Music

Soulful roots run deep on Night Sweats’ debut

August 19th, 2015

There’s a deep satisfaction I take in the fact that Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats’ self-titled debut comes courtesy of the revitalized Stax Records imprint, a label that historically pumped out album after soaked-brow album by the likes of Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs and Sam & Dave until folding in the mid-’70s. The label’s 21st century reboot signifies the unassailable place that soul music has carved out within the canon of popular American music, evident in the…

Q&A with guitarist Jack Semple

August 14th, 2015

Canadian blues virtuoso Jack Semple is one of Friday’s Fargo Blues Festival headliners. This will be the award-winning, veteran guitarist’s first show ever in North Dakota.

HPR: You definitely have different elements of style represented in your music, but you describe blues as your “center of gravity.” Why keep blues as your “center”?

Jack Semple: I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, which is probably very similar to people who grew up on farms in North Dakota. You know,…

Painting the town blue

August 14th, 2015

Fargo Blues Festival turns 20 with 12 acts in two days

Dan Bredell has a hard job.

The Fargo Blues Festival executive director listened to 200 acts over six months in advance of the 20th annual Fargo Blues Festival, set for this Friday and Saturday at Newman Outdoor Field. Making choices on groups can be hard, he said, especially with just 12 slots to fill.

“We always take pride in having good bands, beginning to end,” Bredell said.

Fargo Blues Festival rarely brings back artists from…

No limits

August 5th, 2015

Fargo country band Redline talks WE Fest, Windbreak, social media and more

In the two years that Redline has been a band, it has performed at WE Fest, Ribfest and Red River Valley Fair in support of national acts like Joe Nichols, Hunter Hayes and Phil Vassar.

Although the band is young, the players are veterans. Bassist Nathan Stang is a former member of 32 Below and Fat Daddys. Guitarist/vocalist Joe Dretsch played in the band 8th Hour and is also currently in the Lars and Joe Pony…

Have we reached critical Mac?

August 5th, 2015

No matter how many creative ways musicians have released their work into the wild listening world – surprise releases, pay-what-you-want downloads, hidden records in upholstered furniture, etc. – it still comes almost infallibly in one of three denominations:

The Single: The “big hit,” often released with a less crucial B-side.
The Extended Play (EP): A collection of three to six tracks, often reserved for unreleased songs, demos or other non-essential audio oddities, and…

Wilco just wants to have fun

July 29th, 2015

Surprise release of “Star Wars” finds band at their loosest

Have we our Great American Rock Band? Have we ever laid claim to such a thing? The Beatles, the Stones, Zep, all imports. Sure, we gave the world Elvis, but the solo thing doesn’t really apply here. The designation is a weighty one, but before such pompous institutions as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Rolling Stone misguidedly try to bestow it upon Bon Jovi, I’m going to pass the crown to Wilco.

Now, “Star…

godheadSilo reunites for Ralph’sFargo punk legends return to the stage

July 22nd, 2015

On Saturday, July 25, godheadSilo will perform their first show since 1998 in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the closing of Ralph’s Corner Bar.

godheadSilo formed in the early 1990s in Fargo, later moved to Olympia, Wash., and signed to record labels like Kill Rock Stars and Sub Pop, touring with the likes of The Melvins and Sebadoh. The band was a duo with a punishing loud sound that made them stand out at the time, and they caught the eye of bands touring through Fargo who…

Eaux boy!

July 22nd, 2015

Inaugural Eaux Claires festival a true celebration of music

In 2008, Justin Vernon was known best, if at all, for the icy falsetto that blew through “For Emma, Forever Ago.” That album, released under the nom de band Bon Iver (appropriately translating to “good winter” in broken French), shot the songwriter to the fore with its “Walden”-esque creation story and the haunting beauty of songs like “Skinny Love.” Since then, Vernon’s appetite for creation has been…

Oh Hell Yeah: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah celebrates the 10th anniversary of its landmark debut

July 17th, 2015

In 2005, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released its eponymous debut album to an immediate flurry of praise, largely from fawning music bloggers. Self-released, the album was one of the first to demonstrate the power of social media and blogs like Pitchfork to promote unsigned bands. On a break in the midst of an extensive anniversary tour, itself preceded by a solo, acoustic “living room tour,” frontman Alec Ounsworth spoke with HPR from his home outside of Philadelphia.

High Plains…

Grace Potter’s ‘Magical Midnight Roadshow’

July 15th, 2015

Rock singer reveals tour and album details

Vermont rock ‘n’ roller Grace Potter is going solo. Sort of.

“Midnight,” which will release Aug. 14, will be Grace Potter’s first record sans “And The Nocturnals.” However, there will of course be drums, bass and an assortment of other noisemakers on stage with her on tour. It’s just that her sound is evolving into something a bit more powerful and even more rockin’ – something that an outdoor audience at Moorhead’s Bluestem…