I hate when people say shit like "I can't believe it's May already" so I won't say it. But you can't stop me from thinking it.
Tuesday, April 28
Signs of the Swarm, Waste, Reaping Asmodeia, Witchden @ Amsterdam
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
Chucho Valdes Royal Quartet @ Dakota
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- James McMurtry and the Martial Law Review, BettySoo @ Fine Line—McMurtry’s latest, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy. has everything you'd ask from the laconic Texan: a little pathos, a little mythos, a sharp eye, a sharper tongue. He’s been charting the decline of the American empire with unrelenting candor at least since "We Can't Make It Here" in 2006, but as he puts it on “Broken Freedom Song,” “Ain’t no fun to sing that song no more.” Here he places the blame squarely on the descendants of the American settlers as "Products of genocide...Tellin' ourselves we're free...Salt of the fuckin’ Earth...In search of a Caesar." He just might mean you.—Keith Harris
José González, Abby Sage @ First Avenue
Colonel Mustard’s Mechanical Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
- Fred Eaglesmith @ Parkway—Closing in on 70, the Canadian singer-songwriter doesn’t get out as much as he used to—who does?—and he for sure hasn’t been to Minnesota for a spell. (Is it possible that he hasn’t played in town since a 2012 Cedar show?) He’s built up a cult following over the years, but even mere fellow travellers can appreciate songs like “Time to Get a Gun” and burning questions like “When did we become white trash?” I’m a fan of Eaglesmith’s 2001 live album, Ralph's Last Show, and he hasn’t stopped adding keepers to his songbook in the quarter-century since. Odds of a song about trains? Very high. And don’t be surprised if Fred has something to sing about old cars too.—Keith Harris
Admiral Fox, Lucas Kurmis, Ditch Pigeon, Willows @ Pilllar Forum
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
April Conspiracy Series featuring the Infernos with Grain Belt Bridge @ 331 Club
Worker’s Playtime with Dan Israel @ 331 Club
Doug Otto & Friends @ White Squirrel
Sparrowhawk, Speed Riders, Raspberry Tart @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, April 29
Glizen, Trauma Ray @ Amsterdam
MN Songwriter Showcase @ Aster Cafe
Ethan Ostrow and the Outside In @ Berlin
The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin
Aaron Hedenstrom Big Band (Album Release) @ Crooners
Saturday Lights Out, the Vandals @ Driftwood Char Bar
Reverend Horton Heat with Black Joe Lewis and Piñata Protest @ First Avenue
Vie Boheme + Some Friends of Mine feat. Theo Brown + Eric Mayson @ Icehouse
Pat Donahue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Cowboy Rogue @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Prairie Clamor, Freaque, Willow Waters @ Mortimer’s
An Evening of Organ and Choir @ Northrop
Tttapeworrrm, AlienGodTheory, Cogwheel @ Pilllar Forum
BZ3 Organ Trio @ Schooner Tavern
Arankai, buffalo_farm, MVRROW @ 7th St Entry
- Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman @ State Theatre—Are Katie Crutchfield and MJ Lenderman the Gram and Emmylou of the 2020s? Hackier observations have certainly been made! Crutchfield, the poetic powerhouse behind Waxahatchee, began collaborating regularly with Lenderman on her 2024 album, Tigers Blood, and the pair has never really stopped. Tonight at the State, they’ll accompany each other in addition to performing solo. Both artists are locked into exciting grooves at the moment, so they’ll have plenty from which to draw. Plus Katie’s pregnant! While Tigers Blood didn’t hit as hard as its predecessor, 2020’s Saint Cloud, Crutchfield now finds herself achieving professional acclaim and success like never before. (Good on her—been a fan since the low-fi emo scratches of American Weekend.) Lenderman, the indie-twang vocal heir to Jason Molina, is simply everywhere these days, whether that’s with his great band Wednesday, solo, or on the best track of 2025. You can bet your ass you’ll hear Waxa and MJ’s banjo-pluckin’, lushly swingin’ collab single "Right Back to It." And no spoilers, but the covers they’ve selected for their encore reveal excellent taste in 20th century alt-country.—Jay Boller
Lenz and Frenz, Ian Alexy @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Saint Paul Mudsteppers @ 331 Club
Kaleem The Dream, J’mere, Jandetha Rae, Yevrah, Bosco @ Underground Music
Geoff Tate’s Operation Mindcrime @ Varsity
Helen & Jada Lafrance @ White Squirrel
Record Prophets, the Owl Eyes, Threads Electric @ White Squirrel
Thursday, April 30
Doug Collins & the Receptionists @ Animales
Biluri, the Home Team, GANG! @ Armory
Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott with Nona Invie @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
BIZHIKI with Jada Brown @ Cedar Cultural Center
Prudence Johnson & the Halcyon Jazz Quartet @ Crooners
Mia Dorr's Evolution of the Diva Linda Ronstadt @ Crooners
The Outcats, Ghostlands @ Driftwood Char Bar
Lonesome Dan Case @ Dubliner Pub
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Max and the Fellow Travelers, Harlow, Lone Rock Bride @ Eagles 34
Dakota Anderson (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder
Honky Tonk Jump @ Midway Saloon
Simply Fusion @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Josiah Queen with Jervis Campbell and Gable Price @ Palace Theatre
Vash the Stampede, Do Not Crush, Paper Sky @ Pilllar Forum
Caroline Jones, Alyssa Bonagura @ 7th St Entry
Scott Allen & the List, the Customers @ Schooner Tavern
Country Tribute Weekend: World According to Garth @ Treasure Island
For Our Neighbors feat. clovers daughter, Quietchild, Third Date, and DJ Nanobyte @ Turf Club
Varmints, Slime Monsters from Outer Space, Hairless Twin @ Underground Music
Shotgun Johnny, Samuel John Band @ White Squirrel
Three on a Match, Logan Luther & The Road Home @ White Squirrel
Harlow, Max and the Fellow Travelers, Lone Rock Bridge, Nick Elstad Trio @ Zhora Darling
Friday, May 1
Erin McCawley’s Harrison Street Band @ Animales
YFN Lucci, Plies, Webbie, Big Boogie, Belly Gang Kushington @ Armory
Mark Ross & the Three-Nineteen @ Aster Cafe
Bo Ross, Jeff Narlock, Ryan Knight @ Barely Brothers
Frequency Fridays: Beats for the Underground @ Bazemnt
The Musical Multiverse of Herbie Hancock @ Berlin
David Bixler Trio Incognito @ Berlin
Drinkwine with Friends @ Blues Saloon
Robot Slide, Spaceport @ Cedar Cultural Center
Just The Two of Us: The Music of Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers @ Crooners
Clean Plate Club, Matcha Fever, Brunch @ Day Block Brewing
Woodcock Johnson, Reckoning Crew @ Driftwood Char Bar
Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub
Miss Shannon Swing Presents Katia and the Upswing @ Eagles 34
Ditch Pigeon (Residency) @ Eagles 34
The Lemon Twigs, Josephine Network @ Fine Line
Reventón Presents ⏤ PERREO360 with Cristian Baca @ First Avenue
Iron & Wine, Improvement Movement @ Fitzgerald Theater
The Midnight, New Constellations @ Gambit Brewing
- MN Music Resistance presents MAYDAY! MAYDAY! @ Hook and Ladder—We’re big fans of both the good-troublemakers in the MN Music Resistance and the Hook’s outdoor music series Under the Canopy. (And by “we’re” I mean “I’m”—not sure why I got all gratuitously plural there.) So the fact that Under the Canopy kicks off this year with a Resistance event? Gotta blurb it. Helluva lineup too: Venus DeMars, Los Pinches Gueyes, Cindy Lawson, Surly Grrly, and Mary Cutrufello. It's outdoor music season, everyone!
The Matriarch, anni xo, Waking Hours @ Icehouse
Pete Enblom Sextet @ Jazz Central
Sonata, Prithvi. Stoneharp, Sclera, Cudgel, Revefluer @ Klash Coffee
Contracharge, War//Plague, Left in Rot, Baned Existence @ Memory Lanes
Strange Daze @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Perreoland Jowell y Randy @ Myth Live
More to Hear: The Listening Project @ Orchestra Hall
Sang Yoon Kim Plays Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto @ Ordway
Mouthful, Fend, 12th House Sun, and hey, ily! @ Pilllar Forum
Hurricane Harold’s All Star Revue @ Schooner Tavern
Canaan Cox, Preston Gunderson @ 7th St Entry
Vacant, Raspberry Tart, Fierro @ 331 Club
Cloud Nothings, Censer @ Turf Club
Hannah Sandoz, the Bright Young Things, Embahn @ Underground Music
Destiny To Funk ft. Keyez Williams @ White Squirrel
The Value of Human Life, Massive Green, Drift Pattern @ White Squirrel
Shiner, Spotlights, They Dead @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, May 2
Cornbread Harris & Friends @ Animales
J Streitz and the Long Odds @ Animales
Electric Callboy, Polaris, Scene Queen @ Armory
The Long Goodbyes @ Aster Cafe
Saturday Night Vibez: Drake vs. Kendrick @ Bazemnt
Rambo Salinas, Little Dynasty @ Berlin
Jezebel Sweet, BlurCurve, and Nectarous @ Can Can Wonderland
Mama’s Broke, Creekbed Carter @ Cedar Cultural Center
Totino-Grace High School Jazz Department Spring Concert @ Crooners
Pitch Blue, the Paramedics @ Driftwood Char Bar
Jack Klatt and Simon Cropp @ Dusty's
Xawara and Friends @ Eagles 34
Vana, Chandler Leighton, Deadlands, RedHook @ Fine Line
