All About Amerigrass
Learn about this unique inaugural Americana and bluegrass festival, which takes place October 7 in the heart of South Minneapolis!
Adventures in Americana is thrilled to be partnering with organizers and sponsors of a new Minneapolis festival, an inaugural event that will hopefully become an annual tradition. Here’s your complete guide to Amerigrass, from its inspiration to what to expect at the event itself!
The Idea
Amerigrass is the brainchild of Maygen Lacey and Noah Neumann, who together make up Maygen & The Birdwatcher. The one-day festival features seven regional artists representing a wide range of the bluegrass and Americana styles the Midwest has to offer.
It’s also a culmination of Maygen & The Birdwatcher’s musical journey. “Until 2020, Noah and I were more of a folk duo with some blues and country influences,” Lacey says, “but we really wanted to fill out our sound with a full band, and we ended up adding string instruments—banjo and mandolin and fiddle—that brought a bluegrass element into our music.”
As a result of having this blended sound, Lacey explains, the act has shared a bill with many different kinds of bands over the past couple years, but hardly ever in one space. “Amerigrass was an excuse for us to find all the different parts of who we are musically and meld them together in one night.”
Neumann says, “Some artists playing the festival have more of a city sound and some more rural. But that diversity is what we find so special and unique about our style of music and that we hope to exemplify in Amerigrass.”
With two stages—one indoor and one outdoor—music will run continually throughout the day. “We want it to have that festival feel,” Neumann adds. “We don't really have anything like that in town. If you go an hour away, you can find stuff like that, but not so much in the Twin Cities. The goal is to bring that here, so you don’t have to go so far away for something like this.”
The Venue
The Hook and Ladder Theater & Lounge, located in South Minneapolis, is a unique spot in the Twin Cities for several reasons. Not only is it a nonprofit organization, it houses multiple stages. There’s the main theater and lounge with a main stage and small secondary stage at the opposite end. Then there’s the Mission Room, a separate smaller venue. Outside, a large tent and good-size stage create a fourth performance space for their popular “Under the Canopy” series that runs through the non-winter months.
Besides serving alcohol and other beverages at its own indoor bar, the Hook is also known for nearly always having food trucks on the street in front of the theater. Guests are encouraged to purchase food and bring it in with them. The newest feature of the Hook soft-launched this summer: a former dance studio in the building has been converted into a THC lounge, where guests can purchase edibles, relax and browse items from occasional pop-up stores.
For Amerigrass, four acts will grace the outdoor stage, two others will play multiple interstitial sets on the indoor theater stage, and the final performance of the night will also take place indoors.
The Artists
Lacey cherishes the special community of artists in the Midwest and looks forward to celebrating what the different genres (and fusions of genres) will bring to the new event. “We’re big fans of collaboration. Music is our love language, and we’re very excited to play Amerigrass with the talented array of artists that make up the lineup this year.”
Maygen & The Birdwatcher
Maygen & The Birdwatcher. Photo credit: Brandon Lenzmeier.
Maygen & The Birdwatcher got together in 2017, when Lacey and Neumann were performing at the same church. Lacey’s then-band was looking for a guitarist, and Neumann expanded their sound with his bluesy guitar. In 2018 they forged a new way, and built Maygen & The Birdwatcher from a duo into the current six-piece configuration, releasing Moonshine in October 2021. With their 2022 EP Bootleggin’ at the Flower Shoppe, their sound has evolved into a stunning amalgam of country and folk, with the songs displaying a new level of complexity and maturity.
Maygen & The Birdwatcher took home wins for Album of the Year and Americana Artist of the Year at the 2023 Midwest Country Music Organization’s annual awards show, following 2022 wins in the same categories. The accolades mark the ascendance of one of Americana’s most intriguing ensembles.
Buffalo Galaxy
Buffalo Galaxy. Photo courtesy of the artists.
Buffalo Galaxy is where heavy-hitting psychedelia meets old-time bluegrass. Their songwriting, musicianship and improvisational skills prove they can go deeper than your typical bluegrass band. Banjo, mandolin, upright bass and acoustic guitar play off each other, reaching both interstellar space and a universal familiarity. Their song catalog ranges from classic Bill Monroe to here and now Lil Nas X, as well as long renditions of Grateful Dead classics and catchy originals.
Since 2019, Buffalo Galaxy has played over 250 shows around the U.S. In 2023, they revved up their tour schedule, playing Palisade Bluegrass Bash (Colorado), Blue Ox Music Festival (Wisconsin), AVL Fest (North Carolina), Summer's End Smoke Out & Porcupine Music Festival (Michigan), and dozens of new markets in and beyond Montana, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. They released their debut album New Escape in 2021. Their sophomore album Greetings From is due out by the end of 2023.
Wild Horses
Wild Horses. Photo credit: Crystalina Snell.
