Duluth MN Music Scene News from Perfect Duluth Day

Music Posts

Toby Thomas Churchill – “The Bridge by the Crib”

“The Bridge by the Crib” is the third video release from Toby Thomas Churchill’s new album Nighttime.

Steve Solkela’s “Overpopulated” One-man Band – “She Taught Me How to Yodel”

Steve Solkela covers “She Taught Me How to Yodel” — a hit song for Frank Ifield in the 1960s — during a performance at the TapRoom in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Making it Up North: Northernly School for Music

Kyle Orla grew up surrounded by music, but his path to becoming an educator was anything but traditional. From playing 1990s hardcore and metal with jazz chords to traveling the country with a fiddle and no fixed address, he learned that the best education often happens outside the classroom. Today, he’s helping lead Northerly, a Duluth music school run by musicians, for musicians.

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.

Palomino: Trampled by Turtles Live at First Avenue

Trampled by Turtles has released to YouTube a 2020 documentary featuring the band performing all the tracks from the 2010 album Palomino, with commentary on the process of writing the songs.

The documentary is directed and edited by Charlie Berg.

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2026 (The Weekend)

Select images via Instagram from the final three days of the Homegrown Music Festival.

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 calls pushing the game into extra innings, Matuszak’s Rollers finally bested Rohrbaugh’s Rawkers in the 2026 Homegrown Kickball Classic at Wheeler Athletic Complex Field 2. The final score was 6-2.

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2026 (The First Five Days)

Select images via Instagram from the first five days of the Homegrown Music Festival.

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.

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.

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.

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.