Went to the Julebyen Christmas Village in Knife River via a great train ride last Saturday and was enthralled with all things Scandinavian; the high spot was a talented funny Finn from Da Rengch named Steve Solkela —— from singing opera to “Play That Funky Music” he has it all covered. And did I say funny? Writes his own songs about Palo and saunas and, let’s face it, all the good things in life. Go see this guy and you’ll be smiling and clapping within two minutes!
Trampled by Turtles performed at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado this past summer with the folk trio Caamp. The groups joined together for this performance of TBT’s “Alone,” from the 2012 album Stars & Satellites.
Duluth-based grunge band the Hermits released a debut music video this week. The song “Peel” is from the group’s EP titled If; the video was shot by Grayson Nolan.
Duluth rapper Beyondbliss divides the screen and divides himself in this video, rapping about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, critical race theory and all the divisive divisiveness.
Duluth band Low‘s new album, Hey What, received a major nod from the music industry yesterday. The record has been nominated for a Grammy in the category “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” for the work by mastering engineer BJ Burton.
Tim Kaiser‘s instruments create drones and ethereal sounds that build layers of sonic texture.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Is Duluth’s Chuck Haavik living five months in the past or seven months in future? Either way, he’s chosen the middle of November to release “Middle of June.” It’s available for download on Bandcamp and other platforms.
The song features his daughter, Emily Haavik, on vocals, with Dave Mehling on organ and Beau Jeffrie on bass.
Duluth-based electro-folk artist Ingeborg von Agassiz is releasing an album of “dark holiday music” titled Coventry Carols. The album will be available digitally and on compact disc on Nov. 19. Discs can be ordered online at ingeborgvonagassiz.com/shoppe.
Straight from the Iron Range comes this Halloween medley by Steve Solkela. The music was recorded at Kaleva Hall in Virginia. The medley includes: “Ranger Things Parody,” “Ghost of John,” “Play that Scary Music Bite Boy,” “Pass the Witch’s Broomstick” and “Zombie Taylor Swift.”
Duluth-born troubadour David Dondero performed at Wussow’s Concert Cafe on Tuesday. One of his new songs mentions the Zenith City and a variety of Minnesota locations. The song was penned in 2019 and hasn’t appeared on any official releases, but the demo track linked here was posted to Patreon.
Duluth’s Charlie Parr released a new album in July — Last of the Better Days Ahead. The video for “817 Oakland Avenue” features animation by Drew Christie.
Moors & McCumber have a new album coming out Oct. 15 titled Survival. The Moors half of the duo is Superior’s James Moors, who has been performing with Colorado native Kort McCumber since 2005.
The video was produced and directed by Travis Bush.
