Day 5 of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival was Superior night. The DTA trolley connected the evening's six scattered venues, and made for a warm escape from the chilly rain. The "Eccentric Art Teacher & Gym Coach" dress-up theme was almost as popular as the previous night's Western theme, with plenty of messy buns with pencils stuck through them and track suits and athletic short-shorts.
At the Superior Mayor's Reception, City Council President Lindsey Graskey subbed for actual Mayor Jim Payne at Superior Tavern to deliver the Souptown Night proclamation and kick off Thursday’s festivities. A performance from Junkyard Mule followed; it included guitar, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass... and stickers! After the trio announced that they had band stickers, the audience periodically chanted for them to be thrown into the crowd. The set ended with at least the third cover of the week of “Zombie” by the Cranberries.
At the Cedar Lounge, SonofMel took the stage with his guitar and harmonica and a mannequin he described as " a silent backup singer for those who can no longer sing," He gave a shout out to Jack Lalanne, the ultimate gym teacher, in honor of the night's dress-up theme. Along with his originals the performer covered Johnny Cash's "Big River," saying "What's Homegrown without a little Johnny Cash?" He also took a picture of the audience to send to his mother which made for a sweet moment.
Alex Heil opened the night at Average Joe’s Pub with songs from his EP Ten Years. He performed a set of pop-punk-influenced, emotive songs on acoustic guitar to an audience that included his young sons, and performed a song he wrote for them. He shared a song inspired by his reading about climate change and how the way to get through difficult times is to come together in community, which, he said, is what Homegrown is about.
Electronic improvisation from seymOur glass continued the evening at Superior Tavern. With laptop and other tech on hand, Ned Netzel commanded beats that sometimes created the sounds of a rave, sometimes a lullaby, and sometimes both simultaneously.
Twin Ports-formed and Minneapolis-based band Lovehouse got the tunes rolling at Havanas. After squaring away some tuning issues, the quartet got into a solid groove with catchy melodies, riffs, and a generous helping of energetic fun.
Back at the Cedar Lounge, Ian Alexy announced he's working on a new record and would be sharing new songs; one of those tracks was called "Healing Me." He switched off acoustic and electric guitars, and played around with looping.
Next up at Average Joe’s, Blu Volta laid down a satisfying set of blues rock, with a touch of psych and guitar riffs galore. A very Homegrown moment came when the band introduced a song called “Portrait” and someone in the audience added, “...of a Drowned Man,” a nod to the longtime Duluth post-rock band that plays the festival again this year.
Back at Cedar Lounge, a group featuring members of the University of Minnesota, Duluth's techno club, Yoshi B2B Finder, took the stage for a fun dance party highlighted by a bubble gun.
Skarlett Woods started her set at Superior Tavern with her song "Somehow." The audience were standing toward the back of the room, and she encouraged them to get closer, joking, “I might kiss or lick but i won’t bite.” The singer/songwriter played both 6- and 7-string guitars during her set, calling them "fascist fighters." Her set included a over of Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate," and she finished with her own "Minnesota Farm Girl."
At the Main Club, Kaylee Matuszak played as Kaylee and the Husbands with actual husbands (to other people) Leon Rohrbaugh and Cory Jezierski. The set included songs from Matuszak's Leading Lady album from last year as well as new material. She introduced the track "Seek and Destroy" as her only dis track; “If you’re a dude don’t act different around me when your wife’s out of town, that’s all I'll say."
Bluegrass group Black River Revue capped off the night at Average Joe’s. Fiddler Clif Nesseth guested on the set, which finished with a seamless mashup of the traditional folk tune “Shady Grove” with Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” that drew cheers from the audience.
At Havanas, the Woodblind Big Band lived up to its name, with ten players on stage at any given time and special guests like Jacob Mahon popping in as well.
Back at the Main Club, Alonzo played funky instrumental music one Homegrown attendee described as "psychedelic elevator music."
Cars & Trucks closed the night at the Main Club, celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band with a rocking set of songs from their catalog as well as select covers. Many in the crowd were likely too young to have seen the band in its heyday, but they were obviously into it, moshing and dancing and, in once case, crowd surfing. Frontman Tony Bennett introduced the band’s “We’re All Gonna Die,” a song about death disguised as a cheerful power pop ditty, by explaining that the song isn’t meant to spit in the face of death, but to celebrate the fact that we’re all here, now, in the moment and to make the best of it. A fitting message to wrap up the evening and head into the home stretch of Homegrown.
