There was a lot to choose from on what would have been Souptown Night for Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival. Early risers could enjoy Teague Alexy's daily Tea with Teague set or flip over to the Duluth Coffee Instagram for another Actual Wolf performance from his kitchen.
Evening livestreams kicked off with Dance Attic performing from a front porch on the sunny, warm Thursday in matching western wear and cloth masks. They broke into a polka, but accordian player Suzi Ludwig cut it short."Nope, nope, nope. This doesn't feel like Homegrown at all," she said. As she and guitarist Jimi Cooper switched to a cover of Neil Young's "Homegrown," another guitar could be heard joining in; Homegrown founder Scott "Starfire" Lunt strolled into frame, singing along (from a safe distance) on the song that was a staple in his and Suzi's band Father Hennepin's Homegrown setlist. It was a much-needed, warm, fuzzy Homegrown moment.
Later that evening Jimi gave us a bonus solo set from his living room in honor of his regular Thursday gig at Thirsty Pagan that's been suspended indefinitely. He rotated through his array of guitars (including two resonators that look identical but, he was careful to point out, sound different), pulled out a sitar, responded to a text from a friend ("You should never text during a livestream, right?"), and stopped to pose some action figures in front of the camera. It felt not so much like a "show," but a fun, casual hang with your nerdy friend who's a really, really good guitar player.
Hannah Rey has been doing regular Thursday "Quaranstreams" throughout this stay-at-home era. She performed a lovely, chill two-hour -plus set, taking requests, playing covers, and interacting with the many loyal fans commenting on her stream.
Three evening performances emanated from 2104, the private residence that hosts the unofficial #SoupB4Supe event every year before Homegrown fans head across the bridge for Souptown night. Rick McLean started the evening, getting back to his roots with an acoustic solo set of his irreverent tunes.
After a break for some between-set precautions, Jerree Small performed a set of tunes (including "God" from her much-missed band Southwire) with birthday boy Clancy Ward sitting in on fiddle and harmony vocals.
After a longer break, Clancy returned along with Sonja, Lee, and Adam of Feeding Leroy, Misisipi Mike Wolf, and Actual Wolf all performing under the name Canine Country. Spread out around the perimeter of the room, they played a set of alt-country covers and originals. This collaboration is so new they're still debating their name, but it left us wanting more from these seasoned players; we hope it sticks.
Here's what's happening today:
Dave Mehling of The Fontanelles joins us for a Virtual Live from Studio A at 2pm
Ingaborg von Agassiz performs on Duluth Coffee Company's Instagram at 2pm
Alan and Mimi of Low perform their regular It's Friday, I'm in Low set on Instagram at 3pm
Black River Revue will be live from the Cedar Lounge at 7pm
Ann Kathryn has a Facebook Live stream at 7pm
Theresa Williams will be on Facebook Live at 7:30pm
Homegrown coverage on KUMD is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
