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
Lulu & the Shoe (Residency) with Plumstar, Loon Booster @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, April 10
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
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
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
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
- 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
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
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 Mesmerists @ Underground Music Venue
Charles Wesley Godwin @ Uptown Theater
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
REFLECTIONS with By The Thousands, In Search Of Solace, Soulkeeper, Waste, & Rot @ Amsterdam
Jordan Davis with Mitchell Tenpenny + Ashley Cooke @ Armory
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
Steve Clarke & the Working Stiffs @ Eagles 34
Constant Insult, Mold Wine, Christy Costello, Bermuda Squares, Pleasure Cube @ Eagles 34
Sam Barber with Jake Kohn @ Fine Line
Umphrey's McGee @ First Avenue
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
Jeanie, Green Matter @ The Loft
The Good, the Bad, the Funky @ Minnesota Music Cafe
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
Chutes, Emma Jeanne, Harlow @ Pilllar Forum
WAAR PARTY, Lost Evidence, The Dirty Pretty @ ROK Music Lounge
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
MELLODEATH with VIRTUAL RIOT, YVM3, + MUNK @ Armory
Mother Banjo + Katey Bellville @ Aster Cafe
Sam Cassidy with Hemma @ Aster Cafe
Chris Lomheim/Anthony Cox @ Berlin
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
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
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
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
Rank Strangers, Rich Mattson and the Northstars, Boy Dirt Car @ 331 Club
Destroyer (solo) with Lightning Dust @ Turf Club
Gravezig, Kobb @ White Rock Lounge
Daguerreotypes with Greta Ruth, Kenan Serenbetz @ White Squirrel
Sunday, April 14
Jonah Kagen with Vincent Lima @ Amsterdam
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Low String Trio (Liz Draper/Michelle Kinney/Jacqueline Ultan) @ Berlin
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
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
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
Places Above the Air (Jesse Whitney/John C.S.Keston) @ Berlin
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34
King Iso with Lex Bratcher, Taebo Tha Truth, Unconventional Kingz, DJ DOC @ Green Room
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
Lori Dokken with Jennifer Grimm @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis
