Mountain Goats! Jeff Rosenstock! Suzzy Roche! It’s Your Complete Concert Calendar: April 9-15

Oh and I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed last summer's No-No Boy show at the Cedar, or recommend this week's No-No Boy show at the Cedar strongly enough.

Tuesday, April 9

Bendigo Fletcher with Free Range @ Amsterdam

International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers

G.U.N., Citric Dummies, Welt, Hot Pursuit @ Cloudland

Arturo O’Farrill Quintet @ Dakota

St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood

Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

• James McMurtry with BettySoo @ Fine Line—Lord do I hope that no one over 20 really believes that reactionary leaders inspire great music anymore, not after the years following 9/11 spewed up American Idiot, "Mosh," and an Enya revival. But the swing toward permanent war and social neglect did tone up James McMurtry’s lyrics. After a decade-plus as a fair-to-good singer/songwriter (and yes, his dad is novelist Larry, if you were wondering), McMurtry dug in and came up with “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore,” an unsparing look at the U.S. in decline. He’s kept in that vein since, mixing acute social realism with songs of unrooted, aging love. On “Canola Fields,” the standout track from his 2021 album, The Horses and the Hounds, he hooks up with a woman he’s had a crush on for three decades and observes, “You can’t be young and do that.” Something to look forward to!

Kublai Khan TX with Sunami, Judiciary, and Momentum @ First Avenue

• Obi Original & The Black Atlantics (Residency) feat. Fanaka Nation, Bakarii @ Green Room—Nigerian-born singer, guitarist, and bandleader Obi Original is as much at home with West African highlife as he is with modern Afrobeats, not to mention good old American funk, and he's lined up some terrific local acts for this five-week residency. Tonight, the second night in the residency, he'll be joined by Fanaka Nation and Bakarii. Night three serves up Brandyn Lee Tulloch and Mack OC, while night four brings us Miloe and Klon Rose. Finishing things off on April 30 will be Bouchet Boyz and Bigg Kiaa. Good stuff.

Justin Spenner and Carson Rose Schneider @ Hive Collaborative

Willows (Album Release) with Eslicky @ Icehouse

Cedar Avenue Big Band @ Jazz Central

Nova Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Timeless Tuesdays with Minimix, Ms. Lakesha, and Gym Kang @ Mortimer's

All Nighter Tuesdays @ ROK Music Lounge

Dylan with Mercer Henderson @ 7th St Entry

Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar

Worker’s Playtime: Jeff Ray @ 331 Club

February Conspiracy Series feat. Nick Salisbury and Blair Krivanek @ 331 Club

• Jeff Rosenstock @ Varsity Theater—Prolific DIY mensch Rosenstock last hit town in summer 2022. In the time since, he put out HELLMODE, a fall 2023 barrage of pop-punk shoutalongs, as well as the soundtrack to the Cartoon Network's Craig Before the Creek. I wouldn't expect too much material from the latter tongith, but I could be wrong!

Vampires Everywhere, Dead Eyes @ White Rock Lounge

DL4 @ White Squirrel

Lulu & the Shoe (Residency) with Plumstar, Loon Booster @ White Squirrel

Wednesday, April 10

Wain McFarlane @ Acadia

JC Sanford EQ @ Berlin

Dylan Salfer @ Bunkers

Martha Redbone Roots Project @ Dakota

The Bad Companions @ Eagles 34

Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34

Real Estate with Marina Allen @ Fine Line

Candlelight Concert: A Tribute to Adele @ Granada

Burning Blue Rain (Residency) with Cornbread Harris and Kashimana @ Green Room

Erik Koskinen (Album Release/Residency) with Jeremy Moses Curtis @ Icehouse

UW Eau Claire Jazz & Minnesota Youth Jazz Band @ Jazz Central

Manual Transmission and Forever 41 @ Minnesota Music Cafe

The Mortiholics + Brain Herb + Mean Magic + Edith Head @ Mortimer's

Golda Schultz and Jonathan Ware @ Ordway

Willow Waters Palmer's Residency with Chris Hepola and TABAH @ Palmer's

The Bygones @ The Parkway

FINICK, Emmy Woods, A Sunken Ship Irony @ Pilllar Forum

Monarch, The Bite, Sunsets Over Flowers @ ROK Music Lounge

Conor McRae Trio @ Schooner Tavern

Hannah Wicklund with Ken Valdez @ 7th St Entry

Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Sarah Morris @ 331 Club

Brady Perl @ 331 Club

Scott H. Biram with DJ Rock the Monkey @ Turf Club

Weeknight Violence, Ice Everlasting, Disembodied Humanity, Anarky @ White Rock Lounge

