Grand Holler at Caddyshack. Photos by Jill Fisher.

I took a break from live music during this past mid-week but made up for it over the weekend. The list of music events in the Reader’s calendar for Friday, Jan. 19, totaled 14! And on Saturday the 20th it was 17. How is one supposed to choose just one gig each night between them? (And are there sufficient audiences for all of them?)

Many times you can’t. But on Friday I decided that I should see Breanne Marie and the Front Porch Sinners at The Caddy Shack. It was a particularly attractive choice since Misisipi Mike Wolf and Breanne were slated to open as a country-flavored duo. However, Breanne had to cancel due to illness.  

Misisipi Mike went ahead and opened sans Breanne. Talented and accomplished, MM favored us with some of his best original stuff. One I really like is “The Voice of Johnny Cash” especially because of the story he introduces it with. He also gave us “Tiny Dancer,” the cover he chose for his number during the upcoming Duluth Does Elton John Show (7 pm, Sacred Heart Music Center, Saturday, Jan. 27).

MM’s performances can’t help but make one wonder why some talented musicians make it to the national and/or international stage while others, who are equally if not more talented than they, don’t. More on that later; this question needs more discussion.  

The last minute substitute for Breanne was Grand Holler, whose recent Winter Fiasco performance at Pizza Luce’ had them on a roll. This rockin’ band played full out for a one-hour set this evening, so I can’t say I was disappointed.

Andrew Spaeth leads Grand Holler with vocals and electric guitar. His bandmates are Travis Farleigh (keyboards, harmonica and backup vocals), Mark Erickson (bass and vocals) and Jesse Annala (drums). They’ve been an official band since 2021; prior to that Spaeth performed solo but when he was ready to record his album Out of the Past (recorded and mixed at Rich Mattson’s Sparta Sound and released in 2022) he pulled his buddy Jesse out of retirement to back him up along with Erickson and Farleigh. And thus they carried on to perform live these past couple of years.  

Long-term friendship was the foundation for this band. Spaeth and Annala grew up on the range going to different schools—Andy in Eveleth, Jesse in Gilbert. The merger of those school districts brought them together and they played in miscellaneous bands throughout their junior and senior high school years. Spaeth tells of riding his bike from West Eveleth over to the Annala home in Gilbert where their loud rehearsals were tolerated.

The band played six of the original songs on Out of the Past: “Another Lifetime,” “Moonshiner,” “Simple Wave,” “Call Out,” “You and Me” and “Serve It Up” plus another five originals. All were good so-called “dirt road rock” or maybe more generously, bluesy roots-rock. In any case, it was a high test performance rounded out by some excellent covers of “Bright Lights” by Gary Clark Jr., “I’m A Ram” by Al Green, as covered by Sean Costello, and The Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post.”

Spaeth has a strong and raspy voice (occasionally sounding like Bruce Springsteen) that is both balanced and enhanced by a backup band, especially one of this caliber. Grand Hollar, which I first saw perform during  Homegrown 2022, is a welcome addition to our local music scene with its blues-infused original tunes. So if you like listening or dancing to the blues, keep a lookout for its next show.  

Eric Mason and Aby Wolf at the Masonic Temple

My subsequent musical event was a special presentation by Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current of “Emerging Artists Showcase” on Saturday, Jan. 20. It was held in the 1904 Masonic Temple Building auditorium (which is a visual treat for anyone who appreciates architecture). The purpose of this program is to “enable and empower musicians who are in the beginning phases of their careers by providing a platform to cultivate their craft and build a portfolio of recorded work to advance their creative goals.”  

The concert was curated by Minneapolis-based Aby Wolf, who also performed last in this three-person concert. The first singer-songwriter was “carissa” (one name, uncapitalized) who lives in Madison, Wisc. She sang seven original compositions accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. These were all personal stream-of-consciousness songs of love and loss that had the ring of truth, if a bit too much information. She has a beautiful and apparently trained voice. “Sun and Moon” had a bossa nova rhythm that was pleasing. Another song, “Cry” incorporated a hint of Middle Eastern sound. She was very well received by the audience.  

Nolen Sellwood, of Duluth, was second up, accompanied by Owen Reinert Nash on bass guitar and Sam Hovad on keyboard, trumpet and box drum. He had a low, breathy baritone voice. His compositions, like carissa’s, were personal expressions of an inner life, some quite sentimental in feeling. On one song Owen’s dad joined the trio to play saxophone! Unfortunately he spent a fair amount of time tuning his acoustic guitars, so we heard fewer of his songs.  

Aby Wolf was by far the most professional of the three performers and indeed fully “emerged.” Playing an electric drum machine, she gave us mostly wordless vocalizations she termed “primordial material.” Eric Mason accompanied her on keyboards and also sang. This was  intriguing music that deserves more deep listening.  

Brothers Burn Mountain

Since that was two hours of sitting and listening, I was ready for some dancing and that called for me to get over to Sir Ben’s to hear The Brothers Burn Mountain at 9 pm. Ryan and Jesse Dermody have been playing together forever it seems—their Facebook page says 22 years, but it might actually be more. Man, the extensive percussion equipment they brought to this small venue was impressive, including multiple snares and congas. Then besides that they took to drumming on their surroundings! Here were some great drum solos, which both bros. participated in. One couldn’t find a greater contrast between this and the previous show!

I’ve seen and enjoyed these two before onstage at Bayfront Park back in 2022 (when they also drummed on the stage supports), so it was great to see them up close and personal. Jesse is something to watch as he wails on those drums! This was a late set, so I didn’t stay for all of it, but will schedule a fuller listen for the next time they are playing around this area.  

Milkbone

Friends suggested I check out a venue that is a bit far afield: The Endzone Bar and Grill in Rutledge, Minn. where a band by the name of Milkbone plays every other Sunday. This band has been around for 30 years, having been formed in 1994. I can attest to its hot, danceable music after attending their gig this past Sunday, Jan. 21. This four-member rock band consists of Karen Draeger (acoustic guitar, flute, vocals), Randy Anderson (electric guitar, vocals), Steve Everett (bass guitar, vocals) and Mark Leraan (drums).  

Interestingly, each of the three vocalists take the lead on alternate songs playing a delightful mix of originals and covers which included hits by The Band, Canned Heat, Bill Withers, Otis Redding and Van Morrison (Everett took the lead on the latter, his voice closely imitating Morrison’s).

The late Michael Shannon, an original member of Milkbone, composed the tunes “What Do I Know?” and “Monkey Chow” among others. What I found especially wonderful was how folks got up to dance immediately when the band launched into its first number. Even the Curmudgeon eventually got out on the dance floor. Get out and see this smokin’ band at the Powerhouse in Proctor this Friday the 26th or in the weeks to come, either at Endzone or at the Carlton VFW on February 23 and March 22, starting at 8 pm.