Live from Studio A

Twin Cities trio the New Standards features seasoned musicians Chan Poling (The Suburbs), John Munson (Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic) and Steve Roehm (Billy Goat) For 15 years the trio has been putting a jazz twist on popular tunes spanning the decades. Their annual Christmas shows have become legendary; with COVID-19 making a 2020 live show impossible, the trio instead released The New Standards Holiday Show Album, featuring a mix of classics and originals. Vibraphone player Roehm joined us virtually to talk about the album and share some tunes.

Minnesota musician joins the long list of artists releasing their work during a pandemic. She joined us via the internet on August 21st to chat about her new album, The World is Your Lover, which came out the same day, and shel performed some songs from the record. She played a livestreamed show from Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth the following night.

Mary Bue

Watch Mary's Sacred Heart performance: 

This Minneapolis folk singer/songwriter recently released her tenth full-length album, Ordinary Love, with a virtual release show. We heard some songs from the record and caught up with the musician, who was still going by just "Ellis" when she was last in our studios several years ago, on June 26, 2020.

Ellis Delaney

 Rachael Kilgour and Sara Pajunen make up this duo that combines Rachael’s singer/songwriter/guitaristbackground with violinist Sara’s classical and improvisational training and deep roots in Finnish folk music. They recently released an album oftraditional folk tunes called And We’llAll Go Together. Listen to our virtual session with them; they talked about the album and shared some tunes on May 29, 2020. They have a livestreamed concert coming up on June 7.

Sound an Echo

This four-piece is led by Duluth native Dave Mehling. He fits this project in around side gigs with artists including Gaelynn Lea and fatherhood. The band had plans to release its second album of melodic rock during the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival; the festival didn't happen, but fortunately the album, A Time at the Cabin, did and is now available online.

This Duluth duo featuring Jason Wussow and Veikko Lepisto was set to release a second album, Bluebird Day, when COVID-19 hit. We chatted with them about the album and they shared some tunes via the internet on April 30, 2020 during what would have been Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival.

Woodblind

Homegrown coverage on KUMD is made possible by The Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

This local modern bluegrass group just released a live album, Gitchee Tracks Live Volume 1, recorded primarily at Duluth's Sacred Heart Music Center. We chatted with them about making the album and they performed some tunes for us from banjo player Tim Leutgeb's basement (using a tape measure to ensure proper social distancing). They also talked about a festival their hoping to put together once live concerts are a thing again. Listen to our session from April 29, 2020, during what would have been Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival.

This Duluth quartet has been wowing local audiences with their mix of jazz, rock, and funk, highlighted by singer/violinist Ren Cooper's standout vocals. They released their much- anticipated debut album, Monochrome on April 20, but of course were unable to give audiences a live taste due to COVID 19 and Minnesota's stay-at-home order.

This charming local duo features Suzi Ludwig of Father Hennepin on accordian and Jimi Cooper of The Fractals (among many other Duluth bands) on guitar, ukelele, and kazoo. Their repertoire spans everything from polka to punk, with original songs about hoppy beer, stolen cupolas, and whatever else strikes their fancy with some well-chosen covers also in the mix.

This local supergroup features Marc Gartman, Trampled by Turtles members Dave Carroll and Tim Saxhaug, and drummer Kyle Keegan. They've released their first full-length album, Among the Wild, produced by Low's Steve Garrington, and were scheduled to have a Duluth release show on  March 13, 2020 at Pizza Luce in Duluth, but just before our in-studio session they got the word that the show had been cancelled due to coronavirus fears. Fortunately they stuck around to play some songs for us and talk about making the album.

A native of England, this singer/songwriter has lived in the Twin Cities for several years now, performing in bands including The Camdens before releasing her first solo album in 2012. Vernon's most recent album, Suit of Hearts, was released in 2019 and features the musician on ukelele, which has become her primary instrument in recent years. We found out more when she joined us in the studio on February 25th.

This native of Michigan's U.P. is now based in Minneapolis, where he recently recorded a fourth album, The Fire and the Medicine, due out this spring. We found out more when the Americana singer/songwriter joined us in the studio on February 26th He performed the same night at Bent Paddle Brewing in Duluth.

Eli Gardiner
Bent Paddle Brewing

This Twin Cities singer, songwriter, and guitarist was last in our studios as part of The Big Wu. This time around he has a new solo blues album to share, The Musician & the Muse when he joined us on January 31st. He had a release show the same night at The Caddy Shack in Duluth's Lincoln Park.

Mark Joseph
The Caddy Shack

This garage-pop duo from Northfield, Minnesota, recently released its debut album, Townie. We got to know them and they performed songs from the album when they joined us on January 31st. They had a show the the same night at Blush in Duluth.

The Key Kids on Facebook
Blush on Facebook