Singer-Songwriter

As a singer/songwriter, Robert Earl Keen has built a reputation as one of the nation’s finest musical storytellers. Long considered one of the best of the large contingent of talented songwriters who’ve emerged from Texas, Keen paints musical portraits that are as vivid as sunsets over the great southwest.

What separates this Americana music pioneer from other songwriters is his skill at matching this lyrical literature with irresistible melodies, resulting in music that attracts thinkers and dancers alike. His songs are infused with such deep insight and humor that a new meaning and perspective is revealed with each listen, allowing his songs to grow more profound with time. That’s why artists including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Lyle Lovett and the Dixie Chicks have chosen to record his songs over the years. He’s appeared on Austin City Limits, most late-night television and NPR.

The Cedar and DEMO welcome back Jonathan Richman, a groundbreaking performer from his early days with The Modern Lovers and throughout his long solo career.

The Cedar is now air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: noon Fri May 4
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($2 fee per ticket)
• In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (small fee)
• Online: Ticketweb (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• The Cedar is an all ages venue. This show is not recommended for under 12's.
  
• Students with ID may purchase tickets at a discount at the door.

Join the celebration as Eau Claire band The Daredevil Christopher Wright release their new album The Nature of Things. They'll be joined by We Are The Willows, and fellow Eau Claire act Kalispell, also celebrating the release of a new album.

The Cedar is now air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

Ticket options and info

Join clawhammer banjoista and singer Evie Ladin on a warm summer's night outside on the Cedar patio for an evening of contemporary folk with deep roots. As Mike Marshall says, "She's got a voice that draws you in, a groove on the banjo that won't quit".

After 20 years in the music biz, self-described “Little Folksinger” Ani DiFranco is still technically little, although her influence on fellow musicians, activists, and indie-minded people the world over has been huge. She still proudly identifies as a folksinger, too, but her understanding of that term has always been far more expansive than a bin at the record store or a category on iTunes, with ample room for soul, funk, jazz, electronic music, spoken word, and a marching band or two. Over the course of more than 20 albums, including the live double-CD Living in Clip (1997) and the two-disc career retrospective Canon (2007), as well as her latest, ¿Which Side are You On? (2012), Ani has never stopped evolving, experimenting, testing the limits of what can be said and sung.

Ticket options and info

The Flatlanders -- Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock -- three of Texas’ most respected singer/songwriters, have been friends for over 40 years. The group was originally formed in the early 1970s, when the three young men found themselves back in their hometown of Lubbock, TX. At one of their first gigs, they were named a winner of the inaugural Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Singer/Songwriter Competition. The band recorded a project, but it was only released in a small run on 8-track tape.

The Flatlanders quietly disbanded in 1973. Gilmore, Ely, and Hancock each went on to become cult heroes with successful solo careers as pioneers in alternative country, influencing the likes of Uncle Tupelo and The Clash.

It was that individual success that garnered renewed interest in their earlier project. In 1990, Rounder Records issued the obscure 1972 Flatlander sessions.

With a career spanning three decades, Johnny Clegg pioneered a new, unique sound combining Western rock with Zulu rhythms and became one of South Africa’s most prolific musicians and an international superstar. He has sold over five million albums of his brand of crossover music worldwide and wowed vast audiences with his audacious live shows and won national and international awards for his outspoken views on apartheid, his perspectives on migrant workers in South Africa.

Known for his lively, energetic stage performances, the Johnny Clegg Band returns to The Cedar after a stellar performance last year.

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

Ticket options and info

An evening with two of the finest singer-songwriters in the trade: the quite hilarious and yet often deeply thought-provoking Cheryl Wheeler, and the guitarslinging, wordplaying genius Peter Mulvey.

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: noon Fri Feb 24
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($2 fee per ticket)
• In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (small fee)
• Online: Ticketweb (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• All Cedar shows are all ages.
• Students with ID may purchase tickets at a discount at the door.

The return of beloved indie songstress Sharon Van Etten, a follow-up to her sold out show at The Cedar in February!  This time Sharon will be appearing at the First Avenue Mainroom.

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: now
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($2 fee per ticket)
• In person: From First Avenue and their outlets (fees vary)
• Online: eTix (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• All Cedar shows are all ages.

An intimate evening in the company of  composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor Van Dyke Parks. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile, but he has also produced, arranged or played on albums with Tim Buckley, Phil Ochs, Delaney Bramlett, U2, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, The Byrds, Cher, Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright, Sam Phillips, Ringo Starr, Frank Black, The Beau Brummels, The Manhattan Transfer, Medicine, Keith Moon, Sixpence None the Richer, Carly Simon, Little Feat, T-Bone Burnett, Stan Ridgway, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Victoria Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Case, Gordon Lightfoot, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Ry Cooder, Joanna Newsom, The Everly Brothers, Saint Etienne, Silverchair, The Thrills, Scissor Sisters, Laurie Anderson, Susanna Hoffs/Matthew Sweet and Skrillex.