Amy Klobuchar chose Dessa's "Bullpen" to accompany her snowy presidential run announcement earlier this year, and Kirsten Gillibrand chose Lizzo's "Good as Hell" to be a part of her presidential soundtrack as well.

60 years ago today, Bob Dylan (known to the town then and now as Bob Zimmerman) graduated from Hibbing High School before briefly attending the University of Minnesota, then rocketing on. Dylan was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth and lived in Hibbing from the age of six onward. At 186 square miles, Hibbing…

In 2008, when Justin Vernon debuted his Bon Iver project with the release of For Emma, Forever Ago, the music world was forced to grapple with a project so far-flung from indie music at the time that it was soon shrouded in myth. Soft, sparse, and smoldering with emotional intensity, For Emma led curious fans…

With Rock the Garden coming up in less than a month, we're dedicating a special edition of our Friday Five to great performances by Minnesota artists in past years at the summer classic.

Each year since National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Contest was inaugurated in 2008, thousands of emerging musicians have submitted performances for the chance to be featured in NPR’s popular Tiny Desk series and tour the country with the organization. Past winners, including Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea, have gone on to sign record deals and perform around…

For this year’s variety of free (with Fair admission) concerts, the Minnesota State Fair has booked some ringers. On the recently announced free music lineup, names like Belinda Carlisle and Dessa are at the top. Carlisle, a Go-Go gone solo, will perform one evening for the Fair at the Leinie Lodge on Aug. 23, most…

Joan Osborne has performed and recorded with Bob Dylan, but she doesn’t claim to really “know” him. “I think he’s a very mercurial person,” she said in 2017, shortly after releasing an album of Dylan covers. “So, I think I’m probably just as in the dark as anyone else when taking on his songs, but…

Planning a Minnesota road trip? Check a local landmark off your bucket list — specifically, one of these places made immortal by shout-outs in song. Get your playlist and your map app ready! Red Wing: “Kelly’s Bar,” Trampled by Turtles Our musical road trip starts on Old West Main Street in Red Wing, Minnesota, where…

“My wife told me not to complain,” Holly Hansen says at the 331 Club. It’s a crisp Thursday evening in Northeast Minneapolis, just cold enough to call for a jacket. Hansen and I are at the dim bar to discuss the return of her band Zoo Animal and the adolescence of t.e.e., the weekly series…

Propelled into the spotlight with her Tiny Desk Contest win in 2016, we caught up with Gaelynn Lea about her role as a popular touring musician and public figure.