Blues

"Deep Blues" is the dirt beneath BB King's fingernails scratching a blackboard. It is not smooth and citified like your daddy's blues-it's raucous, rough, and rambunctious. It's punk of the ages. And many other things too.. ." (pat mAcdonald, 2009)

The Cedar welcomes the West Bank Deep Blues Festival to the patio for two nights! Tonight, the stripped down washboard, rope and guitar of The Brass Kings, and a trip to Purgatory Hill, courtesy of fomer Timbuk3-er pat mAcdonald and melanie jane. pat plays a “Lowebow,” which consists of two poles attached to a cigar box, strung with one bass string and three guitar strings.

The Deep Blues Festival comes to the West Bank! This evening, the price (FREE!) is twice as right, with Iowan blues legends Joe and Vicki Price, and Duluth's master country bluesman Charlie Parr. Joe and Vicki Price's latest album Rain or Shine won the Judges' choice for best blues CD in the 2009 Independent Music Awards.  Joe and Vicki's music is flavored more to the juke joint end of the blues: a bit rough and tons of fun.

Charlie Parr's songs are inhabited by wandering gamblers, union workers, criminals and sinners, and tell stories that occupy the dark places where regret and remorse part company.

Charlie Parr's self-taught mix of slide, finger-picking and quasi-frailing guitar technique, together with a voice that's low on drama and high on impact, offers a modern take on timeless conditions.

7:00pm "The Secret Of Sleep" screening
8:15pm Spider John Koerner
9:30pm Charlie Parr

Two generations of bluesmen meet on a midsummer's night, plus there'll be a very special screening of the long lost Spider John 1970 cult film “The Secret Of Sleep.”

Tickets go on sale at noon Fri Jun 11 from the Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), from hard-working Cedar volunteers in the front lobby during shows, from Cedar outlets (Electric Fetus, Irish on Grand, Homestead Pickin' Parlor, and Depth of Field), and online at Ticketweb.

When you think of “grassroots” and “down to Earth,” you don’t normally think of a movie star. You especially don't think of a movie star the caliber of Jeff Daniels. Yet that is exactly what Jeff has accomplished with his second CD Grandfather’s Hat. With the follow-up album to Live and Unplugged, Daniels has proven that he is not an actor who sings, but an accomplished singer/songwriter who’s musical talent does not require the support of his acting. Further proof of his talent is supported by the musicians Daniels has performed with over the last couple of years. Although it took him some time to feel comfortable on stage behind his guitar, Daniels’ confidence has matured with his songwriter, being invited on stage to perform a few songs with legends Lyle Lovett, John Haitt, and Guy Clark during their rare “Songwriters” tour. Having his pal Keb Mo’ join Jeff on stage was equally rewarding (Jeff calls it a “free guitar lesson”).

A step back in time with two young interpreters of last century's folk and country blues traditions, banjoist Frank Fairfield (last seen at The Cedar opening for Fleet Foxes), and guitar-picker Blind Boy Paxton.

The Cedar welcomes back foot-tappin', guitar-pickin', homespun philosophizin', ever-popular singer/songwriter Chris Smither--and on Chris' birthday no less!  Smither's most recent recording, Time Stands Still, is just the eleventh studio album of a career that now spans over four decades. The album is both pensive and visceral, with songs which alternately ponder life’s mysteries in some moments, and let them lie undisturbed in others. Featuring eight new original compositions and a song apiece from Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, and 1920s country-blues songster Frank Hutchison, Time Stands Still impresses with its immediate, intimate sound. The songs are somehow both vivid and mysterious, evoking contemporary culture and circumstance while remaining touchingly timeless. Smither’s concerns – personal and political – are wed to music that, while stripped down in terms of arrangement and presentation, is among his most intricate, melodic, and challenging.

The eagerly awaited return by the guitar-toting former Touareg rebels, and the hottest desert blues act on the planet. Their tiny Cedar stop is sandwiched in between high-profile gigs at Bonnaroo, Hollywood Bowl, Millennium Park, and Central Park, and a couple of weeks before the band plays some big European festivals including Roskilde. Tinariwen continue to rock with their fourth album Imidiwan: Companions, which possesses all the elements that have made them so magnetic to Western ears: raw simplicity, melodic beauty, songs ranging from the epic and universal to the intimate and personal.

Mitch Walking Elk officially came on the music scene in the mid eighties with the release of his first recording, Dreamer, Originally from Oklahoma, now residing in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mitch has released a total of five recordings, toured Europe fourteen times, performed in Japan, Colombia, South America, Mexico City, Canada and through out the United States. He has appeared in one yet to be released movie titled Come And Get Your Love, and is currently writing his autobiography. He now works at an inner city alternative school in St.

By popular request, a return visit by The Pines, whose most recent album Tremolo was debuted at The Cedar in a sparkling show on Oct 23. The album went on to make several end of year best album lists, including City Pages'. "There's a good reason that we chose to feature folk duo the Pines on the cover of this year's music wrap-up, and it's not because they make mighty fine photo subjects—it's because their latest effort, Tremolo, is one of the most delicately arranged and timeless local albums to be released this year. Read more »

2009 was the year everything blew up—in a good way—for the indie folk trio Megafaun. Megafaun had its roots in the Eau Claire, WI band DeYarmond Edison that brothers Brad and Phil Cook, and Joe Westerlund formed with Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) until the band's demise in 2006. When Bon Iver went off to lick his wounds and write his now famous For Emma, Forever Ago album, Megafaun was born. After releasing their debut Bury the Square in 2007, the band  toured extensively, collaborated with artists of all stripes, and generally, had their musical horizons stretched to the nth degree. Read more »