Show Review & Photo Gallery: Molly Brandt, Pit Stop & Becky Kapell at the Turf Club
Classic honkytonk and edgy alt-country came together in St. Paul for a sublime night celebrating Brandt’s album release.
Molly Brandt. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Something’s happening in the Twin Cities. We’ve always had a low-key but high-quality Americana music scene, but the past decade (and especially the past few years) has seen a slew of newly relocated veterans (including Trevor McSpadden and Jake La Botz) and brash newcomers (Clare Doyle and Goatroper are more recent examples) that make it feel like we’re reaching a tipping-point of talent that could put us on the national map (or rather make our name bolder on that map).
On Saturday, July 22, Molly Brandt celebrated the release of her new album, Surrender to the Night, at St. Paul’s iconic Turf Club, and she and her openers provided a stellar showcase of what the Twin Cities has to offer in the country music realm.
Becky Kapell. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Before the live music even started, Howdy Partner (a brand-new collective that teaches country dance) had early birds out on the floor learning the tush push and other line dances. Those lessons were soon put to use with the first opener. Becky Kapell picked up guitar and began writing songs in her early 40s and soon caught the ear of artist/producer Erik Koskinen, who aided her rising career in the 2010s. A decade and some change later, she’s a rock-solid mainstay of the Twin Cities country community.
Kapell’s sultry mid-tempo country-rock sound is always a crowd pleaser, and this night was no different. Backed by electric guitar virtuoso Paul Bergen as she often is, Kapell delivered a short but mood-setting collection of songs from all three of her albums that showcased her penchant for gritty, spirited honkytonk storytelling. Learn more about Kapell in our interview with her for our Smouse in the House podcast.
Jake Balistrieri & Sarah Mevissen of Pit Stop. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
I noticed members of the next opener, Pit Stop, in the crowd grooving to Kapell’s set, and they soon switched places. Although their styles are very different, they’re clearly big fans of one another’s music. It’s not surprising, as what I’ve observed of our local music community reveals a supportive network, heavy on collaboration and not too interested in competition.
Pit Stop is a shape-shifting enigma of a band, radiating indie-rock cool but not afraid to twang it up and go full-on country in some of their songs. Their bandleaders Sarah Mevissen and Jake Balistrieri share the spotlight, alternating lead vocals and songwriting credits. They shared a number of songs from their debut album (“We’re Pit Stop, and this is our song “Pit Stop” from our album Pit Stop,” Balistrieri loves to deadpan) as well as a handful of new tunes.
Word on the street is they’ll be polishing the new record up this fall and winter with an early 2024 release, and the taste they gave in this show amped up our anticipation. We featured Pit Stop on Smouse in the House last year; check out their interview as well as a live performance of one of those unreleased songs!
Molly Brandt. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Becky Kapell and Pit Stop represented two points on a wide spectrum of country music, and there was a reason for that. Molly Brandt’s music melds the two sides, indie rock and honkytonk, with a liberal dash of 90s country thrown in.
Like Pit Stop, she’s a relative newcomer to the stages of the Twin Cities, but somehow she gives off the air of someone much more experienced. She’s never overshadowed or out of her league even when surrounded by pillars of the local music community, as she was this night with prodigious journeyman lead guitarist Christian Wheeler and bedrock Minnesota pedal steel phenomenon Joe Savage. Her vocals (and songwriting prowess) are more than enough to command the attention of the crowd whether she’s playing solo or with a six-piece band.
Brandt’s lean headliner set comprised all 10 songs from the new album and displayed the full scope of her sound, from the indie-leaning “My Mind” and “Minneapolis” to the boot-scootin’ twangers “Eagles 34” and “Union Man.” With line dancers burning up the floor and Brandt’s family occupying tables near the stage, the whole night felt celebratory, familial and heart-warming—a pitch-perfect night celebrating the breadth of the Twin Cities’ fast-growing country music scene. Learn more about Brandt in her Smouse in the House interview and read our review of Surrender to the Night.
Show gallery (all photos by Tom Smouse)
Carol Roth at Turf Club. Photo credit: Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is a full-time marketing copywriter and the main 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!
