Day 2 of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival started with an early-evening downpour that left puddles on the sidewalks of Lincoln Park for Homegrown fans to dodge for the rest of the night. Fortunately, it didn’t last long and didn’t deter people from showing up for music up and down Superior Street in the Craft District. The night's dress-up theme was Stars and Fire in honor of Homegrown founder Starfire, who played with his band Father Hennepin at Bent Paddle late in the evening.
Music kicked off at Dovetail Cafe with Mitchell Hancock, who performs as Bigg Iron. Some fast picking started the solo guitarist’s set, but an audible was soon called. According to the artist, the plan was to play all originals, but a thumb injury from a set the previous night’s performance with punk trio Chippy necessitated some covers, some songs about trains, and a shortened set.
Across the street at Legacy Cannabis, Tom and Brandy of Four Mile Portage charmed the audience with old-time fiddle and banjo tunes and lighthearted moments of accidental hilarity. Mere seconds into their original song “Get Your S*** Together” Brandy couldn’t read the lyrics, which sent Tom scrambling to find some reading glasses. Before closing with a brief, rousing hand clapper, the duo brought some to tears with a song about Tom’s recently-passed father.
At Wild State Cider Danny Frank & the Smoky Gold started the evening with a lively, bluegrass-flavored Americana set that got some folks in the crowd dancing. Erin Aldridge, having played with Hot Tamale Cosmos the previous night, still had plenty of fire left in her fiddle for the performance. The group set aside their instruments near the end for a gorgeous, four-part a capella number.
Over at Ursa Minor, guitar, keys, and drum trio Sidestreet Detour performed a set of melodic, grooving rock.
By 6:30pm, Dovetail Café was standing room only. The soft singer-songwriter sounds of Ashe Berton lulled the audience – many of whom couldn’t figure out if they were accidentally in line to order food. Oliver Newton joined Berton on guitar, keys, and backup vocals; the two explained they met surfing Lake Superior, and didn’t find waves but found music.
At the same time, solo musician The Casualty Company performed for a smaller, but appreciative, audience at Legacy Cannabis. Through some understandable nervous giggles (this was The Casual Company’s first show outside of open mics) the performer belted quirky original songs that drew applause and inspired some dancing as well.
Meanwhile, at Wild State Cider, quintet Cyr and the Cosmonauts performed to a full audience; it was warm, dry, and groovy inside while the rain came down outside. Frontman Eric Cyr dedicated the song "Callused," the title track from their first album, to the son who inspired the song and is now 7.
By 7pm All American Club was at capacity (“the fire marshall just walked in,” said the employee watching the door) for Berserk Blondes! (Berzerk Blondes! ? Berzerk Blawndz! ? There appear to be as many spellings of this band’s name as there are Finn jokes in Steve Solkela’s brain.) The line to get in grew as other shows let out. Those lucky enough to make it inside were entertained by the comedic musical stylings of Solkela and Kaylee Matuszak. They announced that Jenny Armstrong was the winner of their "Write a Song About Me" challenge, which apparently is just the band picking a random Facebook follower to write a song about. At last year's Homegrown they debuted a song about well-known local music community member Scott Lillo, but he missed it; this year, they pulled him up on stage as they performed the song. Solkela played a cheese grater for a song about "straight cheddar cheese straight out of the bag," and their song "F**k the Rain" was a timely choice for the evening's gloomy weather.
While hip-hop artist Brinn Major performed at Ursa Minor, not far away at Duluth Cider Adam Herman & the Dynamite Club at laid down a soulful set driven by grooving keys. They ended with a cover of “I Shall be Released,” the same song Hot Tamale Cosmos opened their set with last night. Will there be more versions during the week, or at least other Bob Dylan covers? With Dylan Fest right around the corner, it's a definite possibility.
Back at Bent Paddle, four-piece Sometime, Maybe gave a powerful performance on the Cosmic Lounge Stage. While introducing a cover of "1979" by the Smashing Pumpkins, the keyboard player told the story of buying their first record, by the Smashing Pumpkins, at age 13 but having to keep it a secret because it wasn't Christian music. The band also got into the Homegrown spirit with a cover of Low's "Sunflower," and received some assistance from the audience when an amp tipped over in the midst of their set.
Back at All American Club, it was one-in, one-out as A Band Called Truman took the stage in matching sequinned vests. Frontman Leon Rohrbaugh was having trouble with a sound pedal, so he tinkered with that while the rest of the band kept playing. "Let this be a lesson to you," he joked, "never try to wire a skateboard as a pedal board because it'll only work half the time...but if you hit it hard enough it'll work." Rohrbaugh also referenced the fact that the band has been together for 15 years without recording any music, so if you want to hear them, it has to be at a live performance.
Next up at All American Club was Grand Holler, who played a rock set that got the crowd dancing. They shared a new single, "Riverboat Queen."
Meanwhile, back at Bent Paddle, Homegrown founder Starfire and his band Father Hennepin took the stage for an extended set that included some newer tunes as well as old favorites like their covers of "I Like it in Duluth" and Neil Young's "Homegrown."
Dirt Magnet at Caddy Shack featured Shanna Willie on drums and Clancy Ward on bass. The Twin Ports is used to seeing Ward as a fiddler in old-timey bands, but lately he’s been getting back to his roots playing rock bass. The duo will serve as the rhythm section for Mara Lovejoy at Pizza Luce on Friday night.
Southpaw closed out the night at Caddy Shack with their heavy, mostly instrumental math rock. “Our drummer f&*@ed up and he’s in Norway” joked bassist Dalton Hanson, before introducing the night’s fill-in drummer. A mosh pit started almost immediately; when it got too intense, with fans getting pushed onstage, the bassist and guitarist walked into the midst of the crowd, parting it and bringing the energy back to a safer level without spoiling anyone's fun. At one point Hanson asked ironically, “Do you guys like heavy metal music? Would it be okay if we played heavy metal music?” before launching into a song featuring his screamed vocals. The band had an impressively professional merch display, giving fans an opportunity to rep the band in multiple ways.
If anyone was craving a little more action for the evening , next door to the Caddy Shack there was karaoke at Curly’s; the door was open and a woman could be heard belting out Journey's "Separate Ways" as Homegrown fans trickled out into the night just before 11.