Carolyn Young and the West Seventh Band @ White Squirrel

Lord Jeremy presents Wedding Brawl, Crush Scene, Emory Snow and the Flakes @ White Squirrel

Thursday, April 11

Diane @ Aster Cafe

tPt Quartet @ Berlin

Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunkers

Cheryl Wheeler with Kenny White @ Cedar Cultural Center

Dear Nora, Nona Invie @ Cloudland

3rd Elephant Trio: Brubeck, Bach and the Beatles @ Crooners

Billy Stritch and Gabrielle Stravelli: Mel and Ella Swing @ Crooners

• Marc Ribot: The Jazz-Bins @ Dakota—Marc Ribot is a player who loves a concept. As a bandleader, the guitarist has adapted his spiky lines to Cuban montuno and John Zorn compositions over the years, and that’s not even counting his many gigs as a sideman. (You may have heard him on Tom Waits or Elvis Costello records without knowing his name.) He last came through town in June 2023 with Ceramic Dog; almost a conventional rock band by Ribot’s standards, if not by anyone else’s, the trio gives voice to Ribot’s righteous lefty indignation. Now, belatedly inspired by a stint in the ’70s touring with Brother Jack McDuff, Ribot’s formed a jazz organ trio with Hammond B-3 ace Greg Lewis and powerhouse drummer Joe Dyson. Ribot says he’s always thought that McDuff’s music had an affinity with the punk being shaped in New York City at the time, and this is his chance to explore that common ground.

LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34

Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34

The Roasters @ Eagles 34

• I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME with Benches @ Fine Line—I know how—your band name is in ALL CAPS. That's a bad way to hide!

Dust City Opera, Airship Caravan, Weeklong Weekend @ The Garage

Fever Candlelight Concert @ Granada

Forest Year Tide: Artificial Flowers, A Sunken Ship Irony, Whispered the Rabbit, Emmy Woods @ Green Room

Minnesota Music Celebration featuring Cassandra Cole, Jillian Rae, & Mayda @ Hook and Ladder

Finom with VV Lightbody + Holly Hansen @ Icehouse

Smiling Cowboys Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Radical Denominator @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJs @ Mortimer's

Hippie Sabotage @ Myth Live

Søndergård, Keefe and Brahms @ Orchestra Hall

Concert Band and Singing Sergeants on Tour @ Orchestra Hall

The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's

Foxby, Cannabis Kiss, The Skeleton Crew @ ROK Music Lounge

Gini Dodds & the Dahlias, Edie Rae & Craig @ Schooner Tavern

Megan Hamilton (EP Release) with HAWX, DJ Elsewhere, Sean Anonymous @ 7th St Entry

Minneapolis Songwriter Rounds: Autumn Vagle, Dylan Hicks, Izzy Cruz, Abrianne @ 331 Club

The Wilder Blue @ Turf Club

The Mesmerists @ Underground Music Venue

Charles Wesley Godwin @ Uptown Theater

Carolfest 2024 @ Uptown VFW

Vin, Ivory Daze, Battery Eyes, Flintlock @ White Rock Lounge

John Magnuson Trio with Tom Lieberman @ White Squirrel

Lake Area Music Festival @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis

Friday, April 12

Sam Graber @ Acadia

REFLECTIONS with By The Thousands, In Search Of Solace, Soulkeeper, Waste, & Rot @ Amsterdam

Jordan Davis with Mitchell Tenpenny + Ashley Cooke @ Armory

Wilkinson James @ Aster Cafe

Patrick Adkins/Graydon Peterson @ Berlin

• Lambchop @ Berlin—Nice get for the new jazz club in town. Nashville indie veteran Kurt Wagner, the lynchpin of Lambchop will perform as a trio with Andrew Broder on piano and Cole Davis on bass. Broder has worked with Wagner before on the 'Chop albums The Bible and Showtunes. And, as you;'ll see if your eyes continue down the page, he'll follow this up with a DJ set.

DJ Sets From Drew Christopherson/Andrew Broder @ Berlin

Clayton Ryan (Single Release) with Thomas Sticha @ Bryant Lake Bowl

Dan Ristrom & the Big Throwdown @ Bunkers

Anastazia Acker @ Caydence Records & Coffee

• No-No Boy with the Umamies @ Cedar Cultural Center—The child of Vietnamese refugees, raised in Nashville, Julian Saporiti is drawn to cross-cultural collisions, like the Japanese-American jazz band that made a WWII Wyoming internment camp feel a little more like home or the immigrants’ son who names his Chrysler after Ho Chi Minh. Saporiti’s 2021 album as No-No Boy, 1975, set carefully researched historical stories (the project was part of his Brown doctoral thesis) to solid, unflashy melodies; his show at the Cedar the following year was even better. Expecting at least a little academic stiffness, I was unprepared for what a relaxed performer and storyteller Saporiti was. Last fall, Saporiti released a new No-No Boy album, Empire Electric, which is a bit more adventurous musically, combining samples of Asian instruments like koto and guzheng with banjos and lap-steel. Lyrically, it’s a bit more abstract than the direct narratives of 1975 were, but there’s a payoff on songs like “Little Monk,” which I think is about the tension between zen and hypocrisy. Maybe glance at the lyrics sheet and review Saporiti’s sharp liner notes before the show—you always get more out of class if you do the reading.

