Photo courtesy of trailertrashmusic.com

When you walk into Lee's Liquor Lounge, located on downtown Minneapolis' fringes for over half a century, whether it's your first visit or 40th, the whiff of nostalgia and shiver of magic you feel is pretty undeniable. But there's more to it than the bar's wood paneling, its mounted mountain lion, the sound of clinking beer bottles or its throw-back appeal. It's all in the music, and the dancing. For years, Lee's has been one of the best places in town to listen (and dance) to a consistently strong roster of country and rockabilly music - and other stuff too, see standing appearances by E.L.nO. This is in no small part thanks to Trailer Trash, a honky-tonk band that's been a mainstay of the local country scene and of Lee's now for two decades, playing a regular gig there for as many years as of this month, in addition to its popular annual tradition, the Trashy Little Christmas Show.

The band's lineup is comprised of some of the best talent in the region, but their success, and indeed the vibrancy of Lee's and our local country scene at large, has a lot to do with the enthusiasm and smarts of guitar player/vocalist Nate Dungan. On the occasion of the band's 20th anniversary playing Lee's, we checked in with this influential music booster and man about town -- or more accurately, man about the outskirts of downtown, and the Fair Midway.

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Nikki Miller-Rose

Toby Keith at the Minnesota State Fair

Ohhh, the weather outside is... not as bad as they said it was gonna be? Okay, it still sucks. But soon -- yes, soon... too soon in fact! -- it will be summer, and it will be really stupidly hot, and we'll be going to music festivals and become reacquainted with the sweet summer smell of a beer-and-mud-soaked tent, 100-degree sun-baked port-a-potty, and the rancid pickle smell of a field full of sweaty cowboy boot socks and hat rims. Right? Right.

Outdoor country music festival is very nearly upon us! Here's the nitty-gritty, the good, the bad, and the smelly.

See also:
Ten country songs to bring on the spring
The ten best country albums of 2012

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Photo by Steve Cohen

Willie Nelson neither looks nor seems 80 years old. This is an age reserved for, well, old people. The unhip, those not in-the-know, not totally with it.

And yet, Willie turns 80 today. What's his secret? We doubt it's the weed -- sorry -- but think that it likely has more to do with his totally Zen outlook on life, a go-with-the-flow ideology that manifests in his very style of playing. He's an unconventional poet who chooses whatever cadence strikes him in the moment, and he has a gracious, accepting, and loving attitude toward performing and toward the world. Best of all, Willie always stands up for the underdog. Forget blood pressure meds, a vegan diet, or hours grinding on the treadmill; these qualities are the true fountain of youth.

The ultimate country outlaw, Wilie's dabbled in pop, jazz, and reggae, and wears sneakers, not boots. Or, as we hear his departed friend Roger Miller used to describe him, Willie "flushes to the beat of a different plumber." (Roger always knew the right thing to say.) In total, all this adds up to one bad ass 80-year-old M.F., and to give him his due, we present to you 15 legendary facts about Willie Nelson, paired with 15 of his very good songs.

See Also:
Willie Nelson at Mystic Lake Casino, 10/29/10

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Photos by Nikki Miller-Rose

Ricky Skaggs
With Kentucky Thunder
Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis
Thursday, April 18, 2013

I've seen Ricky Skaggs perform now at three different venues, each as different as the next. He played alongside Little Jimmy Dickens and Eddie Stubbs before an immense theater of country music fans and blasting out over the WSM airwaves, continuing to write that legend that is the Grand Ole Opry. He was onstage at the Minnesota State Fair in the Leinie Bandshell on a warm summer night, audience with bellies full of beer aisle-dancing to bluegrass music. The latest is at a jazz club in downtown Minneapolis, on an intimate stage and before an audience that seemed comprised of equal parts bluegrass fans, and the folks who probably go to every show the venue offers, and are more accustomed to tapping their toes (slightly out of time) with a jazz ensemble.

For stages and audiences as diverse as each has been, Skaggs and his backing band Kentucky Thunder have played equally well to all of them, consummate performers who seem not to have "off" nights, unfazed even by a sedate, seated (and still dining) crowd as was the case at their Thursday night show at the Dakota Jazz Club.

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Ricky Skaggs is not old -- he'll turn 59 in July -- but his actual chronological years belie the elder statesman status he's achieved in country, bluegrass, gospel and neo-traditional music. Rare talent, a bevy of stories, an enthusiastic attitude and a passion for performing have a lot to do with it, but it also has a little to do with the fact that of his 58 years, 53 have been spent playing music.

