Photo by BFresh Photography

​We have been blessed with one of the most diverse and successful independent hip-hop scenes in the country, but it didn't happen overnight. Most of the pillars of our scene have been recognized one way of another over the years for their work in building this community, but one pillar keeps getting skipped over. Go figure -- it's a female. Pretty common in the male-driven sport we call hip-hop. But she isn't about the recognition or the status, she just wants to help others and rock a stage. More >>

It's not what you think.

​The real reason that Bon Iver won't be performing during the Grammy Awards on February 12 has nothing to do with an ugly poster and a dusty promotional commercial. According to newly announced Sasquatch headliner and this weekend's Saturday Night Live musical guest Justin Vernon, the communication broke down when the organizers demanded that his band collaborate with another artist for said performance.

And, based upon an expletive-laced interview Vernon gave to Billboard at a Bushmills event -- no mention of how much Irish whiskey he had consumed prior -- this whole series of events is not too fucking cool.
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Photo by Nikki Miller

​This ain't my first rodeo, but perhaps it could be yours. This weekend, the "World's Toughest Rodeo" tour makes its annual stop at the Xcel Energy Center (Friday and Saturday, February 3-4, 7:30, $9.50-80 with special pricing for Girl and Boy Scouts, no foolin'). In addition to bull, bareback, and saddle bronc riding as well as barrel racing exhibitions and trick and fancing roping, expect a performance at Saturday night's "Party on the Dirt" by up-and-coming country star Justin Moore (recently nominated for an American Country Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year). Oh, and expect rodeo clowns. So many rodeo clowns. To get you amped up for concussions, broken necks and bad clown jokes (woohoo?), take a listen to our essential country rodeo playlist. More >>

​In 2010, Chris Koza and his newly formed band, Rogue Valley, set out to do something a little insane. They wrote and recorded four full-length albums in one year. The "season project," as it came to be known, was fueled by personification: each album intends to give shape and sound to a particular season, images of place, and the slippery emotions wrought by weather. Most impressive about the project isn't what it revealed about Rogue Valley's ambition, but that the 46 songs they produced form a compelling body of work: lyrically cavernous, sonically dynamic, the "season project" has stood the test of time.More >>

​Rhymesayers vet I Self Devine continues his onslaught of new music with the second of four free mixtapes dropped at the front end of every month. The Upliftment Struggle was released on Soundcloud this week in anticipation of another 7th Street Entry takeover on February 19.More >>

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​No matter how accustomed to Minnesota winters that you are, they eventually take their toll on everyone. The shortened days, the bitter cold, the treacherous roads all wear on all of us to varying degrees as winter just drags on.

But in the case of Tasha Pruitt, last winter was especially cruel. While Pruitt was leaving her apartment building, a large chunk of ice fell off the awning of her complex and struck her, leaving her with a spine injury and numerous recovery disabilities -- all of which have left her unable to work at a normal level or ride her bike at all for the past year. Her good friends in the Twin Cities music community have rallied behind Pruitt and arranged a benefit concert and auction for her at the Turf Club Friday.
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courtesy of Wikipedia

​Twin Cities native producer Jimmy Jam took to the airwaves yesterday to discuss the legacy of the late Soul Train founder Don Cornelius. Speaking to KCRW's Steve Chiotakis in Los Angeles, Jam noted that he'd just attended an event with Berry Gordy and Quincy Jones, and noted that Cornelius belongs among them in terms of his "stature and accomplishments in life." "It's an incredible journey that he had," Jam says. "Basically when you figure out how to do something that no one else is doing, you have a great shot at success." The conversation was steeped in thoughts of childhood for the R&B legend, who performed with the Original 7ven (formerly the Time) on the 2011 Soul Train Awards.
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Photos by Aaron Rupar

​Dark Star Orchestra
First Avenue, Minneapolis
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Although First Avenue can't quite stack up with an outdoor festival setting, last night's Dark Star Orchestra show in the mainroom was still plenty good. The band has made a name for itself by traveling the world and playing entire Grateful Dead concert sets just as the Dead played them decades ago. Last night, DSO recreated a Dead set from April 19, 1984 at the Civic Center in Philadelphia. By the mid-'80s, this output consisted of an American roots-style blend of blues, country, reggae, and, of course, good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll.
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Photos by Reed Fischer

No flash photography.

​Cass McCombs Band
With Frank Fairfield
7th St. Entry, Minneapolis
Wednesday, February 1, 2012

In a torn flannel shirt over a henley, comfortably worn jeans, and Dr. Marten boots, Cass McCombs looks a lot like a mechanic lately. (Or Eddie Vedder, circa. 1991.) But it's an appropriate guise for a man constantly tinkering under the hood of our imaginations with wide-ranging Americana storytelling. In the low light of the 7th St. Entry -- which McCombs requested be lowered further twice -- he and his four mates let the light from a mystical Abre Candle and some incense burning add to the introspective material that never overtook the heart muscles' BPM in the room.
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