Summer Music 2012 Minneapolis-St. Paul

Well, my Summer of Music is over. From the Shins in June to the Mavericks at the Fair. I still hope to see some more music this fall, but it's time now to look back and pick the best performances of the summer. I of course did not see everything (see below) that I hoped to see, though in addition to some of the concerts listed below I also saw Minnesota Music Night at the State Fair, including Semisonic, the Jayhawks, Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, and Lucy and Michelle and the Velvet Lapels.

Best Concert of the Summer--Rufus Wainwright (reviewed here at Boomer Rock) with the Mavericks and Alison Krauss close behind. #4 through #10 are the Blood on the Tracks Band, Los Lobos, Auto Body Experience, the Jayhawks, Steve Earle, Adam Cohen and Semisonic

Best Artist--Rufus Wainwright followed by Alison Krauss and Raul Malo

Best Song (Performance)--"All You Every Do Is Bring Me Down"--the Mavericks, ahead of "There Is a Reason" by Alison Krauss and "Candles" by Rufus

Best Vocals--Raul Malo of the Mavericks followed of course by Alison Krauss and Jeremy Messersmith

 Best Instrumentalist(s)--Ron Block and Jerry Douglas of Union Station

Best (Electric) Guitar--David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos; then local boys Dan Wilson of Semisonic and Steve Grossman who sat in with the Blood on the Tracks band

Best Rhythm--Conrad Lozano and Louis Perez of Los Lobos, followed by the Mavericks' rhythm section and then Semisonic's

Best Other Instrument--the trumpet and saxophone with the Mavericks, whose names I did not catch and cannot find anywhere online; followed by Alison Krauss on fiddle; and Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on saxophone

Best Songs (Songwriter)--Steve Earle, then Rufus, though I suppose you could also make an argument for this fellow named Bob Dylan whose songs were played by the Blood on the Tracks Band Live

Sun June 3	Scottie Miller Band	Northern Vineyard, Stillwater
Th June 7	Dan Israel	Mears Park
Th June 14	Communist Daughter	Mears Park
Th June 14	Scottie Miller Band	White Bear Lake Market Fest
Sat June 16	Martin Devaney	Stone Arch Fest Under Central Ave. Stage
Sat June 16 1 p.m.	Sweet Colleens	Nokomis Library
Sun June 17	Dan Israel	Stone Arch Fest
Th June 28	Auto Body Experience	O’Gara’s
Sun July 8 noon	Haley Bonar	Northrop Plaza
Tues July 10-Aug 21 5 p.m.	Music acts at 5:30 and 7	+ market, movie downtown Stillwater
Th July 19	Battle of the Bands	WBL Market Fest
Wed July 25	Los Lobos/Steve Earle	Zoo
Th July 26	The New Standards	Mears Park
Sat July 28	Blood on the Tracks (Dylan cover band, very highly recommended)	Wolfe Park Amphitheatre, St. Louis Park
Sun Aug 5	JP Sousa Mem’l Band	Como Park Pavillion
Fri-Sun Aug 10-12 Sat Aug 11	Irish Fest Sweet Colleens	Harriet Island
Sat Aug 11	Rufus Wainwright	Zoo
Tues Aug 14 5:30-8:30	Scottie Miller Band 7 p.m.	Stw Summer Tuesday
Fri Aug 24	Alison Krauss	Asheville
Thur Aug 30 9 p.m.	Scottie Miller Band	Washington Sq Pub
Wed-Thur Aug 29-30	State Fair Mavericks Monroe Crossing 6:30	Bandshell Today Heritage Square

Minnesota Music Night at the State Fair

Thanks, Gary. Garrison Keillor took a cruise, and so there's no Prairie Home Companion at the Minnesota State Fair this year. Instead there was Minnesota Music Night featuring Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapels, Jeremy Messersmith, Dessa, the Jayhawks and Semisonic.

Semisonic is at its heart a classic power pop trio, notwithstanding the fact that there were often six musicians on the stage. Guitarist-singer-songwriter Dan Wilson leads the way with JohnMunson on bass and Jacob Slichter on drums. A fourth musician, whose name I didn't catch, contributed on percussion and keyboards, and two violins from the Laurel String Quartet joined for several tunes.

The band closed with "Someone Like You," the mega-hit that Wilson cowrote with Adele, and Prince's "Little Red Corvette" with the help of Messersmith and Dessa. But the highlight for me was the long, slow build of "I Wish" at mid-set.

Still Semisonic summarized the whole evening well in that they, like all the other artists, favor mid-tempo rockers. Doesn't anybody know how to rock and roll anymore?

Well, in fairness, Lucy and Michelle and friends were mostly up-tempo in their artsy set prominently featuring an exotic assembly of instruments such as cello,  bowed double-bass, accordian, etc. The highlight was Lucy's gabby, stream-of-consciousness vocals. Fun.

Messersmith followed with an earnest set of original tunes in a Brit pop style, featuring his sweet tenor vocals. Nicely done.

The Jayhawks were the token unselfconsciously folksy (as opposed to artsy) band of the evening.  The early going was marred by a muddy sound and a series of muffed lead guitar lines by Gary Louris. But the band tightened it up as the show moved along. "Angelyne" stood out with its faster tempo near the end of their show.

Dessa, rapper/singer from Doomtree, should also be credited with bringing some much needed energy to the stage. I suppose I'd be dating myself to ask why she doesn't feature her nice singing voice more often I mean, rap is just talk while her singing, well, that's music.

In summary, the band I'm hoping to see again soon is Lucy and Michelle with their sunny energy.