Given his first mandolin at the age of five, by six he sang onstage with Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe, and the next year appeared on the Opry, as well as alongside Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on their Martha White variety show. In keeping with this trend, before long he and friend Keith Whitley would be invited to join the band of bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley, and by young adulthood, Skaggs would be already recognized as a master in both bluegrass and mainstream country music, having first performed as a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band and later as a solo artist. Today, he has countless Grammy and Country Music Association Awards to his name -- many more no doubt yet to come -- and has established his own label, Skaggs Family Records.

As testament to his flexibility as an artist, Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder are set to take the stage at the Dakota Jazz Club tonight (it appears his Friday night performance in Cannon Falls may be sold out). The band will undoubtedly treat us both to tunes off their upbeat September 2012 album, Music to My Ears, as well as some older songs made famous by Ricky Skaggs and by others. We caught up with Skaggs by phone -- we in wintry Minnesota, he in springtime Tennessee -- and chatted about his record, the Father of Bluegrass, and the, uh... curative properties of ham?

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It seems odd we'd ever find occasion to offer the following advice: Don't do what Willie did. But as tax day approaches, it's the wisest advice we can offer. Don't leave the management of your finances to Price Waterhouse, if they turn around and advise you to utilize shady tax shelters. That's what happened to Willie when back in 1990, the IRS seized most of his assets, claiming he owned $32 million in back taxes, penalties, and interest. Yowza.

You don't have enough money to ever contract with a big accounting firm, and the only shelter you know about is the one you can barely afford to keep over your head? That's cool; file your taxes on time to avoid penalties, and try to be chill like Willie. Things'll turn out alright. Here's a soundtrack to ease your filing woes.

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Many singer-songwriters count the likes of Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan among their favorites, but few writers can brag that Kristofferson and Dylan have said the feeling's mutual. Dylan has called John Prine's songs "pure Proustian existentialism... Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree," and it's said Kristofferson quipped after an early performance, "John Prine is so good, we may have to break his thumbs." Endorsements like those earned Prine an early record deal, countless fans, and for the sixth year in a row, a tribute concert in celebration of his half birthday. Yes, his half birthday.

This Saturday at the 331 Club, local Prine fans/roots and Americana musicians Mother Banjo and Art Vandalay host the sixth annual "Big Fat Love" celebration of John Prine's half birthday, featuring tribute sets by the hosts as well as Dana Thompson, Baby Grant Johnson, Brianna Lane, and Ben Cook-Feltz. The event will feature songs spanning Prine's 35-plus-year career ranging from beloved to lesser-known songs. Plus, there are prizes! This week, Gimme Noise got the dirt on the upcoming event from Mother Banjo's Ellen Stanley.

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I've been told a lot of things about Jesus. For one, he evidently looked a lot like Kenny Loggins. Or Kenny Loggins looks a lot like him? Apparently dinosaurs were created and then roamed the earth around the same time as mankind, so I guess Kenny Loggins could be Jesus after all. "Danger Zone" is a song about eternal damnation. "Footloose" is what happens when a sinful woman anoints your feet in her tears. Loggins was not the Messina, but the Messiah.

You got me: I haven't been told much about Jesus at all. I grew up Catholic, and we didn't have all those happy picture books you Protestants colored in Sunday School. The rest of us are left to believe everything the internet tells us about Jesus Loggins. And this is where we turn to country music, which unlike the internet does tell us everything we need to know about Jesus, who died on tomorrow's date (give or take) a good many years ago (but without any dinosaurs around), but rose again after the police knocked on the door to his tomb and hollered, "Outta the crypt, Longhair!"

Okay, don't listen to me. Listen to these fine and abiding country Christians spin 10 excellent songs about Jesus. (Sorry, Carrie Underwood.)

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Today's a big day in whiskey history. As legend tells it, it was on this day in 1983 that Merle Haggard set a new world record for purchasing the largest round of whiskey, after buying 5,095 shots of Canadian Club at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth at an appearance to promote his "C.C. Waterback" duet with George Jones. The whole round totaled 40 gallons of whiskey, and clocked up a bill of $12,737.50.

Have a headache yet? Read on, to discover 13 finely distilled country classics about brown liquor -- so far as your bloodshot eyes and double vision will allow you to do so.

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A prime example of country music's late-'60s era of mellow and polished crooners, Jack Greene's sound was old, no doubt, but epitomized a style still enjoyed today by countless Opry listeners, who continue tuning in each week not only to hear contemporary acts, but also the classic sounds of Greene and his peers.

Following a career that charted a number of hits, including "There Goes My Everything," "All the Time" and "Statue of a Fool," Greene passed away during his sleep in his Nashville home Thursday evening, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.

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