Happy New Year! January, as you likely know, means winter residencies. Though you'll find some of the popular perennials below, I've also tried to spotlight a few that you might not be aware of.
Tuesday, January 6
Greatest Jam on Earth @ Blues Saloon
International Reggae Allstars @ Bunker’s
St. Dominic’s Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Karaoke with On Call Karaoke @ Eagles 34
Bill Simenson Orchestra @ Jazz Central
Red Planet @ Metronome Brewery
Bluewater Kings Showcase @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Contact Haiii with Byzarra @ Mortimer's
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Workers Playtime with Jake La Botz @ 331 Club
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
- Embahn (Residency), Canary Room, One Big Quilt @ White Squirrel—Emily Steuer's psych-folk project Embahn is promising a debut album in "early 2026," and you can get a taste of it this month at the White Squirrel. Later in the month, Embahn will be joined by Cowboy Thoughts and Rupert Angeleyes. Time Room and Müllet, and Shady Cove and Kansas Plates.
Wednesday, January 7
The Grieving Pines, Beneath Green, Ski Club, Self Titled @ Amsterdam
The Cherry Pit Open Jam @ Berlin
One World: The Best of Sting and the Police @ Dakota
Michael Grooves Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Irish Diplomacy @ Dubliner Pub
Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee
Freaque, NOAMZ, Wormdove @ Icehouse
Pat Donohue and Friends @ Midway Saloon
Big Blue Moon, Side Door, D.M.C.A. Quartet @ Mortimer's
Robert Wilkinson, Steve Brantseg @ Schooner Tavern
12 Rods (solo), Droid Bishop, North Innsbruck @ 7th St Entry
Bosso Poetry Company @ 331 Club
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Bambi Alexander Band @ 331 Club
High Voltage @ Underground Music
The Second Stringers @ White Squirrel
Midso, the Over Unders, Honey Please @ White Squirrel
Thursday, January 8
Thomasina Petrus Introduces: NOAMZ @ Berlin
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunker’s
Charmin Sings Carmen @ Crooners
The Amanda Walbridge Band, Pork Soda Trio @ Driftwood Char Bar
Leslie Rich and the Rocket Soul Choir @ Dubliner Pub
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with On Call Karaoke @ Eagles 34
Thursday Throwdown: I <3 House Music @ Far East Bar & Restaurant
Collectiva: Women’s/Non-Binary Acoustic Jam @ 56 Brewing
Candlelight: The Music of Hans Zimmer @ Granada
Candlelight: A Tribute to Drake @ Granada
- Molly Dean (Winter Residency) @ Icehouse—Dean promises "a month of intimate, evolving performances" at this Thursday night January residency. She'll be recreating songs from her stately, dreamy 2025 album Interwoven by looping her guitar and voice, and she will preview some new material as well. This week she'll be joined by the acoustic duo Dusty Hearts. Future guests include Hemma and Laurels String Quartet.
Northstar Original Revue @ Midway Saloon
Rooms on Fire @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Søndergård and Ehnes @ Orchestra Hall
- Amythyst Kiah, Anna Graves @ Parkway—“When I was a child I wanted to play god and destroy the world.” So begins Amythyst Kiah’s latest album, Still + Bright, and, honestly, who can’t relate? This queer Black Tennessee singer-songwriter first broke through to a broader audience in 2021 with “Black Myself,” the sort of powerful anthem that flourished during that brief moment when the world of Americana music made some acknowledgment of Black performers. It was a song she originally recorded as a member of Our Native Daughters, a quartet of Black roots music innovators headed up by Rhiannon Giddens. In other words, Kiah belongs to that cadre of brilliant musicians insisting that no predominantly white music can lay claim to the name “Americana.” Local singer-songwriter Anna Graves, who recently released the aching and austere single “Burn On” after signing to Rounder Records, opens.
Edie Rae Band, Stephanie Was and the Secret Izz @ Schooner Tavern
FINICK, NATL PARK SRVC, Waking Hours @ 7th St Entry
Zoe Grigsby, Zola, New Seven, Jackson Kates @ Underground Music
Bessie Snow Presents "Appetit" @ Volstead's
Thomas Sticha @ White Squirrel
MLLT, Sunnbather, Landfill Harmonik @ White Squirrel
Nina Luna, Em.Rhea, Jane October @ Zhora Darling
Friday, January 9
District Six, Gora, Bayb Rio, Absent Markey @ Acadia
Ditch Pigeon, Lexie Modica, Big Big Brain @ Armory
Billy Johnson, Matty O'Reilly, Joe Manochio @ Aster Cafe
The Good, the Bad, and the Funky @ Bunker’s
Founders Day Blue Fever Celebration @ Cabooze
Dean Magraw & Suwal Singh @ Crooners
Urban Classic Presents the Music of Earth Wind and Fire @ Dakota
Mill City Caravan, Corduroy Cool @ Driftwood Char Bar
Irish Music Session @ Dubliner Pub
Wild Colonial Bhoys @ Dubliner Pub
Bennie and the Jets: Elton John Tribute @ Eagles 34
Aaron O’Connor Sextet @ Jazz Central
Chassi, HighSociety, Speed Shift, Vapid @ The Loft
Rough House @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Fever Field, Ski Club @ Memory Lanes
4 Low Pitches @ Metronome Brewery
DiscoSoul @ Minnesota Music Cafe
- Dillinger 4, Virgin Whores, Drunk Drivers, Visual Learner @ Mortimer's—Sorry, but this birthday party for D4's Paddy Costello is, as you might expect, very sold out.
Søndergård and Ehnes @ Orchestra Hall
Mystery Meat, Jonny Rook, Dubstar @ Pilllar Forum
Bambi Alexandra Band with the Suicide Horns @ Schooner Tavern
INTERNET KIDS ⏤ Hyperpop Dance Party @ 7th St Entry
Chuee, Kaliedascare, Lil Censei @ Terminal Bar
Do Not Crush, Danser, Oliver Phibes @ 331 Club
Saltydog, Hot Like Mars, Between Howls @ Turf Club
Buckaröux Banshees, Public Meltown, BlurCurve, Grave Society, Hameem Albosaad @ Underground Music
Synastry: mmluci, sym1, girlblunt, t.h.u.g., terr the om @ Uptown VFW
Parry Lamont, Charlie Roth @ White Squirrel
Sweet Pea, Dog Gamn, Real Dirty @ White Squirrel
Denim Matriarch, KILLUSONLINE, TABAH @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, January 10
- Kat and the Kodachromes, Bev, Warcake, Blood Cookie @ Acadia—Jack of All Trades is Kat Kirschmann's second EP since forming her jangly Kodachromes, and everyone involved sounds more comfortable and assured than on the debut, Popular Problems. "At times like this I wish I believed in something" is certainly an apt lyric for our moment.
Jeff Ray & the Stakes @ Animales
The New Entangled Particles @ Aster Cafe
Framework (Chris Bates/Jay Epstein/Chris Olson) @ Berlin
Radio Pocho (Miguel Vargas & Terrell LaMarr) @ Berlin
Marimba Matt @ Can Can Wonderland
Lowjam, Dakotah Faye, Emmy Woods, Laura Hugo @ Cedar Cultural Center
Vicky Mountain and Ted Godbout @ Crooners
Maud Hixson Sings Cole Porter @ Crooners
River: The Music of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon @ Crooners
North Ridge, Straight & Curly, Ryan Knight @ Day Block Brewing
In Your Eyes Presents Gabriel x Bowie @ Day Black Brewing
The Record Club, Grand Theft Auto Jeff @ Driftwood Char Bar
Unattractive Giant Monster (Album Release), Ray Gun Youth, Drug League @ Dusty's
Millennial Falcon, Duck Bomb @ 56 Brewing
- Sean Anonymous 20th Annual Birthday Show @ Fine Line—Local rap mainstay Sean Anonymous knows how to throw a party for himself. The lineup this year includes P.O.S, Mike Mictlan, MAKR AN ERIS, Dwynell Roland, Lady Midnight, Demon Marcus, Dimitry Killstorm, Chance York, and an acoustic set from Michael Grey. None of these people will perform at my own birthday party later this month.
