Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities
17 Unique Stations from Border to Border
17 Unique Stations from Border to Border
This Northern Minnesota duo features Brooke Anderson, who is also a songwriter and performer in The Holy Hootenanners, and Megan Barr. They write and perform acoustically in a variety of styles, with an emphasis on harmonies. They recently released their self-titled debut album, which features 6 songs each by the two musicians. We talked about their musical backgrounds and what brought them together, making their album during the pandemic, and how music helped them get through the past year, and they performed songs from their album when they joined us for a session on June 24, 2021.
This Mississippi native lived in San Francisco for many years before finding his way to the Twin Ports, where he’s quickly become a fixture on local stages. He’s a part of Actual Wolf’s touring band and frequently collaborates with other local and regional musicians. He joined us for a Homegrown session on May 6, 2021.
In May of 2020, local alt-country band Boxcar released its debut album, Cheap Hotel. They followed that up that collection of originals several months later with an album of covers spanning from Gram Parsons’ “We’ll Sweep out the Ashes in the Morning” to Dead Man Winter’s “Destroyer.” Blake Shippee of the band joined us for a session on June 22nd to play some tunes and talk about those releases. The band will be fresh off of performing for Grandma’s Marathon weekend festivities at Bayfront Park.
Folk duo Storyhill was in the midst of a 30th anniversary tour when the pandemic hit, putting an end to live performances for the time being. They took advantage of the down time to record a Christmas album, Bethlehem, that had been brewing for a while. John Hermanson joined us to talk about the album, its themes, and recording at Chris’ home and at Sacred Heart in Duluth. Listen to that conversation, that aired on December 24, 2020, below.
Twin Cities trio the New Standards features seasoned musicians Chan Poling (The Suburbs), John Munson (Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic) and Steve Roehm (Billy Goat) For 15 years the trio has been putting a jazz twist on popular tunes spanning the decades. Their annual Christmas shows have become legendary; with COVID-19 making a 2020 live show impossible, the trio instead released The New Standards Holiday Show Album, featuring a mix of classics and originals. Vibraphone player Roehm joined us virtually to talk about the album and share some tunes. We also chatted about how the band started and the instruments he’s been building to keep himself busy and generate some income during the pandemic. Listen to our session from December 24, 2020, below.
In his more than 30-year career, this Minnesota native has played guitar with a wide array of performers in a wide array of genres on stages across the country. He’s also released several albums of his own, including his most recent release, Record Time. He shared tunes from that album and debuted a new one when he joined us for a virtual session June 4, 2021. We also found out what kept him busy during the pandemic, learned that he plans to return to Minnesota after living in Washington state for the past ten years, and got a virtual introduction to Lonesome Johnny the rooster.
This Minneapolis musician was the youngest ever winner of the Hibbing Dylan Days Singer/Songwriter competition in 2009 at age 13. He joined us for a session on May 27, 2021 for a preview of his livestreamed performance from 2104 later in the evening as part of Duluth Dylan Days. LeBlanc will release his third album, Only Human, in July, and will return to Duluth for a release show at Wussow’s on July 10.
“Critical Race Theory” is all over the news these days. Magie Baumgartner majored in Critical Studies of Race and Ethnicity (Critical Race Theory) at St. Kate’s in St. Paul. She joined the morning show to help us better understand Critical Race Theory, how it broadens our concept of history and why it’s critical to understanding the nuances of society.
Laura Sellner started Superior Siren as a solo project, in time, adding three bandmates but still occasionally performing solo. The singer/songwriter has announced a new solo EP due out on May 7, 2021. She joined us in the studio for a Homegrown session on May 4, 2021. Her band performed a livestreamed show from Sacred Heart Music Center on the first night of Homegrown as part of the Minnesota Music Coalition’s 2021 Music Summit.
