Community Calendar

Family Freedom Center invites the community to “It Takes a Village to Build Our Future,” its second annual fundraiser, on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at Greysolon Ballroom, 231 E. Superior St. in Duluth.
The evening will feature live music, dinner, dancing, and connection while celebrating the youth, families, entrepreneurs, and neighbors building the community’s future. Family Freedom Center will also share a major announcement about the future of entrepreneurship in Duluth.
Guests will hear stories of progress across the organization’s programs: youth becoming stronger readers, discovering their talents, and starting businesses; entrepreneurs turning ideas into income and working toward ownership; and families sharing their knowledge, strengthening relationships, and helping shape the organization’s work.

8:00 PM Show

“Writes like Dylan, looks like Hank Williams, walks like John Wayne, smokes like James Dean, and plays like no one else.”
— Spinout Records

AMERICAN ROOTS UK:
“…melodies that stay with the listener long after the last notes of the final track have died away.”

“Erik is very much his own man stylistically. Sub-genres are no use at all in describing Erik's music, and perhaps a new genre is more appropriate.”

MINNPOST:
“one of anti-country music’s up-and-coming stars.”

MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE:
"as dazzling a guitarist as he is an evocative storytelling songwriter.”
“the real deal”
“the best country songwriter in Minnesota.”

Opening the is Nieves del Norte, a family-rooted group from St. Peter, Minnesota, preserving the traditions of Norteño and Tejano music for a new generation.

The Cedar Lounge

4:30pm

Join us for an evening of hop history, music, books, and crafts. Milwaukee professor Jennifer Jordan will read from her new book, Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women Who Grew Them. In this book she takes us back to a pivotal moment in the nineteenth century when Wisconsin produced much of the hops grown in the United States. Yet those long-ago hops are not the only ghosts in Jordan’s story. Haunting the pages of the book are the young women whose work at harvest time was key to the rise of the American beer industry. Foxes and Fireflies will be on hand, with copies of Beer Ghosts and some ways to get creative. You can also sample Beer Ghosts Cream Ale, a beer brewed by Water Street Brewery and Old World Wisconsin in honor of this book, using hops that Jordan grew in her back yard, from rootstock found near an 1850s Wisconsin hop yard.

The Cedar Lounge

Breathe deep, open your mind, and stretch your arms wide with us as we celebrate our vast American landscape. From the wide-spaced harmonies of An Outdoor Overture and Howard Hanson’s cinematic “Romantic” Symphony, through the celestial expanse of Jennifer Higdon’s meditation on loss, to Dvořák’s jubilant Te Deum, tonight we explore what lies beyond the horizon. 

8:00 PM Show

Freshwater bluegrass & Americana from the twin ports of Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. Using a bluegrass instrumentation BRR has crafted their own sound made up of mostly original music which can be heard on their debut album Garbage Pickin (released in April of 2013). Their sophomore album Spring Thaw (released June 2014) added another year of songwriting and live performance experience to their sound. Five years of touring, personnel change, and personal growth has inspired a third record Just Can't Win (released September 2017). Just Can't Win has had radio play worldwide, charted on independent and college radio states across the United States, and won album of the year 2017 in the Duluth Reader Weekly.

The Cedar Lounge

8:00 PM Show

“In his beat-thwacking, voice-distorting, primal blooze threesome the Black Eyed Snakes, front man Chicken Bone George has something to tell us, and it goes a little something like this: “People, have you heard of a better day” “I say again, have you ever heard of a better day.. That’s called hope.” Then he’ll fire into a Muddy Waters rocker or a Moby number, mercilessly slashing his guitar and stomping his feet from that traditional bluesman throne, the folding chair. Few in the audience will be sitting down, though: Black-eyed Snakes fans seem caught up in that old Minnesota yearning for a Southern blur of intemperance and contrition, Saturday night and Sunday morning rolled into one.”

Special guest Stella will open the show.

The Cedar Lounge

8:00 PM Show

Flutes & Low is the folk duo project of Ben Pichler and Cambria Haen. Since meeting and playing music together in Duluth, they have put their musical talents together to create lush sounds and memorable melodies. Deeply influenced by the rich landscapes of the Midwest, their music is pastoral as it is touching. Inspiration is drawn from artists like Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Penny and Sparrow, Bonny Light Horseman, and Iron and Wine. Flutes & Low relies on the beauty of a simple arrangement, traditional folk structures, and the power that music can hold with few instruments and two voices. The pair’s name-sake comes from the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem “Inversnaid”. The poem’s moody natural elements bear a striking resemblance to the frigid midwest environment that has shaped the band’s upbringing. The pair has just completed a new debut album. The self-produced 11-song record titled "Lay Fallow" was released on March 20th, 2025.

The Cedar Lounge

8:00 PM Show

Lazy Lightning 420 is a Duluth-based duo consisting of Marc Gartman and Erik Berry (from Trampled by Turtles) who perform full Grateful Dead concerts by re-creating setlists from Archive.org. The duo uses an array of effects pedals and technology to achieve a sound that is more than just a guitar-and-mandolin duo, incorporating a rock band feel into their performances.

The Cedar Lounge

8:00 PM Show

Sophie Hiroko was born from the waters of Lake Superior, hailing from the northern shores of Duluth, MN. Finding inspiration from nature and grunge rock music at a young age, she began writing songs in the midst of her teen years. After winning the Palomino grant offered by Trampled by Turtles in the summer of 2025, she opened up their annual homecoming show alongside S.G. Goodman at Bayfront in Duluth. In an effort to maintain career momentum and continue following her dreams of rock music, she had moved to Minneapolis by the end of the summer. The following winter brought her recognition as one of First Avenue's "Best New Bands of 2025," as well as a second-place score in the Current's 2025 "Scouting Report" the following spring. She has earned the opportunity to open for local legends such as Policįa, Jeremy Messersmith and Heart to Gold, and has also recently begun to catch the attention of out-of-town acts like the Linda Lindas, who she opened for alongside Vial at the Varisity Theatre this September. Inspired by the 90s femme grunge movement, The Velvet Underground and Nirvana, Hiroko's three piece all girl band will rock your socks off.

The Cedar Lounge

8:00 PM Show

With a pastoral upbringing in northern Wisconsin, Ross Thorn’s music emanates as a warm and soulful hymn, waking up optimistically beside a snow-covered window. His sharply crafted and often humorous lyrics—distinctly reminiscent of great folk artists like John Prine—reveal internal struggles of empathy, questions of human character and virtue, and a search for hope, often finding solace in some unanticipated truth.

Pine & Fire is a D.I.Y. folk music duo from the north woods of Minnesota made up of long-time best friends Jobi Adams and Brandi Foster. Together they blend traditional folk music influences with a modern punk sentiment, creating a unique and driving sound. Together they sing original songs woven with themes of love, escapism, home, family, and growth.

In May 2024, Pine & Fire released their first full-length album, Songs From the North Country, a project that defines and refines the Pine & Fire sound and showcases their growth over six years. Prior to Songs From the North Country, they produced and released three EPs including their debut project, 'We're All Thinking It...' in 2020; a tender, cohesive project called ‘the son’ in 2021; and a six song EP called People Come and Go navigating the ups and downs of human relationships came out in 2022.

In early 2021 Pine & Fire gained visibility when they made it to the final round of the 2nd Annual GemsOnVHS: Gems in the Rough songwriting contest. In 2023 they were awarded the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Music.

When they aren't home recording new music or loving on their dogs Pine & Fire can be found on the road playing their way across the country.

The Cedar Lounge