Friday, November 8, 2024
7 pm Doors // 8 pm Music
All Ages
$22 (+taxes/fees) Advance General Admission // $27 (+taxes/fees) At The Door
Ticket purchases are final and non-refundable
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BANJO-HARP-GENTLE-ROCKIN-HAPPY-MACHINE
Legendary Minneapolis singer and songwriter Matt Wilson (Trip Shakespeare, The Twilight Hours) and his stellar ensemble present his music on a featherbed of banjo rhythms and arpeggiating harp. Chamber pop trio The Starfolk opens the night!
Using tones mellow and grassy, Matt Wilson & His Orchestra spin out the best songs of Matt’s career, reaching back beyond his prog-rock days as songwriter and lyricist with Trip Shakespeare, back to his first songwriting explorations of classic forms, country melodies, tear-jerking ballads.
The harp mastery of inventive collaborator Phala Tracy is a key element of the ensemble’s overall sound. Phala and Matt’s playing is underpinned by the sparkling banjo groove of Quillan Roe, who is best known for his work with the Roe Family Singers, winners of a prestigious McKnight Fellowship. The sunshine tones of harp and banjo are rolled out on a wide road of Jacques Wait’s electric bass and Wilson’s own acoustic guitar and piano playing.
Raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Matt became a fan of rockers like Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and Devo. He and his high school friends formed a group called The Panic, and spent much of their youth as under-aged performers in Minneapolis nightclubs, warming up for future luminaries such as Husker Du and The Replacements. In the early 80s, Matt followed his brother Dan to college in Boston where they formed a number of bands, including the Love Monsters, marking Matt’s first turn as a lead singer. Returning to Minneapolis, the brothers joined forces with bass player John Munson to form Trip Shakespeare, writing, recording and touring together for a decade. John and Matt still perform in a rock band together, The Twilight Hours.
Matt’s been featured on MTV, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Spin, The Toronto Star and many other influential media outlets. Trip Shakespeare’s single, “Toolmaster of Brainerd,” was named by one of Minnesota’s 50 Greatest Hits, and the group was included on The Current’s list of “893 Most Essential Musical Artists of All Time.” Throughout Matt’s career, his songs have been played heavily on tastemaker radio stations like The Current around the country. Throughout his career the goal has remained constant. “Above all, the most important purpose of my music,” Wilson explains, “is to help people who are wandering through the dreariness of life to break through to a release of emotion.”
The Starfolk makes melody-rich chamber pop music that rocks in front man Brian Tighe’s quintessentially ethereal way. Tighe fronts power-pop darlings The Hang Ups, co-fronts bittersweet girl-boy poppers The Owls, plays saxophone with The Ocean Blue, and played guitar and sang on three Jeremy Messersmith albums.
“Tighe still boasts that distinctively airy tenor and a penchant for setting beautiful vocal melodies atop unusual chord progressions — recently described with rightful awe by Messersmith as “like doing ballet in a minefield.” In fact, The Starfolk achieve a far broader sound than that of their frontman’s power-pop past.”–Rob Van Alstyne, City Pages.
In The Starfolk, Tighe is joined by Allison LaBonne (The Owls, Typsy Panthre) on bass and vocals, and Jacqueline Ultan (Purple Orange, Vertighost, Saltee) on cello. Their debut full length is out now on Korda Records.