Courtney McClean and the Dirty Curls: This One's For Dad

Just in time for Father's Day, Minnesota's most ribald bluegrass band are releasing a new record featuring suggestive jams such as "When Baby Becomes Legal" ("...I'll be 54"), "Dirty Talk" ("you bore me with your dirty talk; every time we make love I'm watching the clock"), and "That's Right (The Cousin Song)" ("...I didn't know that he was my cousin"). "Courtney McClean" is the ironic nom de naughtybilly of Rock Star Storyteller Courtney McLean, who's been playing with the Dirty Curls in various configurations for the past few years and today releases the band's debut LP on Minneapolis comedy label Stand Up! Records.

Amanda Grace: Keeping Hearts EP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OkhhqRVkw

“I have no plans to be anyone but me and plan to write whatever comes to me in whatever genre that may be," Amanda Grace told Local Current's Paul Schmitt. The singer-songwriter, best-known for her kids' music, continues branching into mainstream pop-folk territory as she releases her EP Keeping Hearts with a Thursday show at Ed's No Name Bar in Winona. The record, funded through Kickstarter, includes "Running Down the Sun," a song written for an upcoming documentary about Sarah Hunter, an area mother who battled her substance abuse through athletic training. At the release show, Grace will also perform with her group Wildflower.

Black River Revue: Spring Thaw

Black River Revue span the Twin Ports, with members from both Duluth and Superior. This six-man bluegrass band have been winning fans across the country with their debut CD Garbage Pickin', and this week they drop the follow-up Spring Thaw with a Friday show at Pizza Lucé in Duluth. They'll bring the hootenanny to the Twin Cities with a June 27 gig at the Nomad.