Music

​A little sugar for those blues

February 3rd, 2016

Grammy Award-winning harmonica player Sugar Blue headlines Saturday’s Fargo Winter Blues Festival

Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Willie Dixon, The Rolling Stones: these are just a few of the bands Sugar Blue recorded with in a career spanning forty years. It’s a career that’s led to high praise for his skilled harmonica playing and earned him a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Saturday, Blue will perform with his band, the Sugar Blue Band, at the 16th annual Fargo Winter…

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​Metal pioneers Black Sabbath rock Minneapolis one last time

January 30th, 2016

There comes a time when every musician needs to hang up their axe and succumb to the darkness ... of retirement. Some don’t always choose when that time comes, as we’ve seen with a few big name musicians dying lately, but Black Sabbath has. And for the Godfathers of Heavy Metal, the end is nigh.

In the third concert of their appropriately-named The End tour, Sabbath filled the Target Center in Minneapolis on Monday night with the slow, sludgy doom metal they created. The band,…

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​Rock ‘n roll music and you

January 30th, 2016

Bobby Vee and Robby Vee performing at the Surf Ballroom

February 3, 1959 marks the day that the music died. Rock ‘n roll icons Buddy Holly (22), Ritchie Valens (17), and J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. “the Big Bopper”(28) lost their lives in a plane crash outside of Clear Lake Iowa that fateful night, while on their “Winter Dance Party Tour” en route to play the next stop of their tour at the Armory in Moorhead Minnesota.

A young man from Fargo North Dakota named Bobby Vee reached unexpected stardom that night as his career was launched.…

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​Soul from the soil

January 29th, 2016

Iowa-based singer songwriter William Elliott Whitmore plays sold-out shows throughout the Midwest, including his upcoming sold out show at The Fargo Brewing Company on January 31. HPR had the opportunity to catch up with him and discuss his musical beginnings as well as his latest album

HPR: Where did you find your musical beginnings?

William Elliott Whitmore: I grew up in a household with a lot of music around. My folks had a great record collection. My old man played guitar and my mom…

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​WE/OURS: PRETTY OUT THERE

January 24th, 2016

By Ben Rheault

Coming from Minneapolis and consisting of three lads from Fargo and one from Grand Rapids, Minn., is a debut album from the collective We/Ours. Will Simon, Bill Rohla and Justin Nelles are no strangers to the Fargo music scene, having played in such notable acts as Cut and Run, Gumbi, and F*ck Detector to name a few. The lone Minnesotan, Justin “Jub” Houser still does stints with Apocalypse Meow and, occasionally, Sundowners. The merging of these four personalities and…

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​A star-crossed performance by F-M Symphony

January 21st, 2016

By John Showalter

When you think of the great figures of English literature, it’s very possible that the first name that comes to your mind is William Shakespeare. Arguably no other writer has had a greater influence on subsequent English-speaking artistic culture than the Bard of Avon.

So far reaching has been his legacy, in fact, that even artists of other languages and other mediums have been inspired by him, from films by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, to operas by the…

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Grateful Dead Lives on Through the Quarterly

January 14th, 2016

Jamie Hutchinson

There are numerous Grateful Dead tribute acts around the world and the Fargo-Moorhead area is lucky to be home to one of them. While the Quarterly doesn’t play often (or even make it out of city limits), that’s all part of the appeal.

“It’s not the weekly, it’s the Quarterly,” says Pat Lenertz, who sings and plays guitar in the band. “It’s kind of more of an event than if it was just all the time.” They use this mentality with each of their shows by…

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Showcasing Women and Their Music

December 25th, 2015

photo by Kensie Wallner

By: David McCoy

Coming back for its third year to support local upcoming performing artists, the third Annual Holiday showcase begins 6:30pm Tuesday, December 29th at The Stage at Island Park. This year’s performances will be hosted by musicians Peggy Bartunek and Nita Velo and will showcase winners of the Celebrating Women and Their Music award spanning the last decade. 

The Celebrating Women and Their Music show was founded in 1998 by renowned blue singer, chef, and caterer, Deborah…

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Fargo rock school

December 24th, 2015

By Jamie Hutchinson

Longtime touring musician and music teacher Bryce Niemiller tells HPR about his inspiration behind Elevate Rock School, the music education school he opened with his wife, Lisa, in 2011.

Inside the keyboard room of the school, Bryce Niemiller is ecstatic, speaking rapidly as he explains where the idea for Elevate Rock School came from and the cons of the standard form of music lessons.

“Sorry I’m talking fast,” he says. “I get passionate about it.” His passion…

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White Iron Band to bring Minnesota pride to Fargo

December 17th, 2015

By Jamie Hutchinson

With a love for their home state and plaid-and-lumberjack beards that would make Charlie Daniels proud, Twin Cities’ White Iron Band will bring their original bluesy country-rock songs across state lines. Just don’t expect them to play sappy, watered-down country. This blend is 80 proof.

“Our live show isn’t sitting up there playing Hank Williams,” says Matt Pudas, lead singer and guitarist. “We’re pretty up tempo.” It’s that energy and love of…

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