Paperbacks, Muun Bato, Marsgarb @ Cloudland

The Joel Shapira Trio @ Crooners

Jim Caruso's Cast Party with Billy Stritch @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Rick Carlson and Thomas Bruce @ Crooners

Shemekia Copeland @ Dakota

Steve Clarke & the Working Stiffs @ Eagles 34

Constant Insult, Mold Wine, Christy Costello, Bermuda Squares, Pleasure Cube @ Eagles 34

Hunter Hayes @ Fillmore

Sam Barber with Jake Kohn @ Fine Line

Umphrey's McGee @ First Avenue

Deacon Warner @ Ginkgo

Bernard Allison (Album Release) @ Hook and Ladder

Thirsty River, Bark Point, and Ross Thorn @ Hook and Ladder

League Two (Single Release) with Daphne Jane + Social Cig + DJ Sami Knox @ Icehouse

Jamil Shaw @ Jazz Central

Jeanie, Green Matter @ The Loft

The Good, the Bad, the Funky @ Minnesota Music Cafe

Juice! @ Modist Brewing

Crimes Against Ravers @ Mortimer's

Søndergård, Keefe and Brahms @ Orchestra Hall

SPCO: Haydn's Surprise Symphony @ Ordway

• The Mountain Goats with Katy Kirby @ Palace Theatre—How do you even approach the vast footprint of the Mountain Goats in blurb-form? The cliffnotes version goes like this: Head Goat John Darnielle began the project with scratchy, lo-fi boombox recordings that featured his gleeful lyrical proclamations and stories over simple acoustic guitar. (“Golden Boy” and “Snow Owl” are two of my personal faves from this stretch.) When I first experienced the Mountain Goats, at the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival, I’d never heard or seen Darnielle, but it became clear right away that this geeky singer-songwriter was special. By then, he’d moved on to more fully fleshed records like 2002's All Hail West Texas and 2005's The Sunset Tree, the latter of which centers on the abuse he suffered as a child, and had constructed a spider-web network of characters and codes. Unlike many contemporaries from that indie era, the irrepressible Darnielle hasn’t slowed down; over the past 10 years there’ve been eight Mountain Goats releases, many of which take big stylistic and thematic swings because JD has nothing left to prove and, obviously, a lot left to say. Last fall’s Jenny from Thebes, the 22nd MG LP, serves as a spiritual successor to fan-favorite All Hail. Whew! OK, that’s my primer on the incredible, prolific Goats. Now go see ‘em live—Jon Wurster’s on drums!—Jay Boller

Mind out of Time (Dylan Tribute), The Scarlet Goodbye, and Martin Devaney & Friends @ Palmer's

