You have no more weather-related excuses not to go see live music this week.
Tuesday, April 11
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunkers
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood
KANKAN with Goonie and Trapmade Jason @ Fine Line
Apocalypse Girlfriend, Harlow, Dark Bunny @ Icehouse
- Lucy Wainwright Roche @ Parkway—The daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche (and half-sister of Rufus and Martha Wainwright) stayed out of the family biz as long as she could. But once she committed to her inevitable life in music, she released some very pretty duet albums with Martha (as the Wainwright Sisters) and with her mom—most recently I Can Still Hear You, recorded in New York City during the dark early days of the pandemic.
April Conspiracy Series featuring The Infernos, Dan Schwalbe @ 331 Club
Worker's Playtime, Jeff Ray @ 331 Club
Garcia Peoples and Chris Forsyth @ Turf Club
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello @ White Squirrel
PSYPL (Tuesday Residency) with Time Stream, White Line Darko @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, April 12
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
Chris Smither with Paul Cebar @ Cedar Cultural Center
Maggie's Wednesdays: Deb Brown & Brian Ziemniak @ Crooners
Scary Pockets with David Ryan Harris @ Fine Line
Jarad Miles & the Ancient Waves (Single Release), Peter M, Loud Sun @ Icehouse
Gable Price and Friends with Flip Rushmore and The Cold Casuals @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Twin Town Strings @ 331 Club
Gigi Amal. Taylor Johnson @ 331 Club
Juice Falls with Leisure Hour, Zaq Baker and The Tossups @ The Treasury
Michigander with Abby Holliday @ Turf Club
Poorwill, Lake Davi, and Tommy Boynton @ Underground Music Cafe
Enslaved and Insomnium @ Varsity
Molly Maher and Her Disbelievers @ White Squirrel
Nights With Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, April 13
Boots & Needles + Sugar On the Roof @ Aster Cafe
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
The Tanner Taylor Trio Plays Erroll Garner @ Crooners
Mick Sterling Presents the Music of the Band @ Crooners
The Outcats, Dalmation Club @ Driftwood
Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer @ Granada
Black Widows, Timisarocker, The Reach Outs, & Big Salt @ Hook and Ladder
Red Hot Django Peppers @ KJ's Hideaway
- Zora @ Parkway Theater—This Minneapolis-based multi-talent drew national attention with her debut, Z1: The Cuntification of Zora Grey, and not just for that title. Zora's mix of R&B with classical flourishes and musical theater ornamentation, and a little hip-hop swagger, is unique, with moments of real vulnerability mixed in We got our first taste of Zora's followup this morning when she dropped "The Bitch Is Back," with a feature from local rapper Destiny Spike.
Field Guide with Cece Coakley and Gut Czech @ 7th St Entry
Minneapolis Songwriter Round: Chris Harms, Witch Hunter General @ 331 Club
Ryan Traster and NEWSKI with Long Range Hustle @ Turf Club
Grand Courriers with Aldrich, Dusty Forever @ White Squirrel
Friday, April 14
Billy Johnson’s Black Dog High @ Aster Cafe
Tony London: The Songs of Sinatra and Bennett @ Crooners
Johnnie Brown: Love TKO, A Tribute To Teddy Pendergrass @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Arne Fogel @ Crooners
Dan Israel, Beautiful Bones, I-35 @ Driftwood
Marauda Presents Rage Room @ Fillmore
Nick Shoulders and The Okay Crawdad with Jack Studer @ Fine Line
- Fruit Bats with V.V. Lightbody @ First Avenue—Eric D. Johnson has made a nice little career of re-twisting soft-rock tropes and tricks in an indie setting over the past 25 years. You can hear how far he’s come as a songwriter and recording artist on the compilation Sometimes a Cloud is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs (2001–2021). His latest, River Running to Your Heart, is on the peppier side of AM gold, radiating a contented warmth and a sort of reluctant restlessness. “The words of this song/Though geographically specific/They could apply to anywhere,” he sings, namechecking Tacoma and Los Angeles and no doubt referencing other unnamed places he once lived or visited. And speaking of places, Johnson is known to spend a good amount of time in Minnesota—his sister lives in Minneapolis, his parents in Brainerd—and he’s performed with various Twin Cities musicians.
