography, “Chronicles: Volume One”. More on that in this excellent NY Times obit:(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/arts/music/spider-john-koerner-dead.html)

Little surprise then that another of Minnesota’s all time favorite troubadours, Charlie Parr, has also noted the impact Spider John had on him. Listening to Korner, you can really hear how his phrasing and guitar style influenced Parr, who played a number of Koerner songs this afternoon. Pretty fun to see the two of them smiling together in this interview from a few years ago:

6.27 Blue Ox Music Festival at The Pines - Day One with Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Leftover Salmon

This was my 4th summer straight attending the bluegrass oriented festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and each time it has been an absolute blast. They always present exciting headliners and plenty of smaller acts between the three stages to keep things interesting. Thursdays used to be more of a pre-party affair with lighter attendance, but the last year or two it seems like 90% of people are there and ready to rock. That’s gotta have something to do with the stellar lineups, which for the second year in a row Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country on Thursday. With each show they generate an ever increasing fan base, and were followed only by jamgrass pioneers Leftover Salmon on the main stage. Vince Herman and ‘Salmon’ invited Donato onstage for a couple songs and you could tell that even these bluegrass veterans were impressed with Donato’s thrilling guitar stylings.

Lindsay Lou:

DDCC:

Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman with Daniel Donato:

Following Salmon’s headlining set, Vince Herman performed with his other band, The High Hawks, on the Backwoods Stage:

6.28 Blue Ox Music Festival Day Two with Band of Horses, Saltydog, Frogleg, Pert Near Sandstone

By the time Them Coulee Boys got started at 1pm, there were thousands of people in the festival bowl. They spoke about how they played the Backwoods Stage (smallest of the three) the 2nd Ox, then the Saloon stage second biggest) and the main stage the last 6-7 years. I thought that was really cool of them to share and shows what is possible for up and coming bands. The banjo player noted that he would be married here at the Pines this fall and the band played a joyful set of earnest tunes and welcomed one of the band member’s moms to the festival, who had recently beat cancer.

The first of host band Pert Near Sandstone’s two sets was up next and they had a couple different cloggers take a turn in addition to their normal dude.