- The New Pornographers, Will Sheff @ Fitzgerald Theater—Carl Newman’s not in much of a power-pop mood these days, and can you blame him? The New Pornographers’ 10th and latest album, The Former Site Of, begins with the songwriter taking ease in a deck chair on the “ship of doom.” From there on he expresses “pure sticker shock” at the low price on his head, glimpses a Times Square payphone in a museum, bonds over Mai Tais with a friend who has cancer while grooving to the Thompson Twins, and sums everything up on the final track: “Oh our land, it is sinking/But the country, it is rising/Either betting on us floating/Or they’re counting on us dying.” Fun times! Where once Neko Case’s harmonies challenged Newman to belt louder, they now haunt his diffident vocals. Yet the rippling textures and oblong basslines that have replaced the Pornographers sugar rush of old keep these tracks from settling into a defeatist stasis. Ennui has rarely been this propulsive.—Keith Harris
- Minnehonk Festival @ George Floyd Square—If you’ve attended a march, protest, or even politically inclined party of any sort over the past six or so years, you’ve likely grooved and sang along with Brass Solidarity. But that inclusive gang of honkers is hardly the only brassy band in town, and this weekend they’ll join up with four other horn-driven bands from hereabouts, as well as like-minded performers from Providence, Boston, San Francisco, and Madison. While the main event comes Saturday with a series of events and performances in and around George Floyd Square, the festivities begin on Friday at the International Workers’ Day March, followed up by a “MinneHONK! Eve” jam on the plaza between Moon Palace Books and Arbeiter Brewing Co. And the party continues on through Sunday, as the bands will take part in the MayDay Parade and perform at Powderhorn Park afterward. Honk all you want—we’re marching for justice.—Keith Harris
Candlelight Tribute to Taylor Swift @ Granada
Candlelight Tribute to Adele @ Granada
Club Classics: Bratty Bass Party Pop @ Green Room
Runaway Ricochet @ Hook and Ladder
Luke Callen (Album Release) with Voulouse @ Icehouse
Ryan Freitas Quartet @ Jazz Central
The Strolling Clones @ Memory Lanes
Lemonbrass @ Metronome Brewery
Jaybee & the Routine @ Minnesota Music Cafe
And All That Jazz @ Orchestra Hall
Sang Yoon Kim Plays Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto @ Ordway
St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Brother Wallace @ Palace Theatre
Leela James @ Pantages Theatre
Haze Gazer, Killusonline, Fishing with Explosions, Bunny Blood @ Pilllar Forum
The De’Lindas, Chickaboom & Troglodyte @ Schooner Tavern
The Cribs, the Dead Century @ 7th St Entry
William Black, Reaper, Afinity @ Skyway Theatre
The Minneapolis Mandolin Quartet @ 318 Cafe
The Record Club, Powersock, Dimitri @ 331 Club
Electric Six, Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees and Beyond @ Turf Club
Reggae Bash World Tour @ Varsity
Creekside Ruffians, Sidewalk Diamonds, Access Otherwise @ White Squirrel
North Country Singers @ White Squirrel
Dojo Saints, Duck Bomb, UAGM @ White Squirrel
Master Boot Record, arottenbit, Phase Meridian @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, May 3
Melrose Avenue, Autumn Kings, Stray View @ Amsterdam
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Kenny Reichert’s Letters From the Road: Prairie Grass @ Berlin
Monthly Bluegrass Jam @ Caydence Records and Coffee
Bia Ferreira @ Cedar Cultural Center
Ryan Picone Quartet with Patrick Harison @ Crooners
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Sunday Trad Session @ Dubliner Pub
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Phoneboy and Heart Attack Man with Slow Joy and PONY @ Fine Line
Caroline Kingsbury @ Green Room
Twin Cities Jazz Workshop @ Icehouse
Obi Original and the Black Atlantics (Residency) @ Icehouse
Tribute to Willie Nelson @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Tannins (Residency) @ Mortimer’s
Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs @ Orchestra Hall
VocalEssence: Global Rhythms, Joyful Voices @ Ordway
Joyann Parker (Album Release) @ Parkway
The People’s Sound System @ Powderhorn Park
June Henry, Jenny Matrix, Cyprus Hartford @ Pilllar Forum
Your Neighbors, VISION ARCADE, Callback @ 7th St Entry
Church of Cornbread @ Schooner Tavern
Brass Messengers, Kelley Smith @ 331 Club
Cinco de Mayo @ Underground Music
Joe Nicola, Rockabilly Mayhem @ White Squirrel
Gasconader, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Bornguesser @ Zhora Darling
Monday, May 4
Sounds Of Santana (Featuring Joe Cruz) @ Crooners
Star Wars Day with Southside Aces @ Crooners
The Great Irish Singalong @ Dubliner Pub
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
L.A.’s Monday Nights @ Icehouse
Sex Mex, Buio Omega, Cheap Glue @ Memory Lanes
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome Brewery
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Saloon
Jam Society @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, American Sharks, Pink Fuzz @ 7th St Entry
