ARTISTS TO WATCH 

ALAN SPARHAWK

One-half of the beloved, inventive rock group Low, which he led for nearly 30 years with his late wife Mimi Parker, Alan Sparhawk is a Duluth music icon who exists in a constant state of reinvention. In the aftermath of Parker’s tragic death from cancer in 2022, Sparhawk delved even further into the deconstructed electro-glitch of Low’s final albums with "White Roses, My God," which channels the agony of grief through vocoders and drum machines in search of something resembling hope.

ANNIE HUMPHREY

A member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Annie Humphrey has dedicated decades to fighting for social justice and speaking truth to power through her plaintive, piano-driven roots music. Her latest album, "The Light in My Bones," is a collaboration between Humphrey and the omnipresent Minneapolis guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, who is a frequent on-stage foil at her live shows. In overwhelming times, there is a soothing clarity to Humphrey’s steadfast voice and timeless message of hope and perseverance.

BER

One of the buzziest up-and-coming artists of the moment is the northern Minnesota-reared indie songwriter Berit Dybing, who performs as Ber. Her brutally honest lyrics and preternatural ability to craft pop hooks have made her a local radio darling and a YouTube phenomenon, with her searing takedowns of modern dating culture “Boys Who Kiss You in Their Car” and “Superspreader” racking up hundreds of thousands of views. Based in Minneapolis after years of studying music in Norway and Leeds, England, the prolific songwriter is a prime example of the raw talent that is constantly sprouting up in the fertile Twin Cities scene.

THE BELFAST COWBOYS

The Twin Cities has no shortage of cover bands working the bar circuit, from All Tomorrow’s Petty (who play heartfelt renditions of Tom Petty songs) to ELnO (ELO covers), You Oughta Know (‘90s hits), and Tramps Like Us (Springsteen classics). But few have remained so steady for so many years as The Belfast Cowboys, who formed back in 2002 as a Van Morrison tribute band and have evolved over the years to include more songs from other artists and more members.

Now a nine-piece band, which includes a full horn section, the group is fronted by the omnipresent Minneapolis musician Terry Walsh (who also performs his original music in St. Dominic’s Trio). His soulful crooning of classics like “Into the Mystic” and “Tupelo Honey” will have even the most jaded of barflies swaying along.

CHARLIE PARR

They don’t make them like Charlie Parr anymore. The longtime Duluth troubadour tells timeless stories and entrances audiences with little more than his Mule resonator guitar and his road-worn voice. His humble demeanor and stripped-down presentation hearken back to the early days of the folk scene, when local icons like Koerner, Ray and Glover inspired a young Bob Dylan on the campus of the University of Minnesota, and he still pounds the pavement like an old folkie, too, traversing the country to win over one jaded barroom at a time.

His approach to making music might be rooted in the past, but new ideas and songs seem to pour from him all the time. In 2024 alone, he released a new album, "Little Sun," on Smithsonian Folkways, and was named an Artist of the Year by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

DR. MAMBO'S COMBO

Anyone seeking out the so-called “Minneapolis Sound” made famous by Prince and his collaborators in the 1980s would do well to stop by Bunker’s on a Sunday night to see the funk supergroup Dr. Mambo’s Combo, who have been holding it down at the North Loop club for over three decades. Half the band has either played with Prince, been signed by Prince, or had a rivalry with him at some point in time, and they play at the high caliber you’d expect out of musicians who had to hold their own alongside the Purple One.

KISS THE TIGER

The spirit of the New York punk scene of the ‘70s is alive and well in Minneapolis’ Kiss the Tiger, one of the most dynamic rock bands in recent memory. Fronted by force of nature Meghan Kreidler, who is also a serious presence on the local theater scene, Kiss the Tiger have earned their stripes riling up audiences in the Twin Cities that can be on the jaded and stoic side.

After a few years of playing every room in town, they have become experts at tearing down the wall between the band and the rest of the club. Expect fist pumps, high kicks, heartfelt lyrics, and good old-fashioned rock and roll.

L.A. BUCKNER

Proudly hailing from the historic North Minneapolis scene, the drummer, educator, and composer L.A. Buckner has established himself as a showstopping bandleader. His band BiG HOMiE is a technically dazzling group, romping their way through jazz fusion, funk, gospel and hip-hop beats like Minneapolis’ answer to Vulpeck (a band that happens to another Twin Cities prodigy, Cory Wong, on guitar).

Buckner’s debut album, released in the early days of the pandemic, immediately went viral and hopped to the No. 1 spot on the iTunes jazz charts within 24 hours of its release, while his latest album ("Norfside") pays homage to the community that raised him with a whole new slate of adventurous, expansive compositions.

LAAMAR 

It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to see a burgeoning artist play a small club while also having their photograph splashed across a downtown Minneapolis billboard. Laamar, also known as Geoffrey Lamar Wilson, is one of the artists featured in Hennepin Arts’ “It’s the People” series of billboards, a symbol of his stature as one of the city’s most revered new artists.

In the span of a few short years Laamar has gone from releasing his debut EP to playing some of the biggest stages in the Twin Cities, all on the strength of his dreamy, buoyant folk-pop and his earnest storytelling about the Black experience.

PAPA MBYE

A clear example of how the Minneapolis Sound — a style known for breaking down racial barriers in music and cross-pollinating disparate influences — still resonates throughout the city today is Papa Mbye, an artist who often surfs across multiple genres in a single song, from experimental rock to avant rap to twitchy, yearning pop. The 25-year-old songwriter, guitarist, and producer just released his first full-length album last year and already has been voted a “Picked to Click” artist by local tastemakers and earned a faithful fanbase in his hometown.

