Confederate Railroad to play Povlitzki's Saturday; Hillbilly Voodoo Dolls bassist passes

​If you've read this here weekly piece over the years, you probably know '90s country is firmly situated in the softest spot of my heart -- for all its good, bad, and ugly. I saw '90s country hit-makers Confederate Railroad at South Dakota's Brown County Fair the summer of 1993; our grandstand buttons also purchased entry to see Billy Dean (he's in that soft spot), Restless Heart (they're kinda in there too), and Mark Chesnutt (yep, he's there too, and played Povlitzki's in Spring Lake Park just last month). This Saturday night, Confederate Railroad will be making their own stop at Povlitzki's.

The southern-style outlaw country outfit took the ACM prize for Best New Vocal Group in 1992, and had a string of hits throughout the decade. As for the name - yeah, this whole Southern/Confederate pride thing is a topic I'm not going to even begin to delve into in this short blurb, but countless historians, scholars, and cultural critics have tackled the subject in the last year alone, as our country looked back on the American Civil War during its sesquicentennial (one of my favorites was NPR's treatment of "Dixie;" coincidentally, both Confederate Railroad's Saturday night openings bands have names that riff on "Dixie" or "Mason Dixon").

So all that aside, Confederate Railroad: a band I liked quite a lot when I was twelve and will no doubt enjoy seeing just as much come Saturday. Bonus? Advance tickets are just ten bucks.

(Okay, that wasn't actually the band, but was a song they popularized. I can't find the original music video online, but it features the band in drag. And this guy is awesome.)

We also have some sad news this week. Paul Manske, who among many talents fronted local rockabilly group Hillbilly Voodoo Dolls, died unexpectedly of a heart attack on Monday. We got to catch Paul and company when they backed Wanda Jackson just last summer at the Minnesota Zoo. Jon Bream eulogized Manske earlier this week in a Star Tribune column you can read here.

Photo by Nikki Miller

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