Single Premiere: Eli Gardiner, “Bad Weed”
The Twin Cities-based singer-songwriter’s Live in Minneapolis album comes out tomorrow. Hear a single from it first here!
Eli Gardiner’s Live in Minneapolis album artwork.
Singer-songwriter Eli Gardiner is a prolific artist with eight albums to his name, but he’s never recorded a live album — until now. The format seems like a no-brainer for this artist: Although he’s a skilled solo performer, Gardiner really shines in bandleader mode. He’s able to bring artists together on stage into a cohesive unit, tight yet improvisational.
Recorded at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis, the 10-track Live in Minneapolis includes new renditions of previously released tracks as well as several that have never been available in recorded form. That includes the single we’re honored to premiere exclusively here today!
Eli Gardiner. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Despite it never having been released before, Gardiner says “Bad Weed,” the second single off the upcoming album, is one of his oldest songs that he still plays live. “I wrote it back when I was living in a small basement apartment in Michigan, about 20 years ago,” he recalls. “During that time, I felt like I was struggling to find my voice. The image of a ‘Bad Weed’ is about being stubborn and just doing what you're going to do despite the cement and lack of rain.”
Many of Gardiner’s past releases were solo acoustic affairs and he’s performed frequently that way, but more often these days he appears with a group, so that early song has been given the full band treatment on this live album. “When we started to play it with the band, it turned into a swampy groove of a song,” Gardiner says.
“Bad Weed” opens with crunchy guitar and a funky, unhurried rhythm, the perfect sound for the playfully defiant refrain: “I’m like a bad weed, growin’ all the time / I’m not here for you, gonna get mine.” Gardiner’s ability to achieve a comfortable camaraderie with fellow musicians is on full display as the instrumentation builds and expands on the simple but infectious groove.
Listen to “Bad Weed” now!
Album Release Show
Live in Minneapolis comes out tomorrow, Friday, June 2. Gardiner will celebrate with an album release show at the newly opened Green Room in Uptown Minneapolis on Friday, June 30. Doors are at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8, with opening sets by local Americana acts Goatroper and Willow Creek Brothers.
Album Credits
Recorded live at Aster Cafe February 3, 2023 by Alchemy Audio
Mixed and mastered by Gardiner Productions
Drums - Greg Schutte
Bass - Nick Salisbury
Keys - Kevin Gamble
Lap steel - Dan Schwartz
Vocals/guitar - Eli Gardiner
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 writes self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym T.A. Berkeley!
