Tag: minneapolis

LISTEN: Pert Near Sandstone, “Castles in the Air”

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Artist: Pert Near Sandstone
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Castles in the Air”
Album: Rising Tide
Release Date: June 12, 2020
Label: Pert Near Music

In Their Words: “Although this is not a biographical song, it has reflections of the real experience moving away from my hometown. In this story the idea of a garden is used to represent the innocence and nostalgia of youth, but is shadowed by castles in the air, the lofty ambitions that drew the character away from home but were possibly unfulfilled. I wrote the music to string the listener along a sonic journey — the blues-influenced main riff leads to a fiddle ensemble playing a theme based on a folk melody, while rock hooks and rhythms keep urging the song along. From this perspective it’s an exploration of my own musical background. Pert Near Sandstone has always been eclectic in our approach to string band music and ‘Castles in the Air’ is a great illustration of fusing influences that we succeeded with throughout the Rising Tide album.” — Nate Sipe (fiddle/mandolin)

Photo credit: Nate Treedome

LISTEN: Chris Castino, “Duluth”

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Artist: Chris Castino
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Duluth”
Album: Brazil
Release Date: March 13, 2020

In Their Words: “When you come out of a fog of drugs or bad love or any addiction, everything seems raw for a while. I guess the truth is raw sometimes. This song is that time where you beg God not to feel this way again, but this time something feels different. Like a new morning; blurry yet full of hope.” — Chris Castino

Photo credit: Storied Life Pictures

LISTEN: Sarah Morris, “All Mine”

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Artist: Sarah Morris
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “All Mine”
Album: All Mine
Release Date: February 21, 2020

In Their Words: “To me, writing ‘All Mine’ was this acknowledgment/celebration that I while tend to lose myself in the details, and miss the big picture — maybe that’s OK. Maybe the gift from being wired that way is ‘I can tell you the secret of a single pine.’ As soon as I finished writing it, I knew it was the title track, and the umbrella that was going to cover all the other songs on the album. This is the one song on the album that has all of the players on it, and I love the way everyone finally came together on it.” — Sarah Morris

Photo Credit: Katie Cannon

WATCH: Reina Del Cid, “Goodbye Butterfly”

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Artist: Reina Del Cid
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Goodbye Butterfly”
Album: MORSE CODE
Release Date: October 4, 2019

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Goodbye Butterfly’ a few years ago. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I fired up Logic and started playing around with beats and synths, and out came this lush, wistful song that begged to be re-recorded with real, vibrating strings and percussion. So rather than releasing it as an electronic song, I kept it in my back pocket for an acoustic album.

“For the music video, I had the pleasure of working with Dan Huiting (Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, Trampled By Turtles). We decided to film most of it on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior, in towns like Grand Marais and Schroeder along Highway 61. Dan used a drone to get sweeping views of the lake and me, as small as an ant in some frames, performing the song on cliff faces or the base of a lighthouse.

“I have strong ties to the North Shore and have been going up there for years, both to perform shows and to escape into the woods and hiking trails. ‘Goodbye Butterfly,’ with its roots in the layered digital grid, ended up being the biggest, most intricate sounding song on the new album, and the mighty Lake Superior was the perfect backdrop for it.” — Reina Del Cid

Photo credit: Nate Ryan

LISTEN: Humbird, “48 Hours”

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Artist: Humbird
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “48 Hours”
Album: Pharmakon
Release Date: August 30, 2019

In Their Words: “’48 Hours’ was written after a double shift as a pizza waitress in south Minneapolis. It is a reflection on how we change depending on the circumstances we are in. I’m not sure if the song is a love letter to the craft of making music or an existential crisis — probably both. The lyrics incorporate the experience of modern technology addiction and performing in empty bars, of feeling trapped and then empowered — all within the same 48-hour period. I’ve recorded this song a handful of times over the last three years, but it never quite felt right. It was the first tune I showed Shane Leonard as we began working together on this upcoming album. We were finally able to communicate the song in the way that felt grounded and true. C.J. Camerieri’s horn parts were the final addition and make the arrangement soar.” — Siri Undlin, Humbird

Photo credit: Kendall Rock

BGS 5+5: Erik Koskinen

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Artist: Erik Koskinen
Hometown: St. Peter, Minnesota
Latest album: Burning the Deal

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Playing with Tom Rush was great, because he was a big influence when I was young. I’ve played with a lot of others as well. Also, the first time I looked up and saw a good-size audience singing along to one of my songs.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

Literature and poetry. When it’s good it has flow and rhythm like music does. Good writing makes you think, it doesn’t tell you what to think, and songwriting should be like that as well.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was in a play on stage acting with no music and I got a standing ovation from 700 people at age 11 and I was hooked on the stage. Rock ‘n’ roll came a few years after that and connecting with an audience deeply is what we strive for. Otherwise we’d stay home and play to ourselves.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

That has changed over the years, but now I live on an old farm and I have a garden that is big enough to feed my family and the neighbors. I am not great at it but I do it a lot, so something is bound to grow.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

All the time, or never at all. The thing about songwriting is that you can lie, tell the truth, scam, fool, be humble, and exaggerate. And we might never tell the secrets beyond that. That is our right as songwriters. We need to leave it up to the listener to decide for themselves what is and what isn’t.

Photo Credit: Darin Kamnetz

BGS 5+5: Her Crooked Heart’s Rachel Ries

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Artist: Her Crooked Heart
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Latest album: To Love To Leave To Live
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): My choir calls me ‘Coach Racket’ or just Coach which is super sweet. (My sister calls me Racket because I make noise, despite being a generally quite quiet person).

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I’m the founding director and choral arranger for a weirdo charming 60-voice indie choir in the Twin Cities. For our first season finale, I arranged a backup choir part for a song of mine called “Ghost” off my last album, Ghost of a Gardener. That moment there on the Icehouse stage [a venue in Minneapolis], when the outro hit and all the vocals coalesced into one determined statement of faith in humanity and purpose — holy is the best way I can describe it. I’ve never felt so proud, satisfied, gratified, faithful, boundless on stage.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

I very much enjoy using my hands to create things I find beautiful and pleasing – from linocut prints, hand-sewn CD sleeves, detailed pencil portraits, to homemade rhubarb sour cherry jam… While I can’t say these art forms inform my music, I steadily strive to find ways to merge the various expressions with my music. I make handmade editions of releases, draw portraits of my patrons from time to time, make jam to sell at the merch table… I used to be a fairly unhappy monochrome musician. It’s helped me immensely to find ways to bring more of my entire self to this music-presenting table.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I have no idea what led up to this moment, but I clearly remember being a 4-year-old, the youngest daughter of Mennonite medical missionaries in Zaire, sitting on Sue’s lap in our little house in the village. She was my friend, minder, and a fellow mission-worker. I gazed up at her (I adored her) and declared “I wanna be a singer when I grow up.” I have no idea where that came from and why. But it sure stuck. It’s been my engine of purpose; my wheel of longing for as long as I have memory.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Ah the toughest time… When I was living in a relationship I knew in my core was not right for me; for either of us. The denial was deep and I wouldn’t let myself see it clearly, let alone articulate it. During that time, whenever I’d sit down to write a song, it was as if I’d lifted a manhole cover and this dark demon snarl of “Get me out / Run / Abort! Abort!” was trying to rush out and burn my life to the ground. So I’d quickly slam the cover back down and do something, anything else. Curiously, once I’d finally been honest, all those snarling sad song fumes just… vanished. They dissolved into the ether and I finally had songs again.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Almost never. And if I do, it’s an intentional choice with a reveal at the end when the pronoun switches to ‘I’ and I claim my role within the song. If memory serves, I’ve played this card a few times, though, so I might have used up that hand…

But this links up with something quite important to me in songwriting – attempting to articulate universals with emotionally resonant specificity. “Pleasant Valley Reservoir” describes the day I got dumped and willfully got lost driving the backroads of Vermont. It ends with the lyric, sung almost as a dare: “Am I lost if it’s where I choose to be?” I’m the ‘I’ but that’s totally for us. It’s one of my favorite lines to deliver live. If I’ve done my job, I swear I can almost hear the click of recognition in the audience. Pronouns are wonderfully mutable at times.

Photo credit: Nate Ryan

BGS 5+5: Kind Country

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Artist: Kind Country
Hometown: Minneapolis
Latest album: Hard Times
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Evil Country

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

It has got to be Jerry Garcia, his ability to fuse elements of American music and bring it to a new audience is undoubtedly an inspiration. A lot of Jerry’s inspiration came from the original bluegrass artists — Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers and the like. Their work ethic, drive and dedication to the music serves as a framework for us all.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Well it’s still pretty recent to be considered a ‘memory’, but just this last week at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The room holds such significance for any Minnesotan artists who steps onto that stage, and all of us being there together was very special. I remember at one point, Chris and I finished a song lying on our backs, and the crowd went nuts. I was laughing, looking up at the lights, and everyone on stage was smiling. And when I looked out into the crowd, I could see so many people who had been with us since our first show smiling too. It really felt like family; it really felt like home.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

We hang out out with a lot of crafters: jewelers, carpenters, luthiers, glassblowers and such. Their process of obtaining quality materials, paying attention to detail, incorporating their art into something useful and meaningful at the same time. We strive to emulate that our music.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

Before most of our shows we go on really long van rides. It’s sort of a forced ritual.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

Driving the highways across the Great Plains is very comforting to me. In the summer, when everything is in bloom, it’s just the green touching the blue. I’ve spent much of my childhood and adult life against that backdrop. And watching the sun set over Sandy Lake in central Minnesota from the view of the porch at our family cabin speaks volumes to me. When the water is still like glass, dragonflies hover over the water and almost silence except the occasional call of a loon. In those moments of stillness, all the troubles of the world melt away. In the summer time as a boy I would eat supper on that deck with my grandparents, aunts uncles and cousins. This year I’ll be spending evenings there with my wife, children, nieces and nephews. These places hold a special place in my heart and mind and I imagine that’s where my songs come from.

Photo credit: Tim McG Photo

WATCH: Anna Tivel, “Minneapolis”

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Artist: Anna Tivel
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Song: “Minneapolis”
Album: The Question
Release Date: April 19, 2019
Label: Fluff & Gravy Records

In Their Words: “This is a song about that stuck feeling, that stagnant winter sadness that can take over everything until you have to physically move yourself to shake it loose. I started writing it after a long tour in the Midwest. I was thinking about how that feeling can seep into a relationship until it seems like the only sane thing to do is pack up and start over somewhere else.” — Anna Tivel

Photo credit: Matthew Kennelly

BGS 5+5: Palmer T. Lee

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Artist: Palmer T. Lee
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Latest album: Winebringer

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

The moment I first realized I wanted to be a musician was catalyzed by an experience I had when I very young. I don’t remember why I was there but I do remember the height of the ceiling, the shape of the windows, the colors of the building, and the smooth painted bricks of the gymnasium. So I know I was at the junior high school of the small town I grew up in and that it must have been the junior high band set up on the floor just in front the stage, and the folding chairs wrapped around them. I was standing in the back and could see the horn section. I have a distinct memory of the ineffable feeling that surged through me the moment the band started playing. The movement of the players, the loudness, the vibrations pulsing through my entire body. Though I was so young I somehow knew I was old enough to where I wasn’t supposed to cry in public, but I wanted to.

Years later, I was maybe in junior high myself at this point, my brother had a garage band. It was just two of them, guitar and drums, and my brother invited me to come watch them play a couple songs. I sat on van bench a few feet away, they began to play Led Zeppelin songs. Immediately, the loudness, the movement, the vibrations, the urge to weep and the stoicism that held back all but one or two tears, that ineffable feeling, something like if you were able to feel beauty with your fingers. Shortly after I began “borrowing” CDs from my dad and my brother and when no one was home I would crank the stereo do my best Robert Plant impressions. That’s when I learned how incredible singing feels and that it’s what I needed to figure out how to do.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Which artist has influenced me the most is a little tricky because there have been a number of periods with varying influence. But lately, the past two or so years, without hesitation would be Jason Isbell. He’s like a Steinbeck of songwriting, the way he can paint a picture with words, so vivid and visceral. And his delivery is genuine and powerful; he can give the simplest line a potent and palpable quality.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

If I had a mission statement for my career it would be to continue to grow musically and find new ways to express myself emotionally and creatively, to always pursue evocative expression, to create a space where people can simply feel something. It’s a simple idea but I know I am not alone in finding tremendous value in it and it’s important to me that other people know they are not alone in finding value in that cathartic experience.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

Literature informs my music greatly and regularly. I really enjoy emerging myself in the world and voice of a novelist or a poet to the point where I start thinking and processing things in that voice. It’s a really interesting and fun place to write songs from. It’s a place where I most often surprise myself.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I don’t, very often, hide behind a character in my songs, they tend to be very naked and personal reflections. Though characters do happen and it happens that a song will take on different meanings and contexts over time and I will use different mental imagery while performing them in order to get behind it and into it. When that happens the people and the “me” in the songs may begin to shift or switch around and that can vary as quickly as night to night or even mid-song.

Photo credit: Jessie McCall