Music

Minnesota native (and Superior resident) James Moors and Kort McCumber teamed up several years ago after pursuing solo musical careers. The singer/songwriters are set to release their 8th album together, Survival, in October; we got a sneak peek when they joined us for a virtual session July 23, 2021. They perform at Enger Park Golf Course in Duluth on Saturday, July 24 and host the first annual Moors & McCumber Campout at the Historic Scott House in Carlton on July 30 and 31st.

Moors and McCumber

Rich Mattson and the Northstars released their latest album, Skylights, back in February. In addition to working on his own album, Mattson also found a way to produce other bands safely during the pandemic at his Sparta Sound Studio. We talked about the album and  Mattson and Gemberling played some tunes from it when they joined us for a session on July 16, 2021 before playing a show with the whole band at Earth Rider Brewery that evening.

Rich Mattson and the Northstars on Facebook

We've heard from many musicians on how the pandemic affected their lives, and now we get to hear from a different side of the music world. Daniel Norgard is one of the co-owners of Blush, a music venue in downtown Duluth, and this week on The Local Malachy spoke to Daniel about the pandemic and its effect on Blush. Listen to find out how a small DIY venue survived the pandemic.

Kiss the Tiger recently released Vicious Kid and their 3rd LP is filled with both soulful organ-driven tracks as well as some all out rock and roll edginess. Meghan Kreidler, front woman for Minneapolis based Kiss the Tiger, gave us a peek at the process of putting the album together when they joined us on The Local.

This Duluth native is releasing her ninth album, Bones, on July 1. In addition to being an accomplished violin player and vocalist, she is a visual artist, author, a Master of Yoga, and a teacher of music and yoga. Her new album was recorded during the pandemic and several songs reflect those difficult times. We found out more and heard some songs when she joined us in the studio on  June 29th.

Ida Jo

In May of 2020, local alt-country band Boxcar released its debut album, Cheap Hotel. They followed that up that collection of originals several months later with an album of covers spanning from Gram Parsons' "We'll Sweep out the Ashes in the Morning" to Dead Man Winter's "Destroyer." Blake Shippee of the band  joined us for a session on June 22nd to play some tunes and talk about those releases. The band will be fresh off of performing for Grandma's Marathon weekend festivities at Bayfront Park. 

This Northern Minnesota duo features Brooke Anderson, who is also a songwriter and performer in The Holy Hootenanners, and Megan Barr. They write and perform acoustically in a variety of styles, with an emphasis on harmonies. They recently released their self-titled debut album, which features 6 songs each by the two musicians.

This Minneapolis Americana musician recorded his latest album, Make it Right, in Nashville shortly before the pandemic hit. After delaying the release due to COVID, Gay is finally released it digitally on June 18. 2021 (with a vinyl release to follow). We shared our virtual session with Gay that same day and find out more about this musician, who grew up in Rochester, Minnesota and studied history before turning his focus to songwriting and performing.

Michael Gay

This week on The Local Malachy chatted with Tony Bennett about his new album Fun's Over. Bennett fulfilled a lifelong goal ahead of this album by learning to play the drums, and played every instrument on the album. Listen to find out what he thinks of his drumming skills and to hear three songs from the new album.

The latest solo album from Ian Alexy (who also performs with his brother Teague in Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank) features his Minneapolis-based backing band, The Deserters. The title, Troubadour 21st Century, is a rootsy rock homage to the life of a modern musician. Many of the cuts on the album were released as singles during the pandemic, including "Making it Shine," which was also the title of a video series Alexy worked on during quarantine. He took the opportunity to go through 12 years of footage accumulated through his music career for the four-part series.

In his more than 30-year career, this Minnesota native has played guitar with a wide array of performers in a wide array of genres on stages across the country. He's also released several albums of his own, including his most recent release, Record Time. He shared tunes from that album and debuted a new one when he joined us for a virtual session June 4, 2021.