Hailing from the deep woods of northern Minnesota, Wild Horses makes a home between the traditions of folk, western and rock music. The band’s core consists of Jed LaPlant (vocals, guitar), Ariana LaPlant (vocals, keys, fiddle), McKeon Hugh Roberts (bass), and JJ Snell (drums).
With roots in the Minnesota bluegrass music community, frontman LaPlant draws inspiration from the simple storytelling of traditional music but offers a more sonically dynamic and driving approach. Wild Horses manages to draw listeners in with both captivating melodies and hard-hitting drive in the same live experience. Their debut record, Runaway, was released in the summer of 2022 followed by a Western U.S. tour to bring the songs back to the place from which they were inspired.
The MilBillies
The MilBillies. Photo courtesy of the artists.
The Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) nominated this next group New Artist of the Year in 2020. The MilBillies is a five-piece string band that trades vocals like a fifth of bourbon and solos like a bull on a rope, slinging high-energy bluegrass stripped raw with Americana grit.
Established in late 2018, The MilBillies immediately hit the ground running, bringing their unique synthesis of traditional and progressive bluegrass to venues and festivals throughout the upper Midwest and beyond. The band projects a veritable wall of sound, starting with an intentional focus on melodic lyricism in songwriting and finishing with an unparalleled, action-packed live performance.
Ty Pow & The Holy North
Ty Pow & The Holy North. Photo credit: Greta Schliesman.
A Minnesota-raised Americana / blues rock / alt-country band, Ty Pow & The Holy North released their debut album Rhubarb ’93 in June 2022, recorded with Soul Asylum’s front of house technician Colin Loynachan. Influenced by 60s/70s rock, soul and rockabilly, their music calls to mind acts like Nathaniel Rateliff, The Black Keys and Marcus King. Rhubarb ’93 delivers a raw energy to the well-crafted original tunes that’s even more powerful in their smoldering live performances.
Members of this relatively new supergroup have a decade’s worth of touring together in different capacities. Ty Pow and The Holy North is composed of band members from Cloud Cult, 4ontheFloor, Jillian Rae and many other Midwestern staples. The band is currently planning a second album.
Poppa Bear Norton
Poppa Bear Norton. Photo courtesy of the artists.
Hailing from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the duo known as Poppa Bear Norton perform their own brand of country and western music that harkens back to the days of Buck Owens and Johnny Cash, as well as the outlaw era of Waylon, Willie and Haggard. When “Poppa Bear” and “B” hit the stage and fire up their one-part honky-tonk, one-part Hee-Haw styled country show, it’s fast, exciting, fun and entertaining.
Poppa Bear Norton is not just a band or a duo, it’s an award-winning act whose musical style, funny stage banter, and captivating lyrics will have you laughing one minute and tearing up the next. They look wild, play fast, and have fun performing music that’s genuine and familiar, yet offers something new and different. They recently recorded their first album in eight years, and it comes out this fall.
Dellwood
Dellwood. Photo courtesy of the artists.
Dellwood is an up-and-coming Minnesota band of young musicians with enough skill and talent to entertain for hours and a repertoire that’s bound to capture the hearts of music lovers of all ages. They have an energetic stage presence and diverse range of songs, from originals and Americana covers to their spin on an assortment of well-loved songs from other genres.
They’ve fused their different musical backgrounds to create one unique and exciting set of music sure to have you singing along with one song and holding back tears with the next.
The Festival
Amerigrass takes place Saturday, October 7, from 4 to 11 p.m. Tickets for this 21+ show range from $25 general admission ($30 day of show) to $45 for seated spots. The main outdoor show will be emceed by Shawn Sullivan, who hosts the Happy Trucker radio show on his Happy Productions online channel as well as organizing the annual Truckerfest and numerous other music events north of the Twin Cities. The indoor stage emcee will be Anitra Budd, representing Adventures in Americana!
Schedule
4pm – Doors
4:25pm – (Theater) – Dellwood
4:45pm – (Outside) – Ty Pow & The Holy North
5:45pm – (Theater) – Dellwood
6:05pm – (Outside) – Wild Horses
7:05pm – (Theater) – Poppa Bear Norton
7:25pm – (Outside) – The MilBillies
8:25pm – (Theater) – Poppa Bear Norton
8:45pm – (Outside) – Maygen & The Birdwatcher
10pm – (Theater) – Buffalo Galaxy
Check out the special “Amerigrass edition” of our Smouse in the House podcast, featuring six of the seven acts. The episodes are released on Tuesdays leading up to the event. And stay tuned for a special installment of our About That Song blog series that will feature The MilBillies!
AUTHOR: CAROL ROTH
Carol Roth. Photo credit: Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is a full-time marketing copywriter and the primary music journalist and social media publicist for Adventures in Americana. In addition to studying the guitar and songwriting, Carol’s additional creative side hustle is writing self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym T.A. Berkeley!
