Music
Rollers earn kickball win in dramatic 10th inning
Coach Kaylee Matuszak celebrates with her team at Wheeler Athletic Complex after the Rollers defeated the Rawkers in extra innings to win the 2026 Homegrown Kickball Classic. (Photo by Seth Roeser)
Despite two controversial decisions by Umpire Jason Beckman pushing the game into extra innings, Matuszak’s Rollers eventually bested Rohrbaugh’s Rawkers in the 2026 Homegrown Kickball Classic at Wheeler Athletic Complex. The final score was 6-2. (more…)
Selective Focus: Homegrown 2026 (The First Five Days)
Select images via Instagram from the first five days of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)
Homegrown Music Festival 2026 Primer
The 28th annual Homegrown Music Festival is underway. As usual, the weather is lousy, and as usual it doesn’t matter — it’s an indoor festival and the weather is always fine indoors.
The 100-page Homegrown Field Guide, available at numerous locations around town, offers complete details about the festival, but every year Perfect Duluth Day presents this rundown of updates, advice, sidebar details and notes of peripheral or unsanctioned interest. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea in People magazine
Duluth musician, author and disability activist Gaelynn Lea is featured in the April 27 edition of People magazine. The article was published online April 16.
Lea’s book, It Was Never Meant to Be Perfect, was released April 14 and an excerpt from it was featured on People’s website in October.
Making it Up North: Teague Alexy
Singer-songwriter Teague Alexy talks about his unlikely path from the hip-hop crews of the Jersey Shore to the heart of the Minnesota music scene. Moving to Holyoke, about 10 miles southwest of Duluth, transformed his creative process, leading him to trade violin lessons and rap for American roots music and the harmonica.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Stars and Satellites: Trampled by Turtles Live at First Avenue
Trampled by Turtles has released to YouTube a mini-documentary featuring the band performing all the tracks from the 2012 album Stars and Satellites, with commentary on the process of writing the songs and recording in a log home outside Duluth.
The documentary is directed and edited by Charlie Berg.
From the Northern Lights Stage to National TV
When bass-baritone Andrew Hiers took the stage at the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, audiences knew they were witnessing a performer with something special.
The rest of the country will see it on April 19 when CBS Sunday Morning airs a segment on Hiers, an opera singer who has recently gone viral for something unexpected: singing operatic car sales pitches from a dealership in Florida. His videos, blending humor with serious vocal talent, have attracted millions of views across social media. (more…)
Emily Gaarder appears on the SongWriter podcast
Duluth musician and scholar Emily Gaarder appears on the “Ali Selim + Carla Kihlstedt” episode of Song/Writer podcast released March 23. Gaarder is one of the visions behind local band The Rhizomes. (more…)
Indecent Proposal – “Tears in Rain” (DJ SMOXA Remix)
The latest video from Duluth band Indecent Proposal was shot during two performances — last summer’s Downtown Duluth Street Dance outside Dubh Linn Irish Pub and the band’s opening slot for Third Eye Blind at Black Bear Casino in March. The video production work is by Capture Chaos Productions.
Hauliwood Dreams – “Helan Går: It All Goes Down”
The latest from the Finnish-American novelty band Hauliwood Dreams is a traditional Swedish drinking song turned into a Nordic celebration of tradition with a Finnish-American twist. The group features Duluth’s Steve Solkela partnering with Miska Kajanus and led by Maria Voltaine, who wrote the song lyrics and music and produced the video.
Toby Thomas Churchill – “Forget”
The second video release from Toby Thomas Churchill’s new album Nighttime offers helpful instruction for dealing with the past.
Duluth Album Releases in 2026
Here’s the rundown of new works from the Duluth-area music scene in 2026. More will be added as they are announced. (more…)
Steve Solkela’s “Overpopulated” One-man Band – “When the Cactus is in Bloom”
Steve Solkela challenges viewers to count the instruments as he sings the 1931 country-western song “When the Cactus is in Bloom,” written and originally performed by Jimmie Rodgers.
Three Versions of “Opiate War”
Oh, Duluth.
It began with watching addicts scream in the alley. Then it got electric. Then it got louder.
I’m not sure where it’s going, but I know how it ends. (more…)
Cloud Cult – “It’s All Burning to Begin”
The new song and video from Cloud Cult “feels like the prelude birthing of a new album,” according to bandleader Craig Minowa’s description on YouTube. “The ground this new musical nursery stands on was Ho Chunk. The Kickapoo River hugs this recording studio on three sides and is considered by some geologists to be one of the oldest in the world — 2 million years. There is spirit here, and it has stories to tell.” (more…)
Alan Sparhawk – “JCMF” and “No More Darkness”
Alan Sparhawk has new lyric videos for the songs “JCMF” and “No More Darkness.” Both are “a response to all of the turmoil that (has) occurred locally and globally over the past couple of years,” according to Sparhawk. (more…)
Ian Alexy – “Don’t Hesitate”
Duluth’s Ian Alexy nabs footage from the century-old film Don Juan for his latest music video. The track “Don’t Hesitate” is on Alexy’s new album The Tao of Ian.
Making it Up North: Misisipi Mike Wolf
Musician and poster artist Misisipi Mike Wolf shares the story of the journey that took him from the music-filled porches of the Gulf Coast to the creative community of Duluth.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Rich Mattson and the Northstars – “Rendezvous With a Star”
The latest from Rich Mattson and the Northstars, “Rendezvous With a Star,” is from the band’s album Wake Up Songs, due out later this month.
Austin Castle – “Something Real” (The Lagom Session)
Austin Castle and friends perform “Something Real” at Lagom Builders Supply in Duluth. Castle released a new album, Timeless, in January.
Dopey tune on a junky guitar
I’ve become an old man who putters around in the garage. Or the basement — the garage is really cold right now. I built a guitar out of garage stuff.
Chad Elliott – “Minnesota”
“Iowa’s Renaissance Man” Chad Elliott has released an updated version of his song “Minnesota” with a video referencing the unrest in Minneapolis. The original version of the song appeared on his 2007 album Humbled at My Door. Kathryn Severing Fox, Elliot’s bandmate in Weary Ramblers, adds viola and harmony.
Pink Marlena – “Ishpeming” and “Akiing”
Pink Marlena, aka Makwawigwamikwe Marlena Boedigheimer, has a new album, Ishpiming, set for release Jan. 16 during a performance at the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center. (more…)
Pronoya – “Pull Me Closer to the Flame”
“Pull Me Closer to the Flame” is from Pronoya‘s 2025 EP All for the Sun. The video is directed and edited by Cristian Pastrana of D/E Design & Studio. It was shot at Pizza Lucé by Pastrana with additional camerawork by Austin Sherzberg.
Wizardstone – “People People”
From the great forests and lakes of northeast Minnesota comes Wizardstone, the musical alter ego of Chuck Olsen, who hopes the video for the song “People People” can “help envision the world we want to live in.”