Yam Haus, LAAMAR @ First Avenue
Happy Birthday Janis⏤A Tribute to the Life and Music of Janis Joplin @ Fitzgerald Theater
Deterioration, Maul, Oath, Grotesque Abdication, Prithvi @ Flying V
Curtis and Loretta @ Ginkgo Coffee
Candlelight: Best of Hip-Hop on Strings @ Granada
Candlelight: A Tribute to Adele @ Granada
Nolan Mancl-Saxon @ Jazz Central
Bad Bromance @ Mainstreet Bar & Grill
Beltline Bones/Millenium Composers Initiative @ Metronome Brewery
The Good, the Bad, the Funky @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Johnny Buffalo Band @ Mystic Lake
Okee Dokee Brothers (Album Release) @ Ordway
Art Beagle’s Backup Band @ Padraig’s
Burning Blue Rain, Lasalle, Self Titled @ Pilllar Forum
Erin McCawley’s Harrison Street Band @ Schooner Tavern
INTERNET KIDS ⏤ Hyperpop Dance Party @ 7th St Entry
EFMI, Greater Goods @ Terminal Bar
Dan Rodriguez (Residency) @ 318 Cafe
Garden Glow, Crush Card, 1947 @ 331 Club
- Detroit with Dosh @ Turf Club—Back in the staid ’90s, when indie rockers slouched aloofly onstage, these local power-pop fireplugs drew attention with their explosive flashpots and a meaty guitar style that they (and occasionally others) called “Fleshrock.” If you are unfamiliar with the works of Jeff Ham, Grant "Hutch" Eull, Mark "Baer" Erickson, and Jeremy Ylvisaker (yes, that Jeremy Ylvisaker), you can catch up prior to this reunion show thanks to a late December release, Great Hits. Titles include “Dude Drives a Chick Car” (“Volkswagen Cabriolet!”); “Fresh,” about a girl with “a cellular telephone” (“I can see 80% of her breasts”); and “Hypoplastique Electronic Gun Freak” (the title says it all, really). There’s more where that came from: Great Hits Volume 2, released this very day. To give you a hint of the kind of show you’re in for, reportedly all the proceeds from these compilations will be blasted out to the crowd in a “leaf blower money toss.”
Midwinter Shredfest @ Underground Music
Vinny Franco, Aliya Grace, David Cyr, Rada K & the Cicadas @ Underground Music
Dale Alexander Trio @ Volstead's
Manias (Record Release), Basement Apartment, Rebecca Lake Fritz @ White Squirrel
Trellis, Surrounded By Water @ White Squirrel
Self-Evident, Hardcore Crayons, With a Gun for a Face, Tannins @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, January 11
The Smokin’ Section @ Animales
Patty and the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Tommy Boynton and Ted Godbout @ Crooners
Level Up: A Tribute to Video Game Music @ Crooners
Adi Yeshaya Jazz Orchestra featuring Jennifer Grimm @ Crooners
Infidels: A Bob Dylan Tribute @ Dakota
Phine & Friends, Shotgun Ragtime Band @ Driftwood Char Bar
Crown of Clover @ Dubliner Pub
Sunday Trad Session @ Dubliner Pub
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Good Morning Guilty, Ganked, Cudgel @ Klash Coffee
SRV Tribute Show @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Emmy Woods and Friends @ 331 Club
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School @ 331 Club
Charlie Parr (Residency) with the Daily Norm and Ced Ba’etch’ @ Turf Club
Dylan Reese & Ollie Joseph @ Underground Music
Velahsa, Jupiter Johnson, Mary Strand & The Garage @ White Squirrel
Clawhammer Mike, Dirt Don't Hurt @ White Squirrel
Monday, January 12
Stranger in the Nacht @ Crooners
David Binney Action Trio @ Dakota
Sea Shanty Sing @ Dubliner Pub
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Queer Contra Dancing @ Eagles 34
Blues Jam with Moses Oakland @ Midway Blues Saloon
Jam Society @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Girdle of Judith @ Memory Lanes
Spin Kick, Dashed, Milk, Onsite @ Pilllar Forum
Open Mic Mpls @ Sociable Cider Werks
David Robinson & the Dedicated Friends @ 331 Club
The Cactus Blossoms, Betty Won’t @ Turf Club
Mumblin' Drew's Oldfangled Orchestrators @ White Squirrel
Metal Monday With Metal Joe: Rad Enhancer, Major Malfunction, Cavernous Maw @ White Squirrel
Alphabet Boys, Visual Learner, Tommy, Mommy Log Balls @ Zhora Darling
