Folk Music

The Bitterroot Band: It's just plain fun to get people riled up with that noise

Equally inspired by the lonesome sounds of folk, country, and the blues, and the frenetic sounds of rock and bluegrass (and psychobilly!), the Bitterroot Band will no doubt find a welcome home in today's current roots/Americana-friendly landscape. But their presentation is so genuine, it doesn't see ... More >>

Ana Moura

The Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis shines spotlight on '60s Greenwich Village folk scene

Locally bred Oscar-winning auteurs Joel and Ethan Coen have never shied away from drawing inspiration from their Minnesota upbringing to use in their films. Both Fargo and A Serious Man candidly reflect all-too-familiar aspects of life around these parts as well as lasting impressions that the creat ... More >>

Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is the greatest simile in rock 'n' roll

Tyler Flory is a teacher at Main Street School of Performing Arts in Hopkins. His Music Class column ties together his job and his music fandom in a neat little package. "I believe [Bob Dylan's] 'Like a Rolling Stone' is the greatest rock and roll simile of all time," I state to my 4th block 9th G ... More >>

Charlie Parr's triumphant return to his roots

Barnswallow reveals a dark and personal side of the folk singer

Schoenburg CD-release show

Northeast Folk Festival 2012 lineup -- Grumpy's this Saturday

Folk music. It's well-loved here in the Twin Cities, and there is hardly a better place to celebrate its prominence than the rowdy, unpretentious Grumpy's NE. This Saturday, Grumpy's will be featuring a slew of local folk talent in its 14th Annual Northeast Folk Festival. The lineup consists of 21 ... More >>

Vastly improved Livefyre commenting system is here!

Remember when Bob Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival? Gimme Noise wasn't born yet, but the intrigue of that event carries to this day. A ripple of arguably equal or greater importance is upon us today: All City Pages blogs have upgraded from Disqus to Livefyre for reader comments. ... More >>

Woody Guthrie's 100th Birthday with Pop Wagner, Tony Glover, & Charlie Maguire

William DeVogue claims to be Bob Dylan's first son

See Also:Top 20 best Minnesota musicians: The complete listBob Dylan to receive the Presidential Medal of FreedomBob Dylan's 71st birthday brings celebrations all over MinnesotaFor decades it's been assumed that Bob Dylan's first serious romance began with Suze Rotolo in 1961. Dylan met Rotolo in Gr ... More >>

DeVotchKa

The Lower 48

Bob Dylan's debut album released 50 years ago today

​For all of the profound mythologizing that is done over the illustrious music career of Bob Dylan, he began the process just like any other musician with the bold but tentative first steps of a debut record. While very few Dylan enthusiasts will list Bob Dylan as among their favorite (or even ... More >>

Marrow

David Hanners, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, brings folk music to Ginkgo Coffeehouse Saturday

David HannersDavid Hanners sings for the doomed and the thoughtful​"It's kind of a joke amongst my songwriter friends that I kill off a lot of characters in my songs," says David Hanners, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and folk singer. He produces his latest CD, "The Traveler's Burden," to ... More >>

17 ways to celebrate Bob Dylan's 70th birthday in Minnesota

​Minnesota's most famous expatriate and one of the most respected songwriters of our time, Bob Dylan, is celebrating his 70th birthday today. How do you honor the man who has received every honor in the world? We thought of a few ways you could pay your respects today.

Sharon Van Etten at the Cedar, 4/6/11

Photos by Tony Nelson​ Sharon Van Etten April 6, 2010 Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis Brooklyn-based Sharon Van Etten is a force to be reckoned with. Her show last night at the Cedar saw the audience moved and silenced by the folk artist whose talent and capacity for music is far greater ... More >>

Bob Dylan applies to play China tour dates

Is this man too controversial for China?​Bob Dylan hasn't given up on China. A year after refusing Dylan permission to play tour dates in Shanghai and Beijing, China's Ministry of Culture is reviewing an application for the Minnesota-born folk singer to schedule two shows in the country this ... More >>

Dar Williams

Joan Baez at the Minnesota Zoo, 7/13/10

Photos by Steve Cohen​Joan Baez has been performing for over 50 years, and her voice is just as lovely as ever. "I've had to drop my songs down a few notches to match my voice now," she noted apologetically during her show at the Minnesota Zoo last night. But aside from a few key changes her old c ... More >>

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Luke Redfield, Aria Souder

Dylan's Drummer Boy video drops

Because nothing says Christmas like an aging misanthropic wizened folk antihero.

Tallest Man on Earth

Judy Collins

Joan Baez

Travis and Jonny

Toby Thompson

Consolation Champ

The Klezmatics Hanukkah Party

The Old, Weird America Marches Onward

Another great folk-music box targets everyday people who might even still be alive

Turn On the Basement Lights

Rock writer/Dylan freak Sid Griffin attempts to crack one of music's great mysteries

The elusive Bob Dylan, masterfully considered, in I'm Not There

Ramblin' Man

Anti-techie Bob Dylan makes a great chill-out album

A Beautiful Mind

Minnesota-born Paul Nelson was a '60s folk revival pioneer and a founding father of rock writing

Songs That Fall from the Sky

Meet the Handsome Family: The story of the band that forgot time

"Something about that song haunts you"

In Da Club: Kevin Bowe and High on Stress at the Terminal Bar

Strib: Protest doc "tainted" by lack of conservative voices

A Complete Unknown

Scorsese takes 200 minutes to preserve the mystery of Dylan

Faraway, So Close

Doc-Maker Don McGlynn Draws the reclusive 'Spider' out of his web

Pearls Before Swine: Wizard of Is, and Patty Waters: You Thrill Me

Aural History

Larry Long overturns the "great man" theory of traditional music, one folk at a time

The Mekons' Folk Revival

Woody Guthrie: The Asch Recordings

House of the Rising Sun

Next week Red House Records issues a momentous tribute album of Pete Seeger's songs. But after 15 years at the margins of American music, this St. Paul label proudly aims to stay there.

Southern Culture on the Skids

A new autobiography tells how Johnny Cash has walked the line for a disappearing country--and how that line may end with him.

Bourgeois Blues by Lead Belly & This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

Ballads of a Thin Man

An excerpt from: Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes

Youth Against Fascism

In his new book on America's folk revival, Robert Cantwell looks at our post-war romance with the "real."