Heartless, Pleezer, Sir Psycho, Trompe Le Monde @ Green Room
Drums of Navarone / Duniya Drum and Dance @ Hook and Ladder
The Short Fuses, Tiny Daggers, & That’s What You Get @ Hook and Ladder
The Neighborhood Quartet @ Icehouse
Noche Chingona with Taliaknight and Queenduin @ Icehouse
Joyann Parker Band @ KJ’s Hideaway
City Country Collective Presents Redwing Blackbird, Phantom Fields, and Tyler Haag @ Mortimers
Trapper Schoepp with Becky Kapell and Laura Hugo @ 7th St Entry
The Changeups, Matt Jennings, The Swongos @ 331 Club
Aoife O'Donovan with The Westerlies @ Turf Club
BIZARRE Residency with D.Frequency & Friends @ Underground Music Cafe
Killer Antilles, Twine, & Yeah Doggos @ Uptown VFW
Knuckle Punk and Real Friends @ Varsity
Street Hassle w. The Tender Years, John Swardson @ White Squirrel
Meghan and Michael (of Kiss the Tiger) @ Women's Club of Minneapolis
Saturday, April 15
- Yeat @ Armory—This Portland rage-rap surrealist (if you wanna be fancy about it) and/or plain old weirdo (if you want to be realistic) dropped his third album, Afterlyfe, two days shy of his 23rd birthday last month. That release joins four mixtapes and a half-dozen EPs that have fired up a committed teen fanbase that you'll want to stay well out of the way of at the Armory, all on a mission to make 28-year-old rap fans feel old. He’s a guy who can rap “I made a song for the Minions, uh/How much they paid me? A million, uh” one minute, then detail his druggy excesses the next. The genuinely ancient among us are just amused: as ragers go, he’s fairly tame; as weirdos go, he’s a spacey joker; and as surrealists go, well, he’s a guy who did a song for the Minions soundtrack.
Twin Citizen + Ryan Picone Quartet @ Aster Cafe
The Good, the Bad, and the Funky @ Bunkers
The Rolling Stoners: Goats Head Soup Live @ Cabooze
Rachel Baiman with Barbaro @ Cedar Cultural Center
Maud Hixson Presents Doris Day 101 @ Crooners
'66: Talkin' Bout My Generation @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring @ Crooners
Huntertones feat. Akie Bermiss & Cory Wong @ Dakota
Lodge, The Reckoning Crew @ Driftwood
Stars with Lydia Persaud @ Fine Line
Transmission's 22nd Anniversary with DJ Jake Rudh @ First Avenue
Radio Church (Album Release) with Birdroom and Fruitpunchloverboy @ Green Room
The Endowment: Fundraiser and Dance Party @ Icehouse
Debbie Briggs Vintage Jazz @ KJ’s Hideaway
Take That Back @ KJ's Hideaway
Suffering Hour, Noctambulist, Sunless @ Mortimer's
Who Are They? @ Parkway Theater
Freak On A Leash Fellowship⏤Nu Metal Dance Party with MallGothMeg @ 7th St Entry
CRASH CUDDLE, Warcake, Porch Knights @ 331 Club
Voltage Controller Vol. 16: Phil Dumka, Fluidic @ 331 Club
Battle of the Bands @ The Treasury
Adi Oasis with Phillip-Michael Scales @ Turf Club
Sleep Signals @ Underground Music Cafe
Mommy Log Balls, Cannabis Kiss, Linus, & Moksha @ Underground Music Cafe
Whispered The Rabbit, Umbrella Bed, & Goodbye Mordecai @ Uptown VFW
Party 101 with DJ Matt Bennett @ Varsity
- Cindy Lawson (Single Release) with The Unnamed, Rebecca Fritz @ White Squirrel—We already drew your attention to Lawson's new single, "Don't Come Crying to Me," in our Monday Playlist. Tonight she's joined by sax-driven garage rockers The Unnamed and Muskellunge's Reba Fritz.
Sunday, April 16
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
The Way Back Yard Boys with Jess Smith @ Aster Cafe
Duke’s Place with Connie Evingson and The Tanner Taylor Trio @ Crooners
The Wolverines Trio with Jennifer Grimm @ Crooners
Tinsley Ellis & Marcia Ball @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
- The War and Treaty with William Prince @ Fine Line—There’s nothing quite like a husband-wife vocal duo—somehow the heartbreak cuts deeper and the pledges of love soar higher when you know the singers are going home together at the end of the night. Married Michiganders Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter first made a splash in 2017 with the cello-driven “Hi Ho” (keep those Lumineers comparisons to yourself) and slowly accrued wider interest until last May they signed to UMG Nashville. Their fourth album, Lover’s Game, released in March and cut with prestige Nashville producer Dave Cobb, is the best sampler yet of their supper-club gospel blues drawled with a down home feel. The writing isn’t quite as classic as the music, but certain moments—when Tanya offers to bring a six-pack over and watch Golden Girls reruns, or Michael tells his angel “you make me want to make out at your altar”—sure have the spirit.
Music of Grateful Dead for Kids @ First Avenue
Noahfinnce with Bears in Trees and Action/Adventure @ The Garage
Josh Cleveland Band, My Grandma’s Cardigan, Tyler Haag @ Hook and Ladder
Katey Belleville and Those Sobs @ Icehouse
Bethany Larson & the Bee's Knees, Mary Bue @ Icehouse
Daisy The Great with Olive Klug @ 7th St. Entry
The Nude Party with Breanna Barbara @ Turf Club
Trench Size Trio @ White Squirrel
Monday, April 17
COVET with Scarypoolparty and altopalo @ Amsterdam
Wiz Khalifa with Joey Bada$$, BERNER, Smoke DZA, + Chevy Woods @ Armory
Monday Jazz with Noah Ophoven-Baldwin @ Icehouse
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
“Womenfolk Presents” Kashimana @ 331 Club
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
The Band of Heathens with Luke Callen @ Turf Club
Sciurus Sequencia: Jazz and Creative Music Series @ White Squirrel
