Music Posts

Big Sky Woody – “Cantina Diablo”

Indecent Proposal – “Albright”

Duluth band Indecent Proposal‘s latest video was shot at the Historic Duluth Armory. It was produced by Clear Cut Media in association with Henriette Jensen Blade.

Above & Below: The rise, fall, and rise of the Duluth underground

The July 2004 issue of Twin Cities monthly magazine The Rake included a feature on the Duluth music scene. The Rake existed from 2002 to 2008 and its archives, including the Duluth article, are available online. The text of the now 20-year-old story also appears below, with images from the magazine.

Big Into – “Tiki Bar”

Marinate the pork butts, it’s time to hit the tiki bar with Iron Range natives Curtis Kraft Mattson and Jozef Conaway. Their band Big Into is releasing a music video every month for each new track off their upcoming EP.

Duluth Band Stickers

In the aftermath of the 2024 Homegrown Music Festival a few band stickers that got crammed into jacket pockets and tossed onto shelves have been assembled into a tiny pile at the Perfect Duluth Day World Headquarters. Which got us to wondering how many there are in total, either stuck to something or crammed into drawers. It turns out, maybe not that many. The initial search at PDDHQ turned up only ten, but there might be more hiding in forgotten spots. So consider this post a work in progress, and please share images of the local band stickers you’ve got on your bumpers, lockers or the paper-towel dispensers of your favorite drinking establishments.

Austin Castle – “Creek Water”

Austin Castle, with Cole Mikel on guitar, performs “Creek Water” in the Board of Trade Lofts in Duluth. The video was shot by Holden Law and Andrew Mathews.

Cloud Cult – “As Beautiful as it Hurts”

The new video from Cloud Cult is for the second single from the band’s upcoming album Alchemy Creek, which is set for release Aug. 8. The album was written, recorded and produced by front man Craig Minowa in the solitude of a tiny cabin on wheels in the middle of the Wisconsin woods after a difficult divorce.

The video was directed by Lauren Josephine, Jeff D. Johnson and Chad Amour of Motion 117 Productions.

Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2024

The Northwood’s Band performed an outdoor show last week at Eveleth’s Timber Edge Bar and Grill, bringing a large crowd out to enjoy a pre-summer concert. (Photo by Izabella Zadra)

Put on those short shorts and tank tops, the summer concert season is upon us. The Twin Ports area is always bumpin’ with outdoor shows featuring a vast array of music styles on a variety of mostly temporary or makeshift stages. Take a dive with us into some of the best, don’t-wanna-miss concerts happening in the area over the hot months ahead.

Wild Horses – “Man in the Mirror”

Grand Rapids-based Americana band Wild Horses launched its summer tour on Saturday at Milk & Honey Ciders in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Gina Nagler Smith captured this video of the song “Man in the Mirror.”

Wild Horses will play a halftime show at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Arena when the Duluth Harbor Monsters arena football team faces the Iowa Woo on June 29.

Rachael Kilgour – “Dad Worked Hard” (live at The Current)

“Dad Worked Hard” is the third song Duluth native Rachael Kilgour performed during a recent studio for a session at the The Current hosted by Radio Heartland’s Mike Pengra. All three songs are from her 2023 album My Father Loved Me.

The Slice: Duluth Punk Rock

Pete Cich, Ollie Morris, Worm Littler and Bird Polacheck talk about the punk rock scene in Duluth in this quick video.

In its series The Slice, PBS North 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.

Rachael Kilgour – “Heart on Fire” (live at The Current)

Duluth native Rachael Kilgour visited The Current studio for a session hosted by Radio Heartland’s Mike Pengra. She played three songs from her 2023 album My Father Loved Me, including the track featured here, “Heart on Fire.”

Dirty Knobs – “More Fire in More Places”

“More Fire in More Places” is the fourth release from the new Dirty Knobs album, Songs About Everything Dying Around Us, Including Us.

The Slice: Naming Life Parade and Deep Fake Five

Cameron Mathews explains how the bands Life Parade and Deep Fake Five got their names.

In its series The Slice, PBS North 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.

Bob Dylan on Duluth and Minnesota

Some Duluthians think Bob Dylan hates Duluth and Minnesota. What has Bob Dylan actually said?

I’d heard rumors Dylan was a Duluth hater, but then I read the liner notes to his 1974 album Planet Waves, where he wrote: “Duluth! Duluth — where Baudelaire Lived/& Goya cashed in his Chips, where Joshua brought/the house down!” These are not the words of someone who hates Duluth. These words lionize the city in terms of literature and mythology. A song on the album mentions Duluth too. From “Something There is About You“: “Thought I’d shaken the wonder/And the phantoms of my youth/Rainy days on the great lakes/Walkin’ the hills of old Duluth.” Duluth as a city of wonder and phantoms: who among us cannot relate?

Growing up in Hibbing, Dylan had family in Duluth and Superior. As a teen he went to Minneapolis more and more, and that became his jumping-off point to the world. But the Northland never left him. From his autobiography Chronicles, Volume One (2004 edition), one reads many references to Duluth, Hibbing, Minneapolis, and Minnesota as a whole.