Paula Cole @ The Parkway

Chutes, Emma Jeanne, Harlow @ Pilllar Forum

WAAR PARTY, Lost Evidence, The Dirty Pretty @ ROK Music Lounge

We Still R @ Schooner Tavern

Hans Williams with Nick Folwarczny @ 7th St Entry

Sorry for Party Rocking @ Studio B

Sun Patches, Andrew Kneeland, Marti Moreno @ 331 Club

Walking Phoenix, John Forrest & Model Citizens @ Terminal Bar

Soft Kill with Gumm and Lost Legion @ Turf Club

Bryn Battani Is 'Not The Thing' (Single Release) @ Underground Music Venue

Chango and 7L, | Aboy M80, and Abyss @ Uptown VFW

The Veronicas @ Varsity Theater

Selfish Teammate with McVicker, Los Pinches Gueys, 6rips @ White Squirrel

Party Up! A Prince Dance Party @ Zhora Darling

Saturday, April 13

Onlylogan @ Acadia

Twin Tribes @ Amsterdam

MELLODEATH with VIRTUAL RIOT, YVM3, + MUNK @ Armory

Mother Banjo + Katey Bellville @ Aster Cafe

Sam Cassidy with Hemma @ Aster Cafe

Chris Lomheim/Anthony Cox @ Berlin

Dust of Suns @ Berlin

Chase & Ovation @ Bunkers

The Mesmerists @ Caydence Records & Coffee

Blick Bassey with Theo Langason Trio @ Cedar Cultural Center

Hallux, Burial Pig, Ret Marut, Bad Supremacy @ Cloudland

Erin Schwab Sings Bette Midler @ Crooners

Maggie's Afterglow: Tom Hunter @ Crooners

Paris Chansons @ Dakota

Doug Collins & the Receptionists, Charlie Varley @ Dusty's

J-Mo and The J-Lighters, The Del-Viles, Rat Castle Jazz Ensemble @ Eagles 34

NOAHFINNCE with TX2 and Teenage Joans @ Fine Line

Umphrey's McGee @ First Avenue

Crowfather, Alice's Escape, Jailphone @ The Garage

St. Paul and the Minneapolis Funk All-Stars @ Green Room

GRRRL SCOUT: April Queer Dance Party @ Hook and Ladder

Faith Boblett & Seth Duin @ Icehouse

Stablemates @ Icehouse

Glitter & Glam: A Disco Drag Party @ Icehouse

Adolfo Mendonça Trio featuring Remy Le Boeuf @ Jazz Central

Hi, I'm Ghost x HVDES @ The Loft

The Good, the Bad, the Funky @ Minnesota Music Cafe

DJ Sammy Figs @ Modist Brewing

PV$$Y Control with DJ Shannon Blowtorch @ Mortimer's

Spring Fling @ Myth Live

Søndergård, Keefe and Brahms @ Orchestra Hall

Musicians on the Rise - Schubert Club Scholarship Competition Winners Recital @ Ordway

Valors, Crush Scene, Ruben @ Palmer's

• Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche @ The Parkway—I demand a Roches revival! For about a decade now, I've sworn that the wistfully oddball folk trio is just one prestige TV needle drop from winning the hearts of a new generation of fans. But does anyone listen to me? Anyway, here's your chance to see youngest Roche sib Suzzy with her daughter, Lucy, a talent in her own right.

Anarky, Mace, Oath, S.L.O.G, Kalot @ Pilllar Forum

New Reign, SLiM, Katalyst, Silent Thunder @ ROK Music Lounge

Jack Knife & the Sharps @ Schooner Tavern

Matt Hansen with zachy @ 7th St Entry

Deterioration x Maniacal Force @ Studio B

MercyMe with Newsboys and David Leonard @ Target Center

MN Dream State @ Terminal Bar

Voltage Controller @ 331 Club

Rank Strangers, Rich Mattson and the Northstars, Boy Dirt Car @ 331 Club

Destroyer (solo) with Lightning Dust @ Turf Club

Malamanya @ Uptown VFW

Gravezig, Kobb @ White Rock Lounge

Daguerreotypes with Greta Ruth, Kenan Serenbetz @ White Squirrel

Sunday, April 14

Fairy Boat @ Arcadia

Jonah Kagen with Vincent Lima @ Amsterdam

Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe

Low String Trio (Liz Draper/Michelle Kinney/Jacqueline Ultan) @ Berlin

Dr. Mambo’s Combo @ Bunkers

Pine and Fire, Noble Hobo @ Cloudland

Kieran and Zach’s Rock and Roll Call @ Crooners

The Big 70s Singalong @ Crooners

Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ Dakota

Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood

Pop Wagner's Honky Tonk Ranch @ Eagles 34

Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34

Country Doctors @ Eagles 34

Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34

Remo Drive with wilt and Delilah Daybreaks @ Fine Line

Nina Luna with Anni XO, Lily Blue @ Green Room

Red Hot Django Peppers @ Icehouse

Bohemian Way Presents: A Birthday Vibe For Vie Boheme + Special Guests @ Icehouse

Music for Heads and Feet @ Mortimer's

Brahms Serenade @ Orchestra Hall

Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's

Consolation Champ (Album Release) with Farewell Milwaukee @ The Parkway

Music Jam @ Schooner Tavern

Slow Hollows @ 7th St Entry

Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ 331 Club

The Brother Brothers with Hemma @ Turf Club

Jeff Ray & Dan Schwartz @ White Squirrel

St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel

Monday, April 15

Only Every Monday @ Acadia

Places Above the Air (Jesse Whitney/John C.S.Keston) @ Berlin

Bill Charlap Trio @ Dakota

Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34

Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34

Square Dancing @ Eagles 34

Libianca @ Fine Line

King Iso with Lex Bratcher, Taebo Tha Truth, Unconventional Kingz, DJ DOC @ Green Room

Jeremy Ylvisaker @ Icehouse

Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s

MNSOTA Middle Level Festival Honor Concert @ Orchestra Hall

Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's

Sara Jane School of Music Student Showcase @ Pilllar Forum

Blake Rose with Max McNown @ 7th St Entry

Open Mic @ Terminal Bar

Deidre McCalla @ 331 Club

Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club

Lori Dokken with Jennifer Grimm @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis