Bakersfield

Son Volt at First Avenue, 6/4/13

Son Volt With Colonel Ford First Avenue Mainroom, Minneapolis Tuesday, June 4th, 2013 Jay Farrar hasn't always stuck to his guns since the breakup of his seminal, genre-creating work with Uncle Tupleo, but one consistent thread through his winding career has been a stubborn and abiding love for coun ... More >>

Trailer Trash's Nate Dungan: "Honky tonk music comes right up out of the ground"

When you walk into Lee's Liquor Lounge, located on downtown Minneapolis' fringes for over half a century, whether it's your first visit or 40th, the whiff of nostalgia and shiver of magic you feel is pretty undeniable. But there's more to it than the bar's wood paneling, its mounted mountain lion, t ... More >>

Top 10 must-see Minnesota music videos this week

Local Frames is a weekly column spotlighting the best new music videos featuring musicians and directors with Minnesota ties. This week we get into things with a brand new video from the Minneapolis trio Is/Is, a hazy, diamond-vision clip that captures the enthralling spirit of their new single, "H ... More >>

The Mavericks

The Ten Best Country Albums of 2012

By Alan Scherstuhl This list of the year's best country albums is assembled with two important premises in mind: First: If the people who record and listen to these records consider them country, than they're damn well country. Purists who argue that country should still sound like '68, '76, '84 or ... More >>

Miike Snow, Frightened Rabbit, A$AP Rocky, and more

Vince Gill

Summer Set, Bonnie Rait, Murder by Death, and more

Desert Rose Band

Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson at the State Theatre, 7/25/12

See also: Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson at Mystic Lake Casino, 2/27/11 Merle Haggard and the Strangers With Kris Kristofferson State Theatre, Minneapolis Wednesday, July 25, 2012 Talk about bang for your country music buck; seeing legends Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson share a singl ... More >>

Screaming Females, Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson, and more

Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson

John Prine at the Minnesota Zoo, 6/29/12

John Prine With Willie Watson Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley Friday, June 29, 2012 With fans as passionate (read: intoxicated, borderline rabid) as his, it was perhaps a sin for John Prine to show up 40 minutes late to his own party as he did for his Minnesota Zoo appearance Friday night. Any regular ... More >>

Bass Drum of Death, Destroyer, Kelly Rowland, and more

Korn

Mark Mallman tour diary, Vol. 10: The sea! The sea!

​The game is won on the field. Some bits of advice are impossible to follow to fruition. "The game is won on the field, Mallman." This is the kind of hodge-podge rhetoric that makes so much sense, you end up feeling like shit about yourself because you can never live up to it. Life is not won. If ... More >>

Mark Chesnutt at Povlitzki's on 65, 12/16/11

Photos by Nikki Miller​Mark Chesnutt December 16, 2011 Povlitzki's on 65 Several songs into a hits-heavy and lengthy set at Spring Lake Park's Povlitzki's on 65 Friday night, Mark Chesnutt played a tune that pretty much summarized the night's show, and his own musical career: a lament that mi ... More >>

David "Stringbean" Akeman's murderer up for parole

​Today, we remember the gone-but-not-forgotten star of the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw David "Stringbean" Akeman, whose murderer came up for parole this week.

Kenny Chesney at the Xcel, and Buck Owens' last meal

​He's recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold, and has produced more than 30 Top Ten singles, 20 of which have climbed to the top of the Hot Country Songs charts. He's got awards from the ACM, the CMA, the AMA, CMT, the BMA, the PCA and the FCMA (those are a lot of awards show ... More >>

Top 10 Country Breakups

​On this day in country music history, Bob Dylan brought about the dissolution of one of the most influential bluegrass bands of all time. Well, that might be an overstatement. Read on.

Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson at Mystic Lake Casino, 2/27/11

Photos by Nikki Miller​Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson February 27, 2011 Mystic Lake Casino What can I say. This was really, really cool.

Dwight Yoakam at Mystic Lake Casino, 2/11/11

Photos by Nikki Miller​Dwight Yoakam February 11, 2011 Mystic Lake Casino Aw, sookie. My appreciation for Dwight Yoakam's live show, after his Friday night performance to a sold-out crowd at Mystic Lake Casino, has now passed through three phases.

Social Distortion at First Avenue, 10/19/10

Photos by Alexa Jones​Social DistortionOctober 19, 2010First Avenue, MinneapolisThough they were playing a club (and, really, even if they were playing a stadium) Social Distortion seem to operate as is they are playing in a seedy bar. Boxing gloves and a Shriner's fez hung from the amp stacks. On ... More >>

Buck Owens: 10 songs in honor of his birthday

​83 years ago today, Buck Owens, originally Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., was born in Sherman, TX, just months before the onset of the Great Depression. As the story goes, he assigned himself the name "Buck" at the age of four - his family owned a mule by the name of Buck, and he decided he wanted t ... More >>

Taste of Minnesota, Devo, Santana

This week's Critics' Picks

Dale Watson

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Jayhawks, and more

Delta Spirit

Minneapolis is 80th drunkest U.S. city; St. Paul is No. 87

Sometimes, we're happy to let the folks from Wisconsin have the upper hand.

Dale Watson

Bowerbirds, Caroline Smith, and more

Film Highlight: The Great Buck Howard

Delta Spirit

Ben Kweller, Fujiya & Miyagi, and more

Dale Watson

2/20 Morning Communiqué

From the Beauty Parlor to the Barricades!

Her warmhearted characters feel good about the world. Lorna Landvik doesn't.

Bummer Crop

Korn's depressed rap-metal rocks freaks and saves geeks. But are they just yanking your leash?