BEST CONCERT VENUES

BERLIN
MINNEAPOLIS

Tucked into the first floor of a brownstone in downtown Minneapolis' hip North Loop neighborhood, Berlin is designed like a traditional cabaret-style jazz club yet hosts some of the most forward-thinking and experimental music happening today. The space is intimate — it holds just under 75 people, including the tables around the stage and the area around the bar — and the small plates and cocktails are divine. The dinner hour typically features local jazz trios and quartets, while showtime often features local artists debuting new work, and late-night DJs shift the room into a lounge vibe.

CEDAR CULTURAL CENTER
MINNEAPOLIS

Few venues in the Twin Cities are as warm, welcoming, and community-focused as the Cedar Cultural Center, an old movie theater-turned-concert venue in the historic Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, also known as the West Bank. With a tagline of “The world’s music. Here,” the Cedar offers a truly eclectic and worldly calendar of performances. A typical week might feature a Nordic folk troupe, a flamenco jazz guitarist, Tuvan throat singers, and a buzzy indie-folk band.

FIRST AVENUE & 7TH ST ENTRY
MINNEAPOLIS

Minneapolis’s landmark club is legendary for a reason. One of the longest-running independent rock clubs in the country, First Avenue opened inside an old Greyhound bus depot back in 1970 with a performance by Joe Cocker and has gone through several permutations since then, all while serving as a launchpad for myriad genres and bands. 

The club became famous when Prince chose it as his backdrop in "Purple Rain," and the white stars lining the outside the building highlight just how many other iconic artists have performed on its stage, including U2, the Ramones, Paul Simon, Patti Smith, John Lee Hooker and James Brown. It's a turning point for many of today's stars, too; everyone from Charli XCX to Chappell Roan has played the main room in recent years. 

Around the corner from the main club entrance, the 250-person capacity 7th St. Entry acted as an incubator for the early Minneapolis punk scene (the Replacements, Husker Du, and the Suburbs were all regular performers in the early ‘80s) and continues to showcase emerging acts of all styles today.

GREEN ROOM
MINNEAPOLIS

Located in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, which has recently experienced a near-total reinvention, Green Room is one of the newest venues to enter the Twin Cities market. It is small enough to feel intimate but big enough to offer plenty of balcony perches and corners to retire to between bands, and its bookers have their finger on the pulse of the newest buzz bands that are coming up in the scene. The club hosts a new band night and provides a welcome space for everything from punk and hardcore to hip-hop, filling the void for new talent left by historic venues like the Uptown Bar that are now long gone. 

ORCHESTRA HALL 
MINNEAPOLIS

Home to the Minnesota Orchestra, the landmark Orchestra Hall is a stunning acoustic and architectural experience; when it opened back in 1974, the New York Times hailed it as “almost too good to be true.” In addition to the more traditional presentation of pieces by Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky, the Minnesota Orchestra also frequently collaborates with local indie and hip-hop artists like Dessa and Nur-D to create orchestral renditions of their work and performs “Young People’s Concerts” geared toward elementary school-aged kids.

SACRED HEART MUSIC CENTER 
DULUTH

Nestled into the central Hillside neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota, overlooking Lake Superior, Sacred Heart Music Center is worth a road trip. Built in 1896, the Sacred Heart Cathedral began as a sanctuary for Catholic worshippers who would be regaled by the powerful reverberations of what was then a new Felgemaker organ. 

Over time, Sacred Heart shifted into a parish, and then a music center, which it remains today. The towering organ, which looms over the back of the room, is still there, and Sunday worshippers have been replaced by casually dressed rock and roots music fans who flock to Sacred Heart to see shows by artists like Jillian Rae, Mary Bue, and Charlie Parr.

THE LEDGE AMPHITHEATER   
WAITE PARK

Like Minnesota’s version of Red Rocks, The Ledge is situated in an unlikely spot for live music. It sits in Waite Park, Minnesota, just west of St. Cloud and about 75 minutes from Minneapolis yet provides such a lush atmosphere for outdoor shows that it draws artists like Alison Krauss and Union Station, Chicago, and Earth, Wind & Fire. 

The amphitheater, which opened in 2021, seats about 6,000 fans and overlooks an old quarry and the rolling prairie of central Minnesota.

THE WHITE SQUIRREL BAR 
ST. PAUL 

In addition to the bigger venues geared toward touring bands and more established acts, the Twin Cities (and many cities in greater Minnesota) are filled with neighborhood bars that are willing to take a chance on smaller, up-and-coming musicians, often with little to no cover charge. One relatively new addition to the corner bar scene is The White Squirrel Bar on West 7th St. in St. Paul. Captivating blues guitarist Mary Cutrufello is a regular presence, along with dozens of underground folk, Americana, and roots rock acts.

TURF CLUB 
ST. PAUL

Located in the heart of St. Paul's Midway neighborhood, Turf Club first opened in the 1940s as a country music dance hall and has evolved over time into a destination venue for local Americana and rock acts and touring bands. The club was purchased and renovated by First Avenue in 2013 and now includes a full kitchen with food service during shows, while the basement “Clown Lounge” offers a vibey, wood-paneled hideaway for concertgoers to grab a drink and a little conversation between sets.

Find out more about music in Minnesota and check out our seasonal concert picks.