Photo by David McClister. First Ave is packed, but it's noticeably not annoying. I am chesting through what is undeniably the salt of the earth: Minnesotans buzzing with anticipation, familial-like recognition, whiskey. It’s cozy like a homecoming dipped in flannel, and I have the sense that if the world were to

I’m waiting in the Minnesota Public Radio lobby holding a baby that isn't mine when Dave Simonett takes the seat across from me and asks if it’s sleeping. At first, I don’t recognize the singer-songwriter, frontman of the long-celebrated folk-fixture Trampled By Turtles as Dead Man Winter. He’s with JT Bates, Erik Koskinen,

It was -2 degrees in St. Paul on Thursday, but the lot of us still went out to watch Melissa Etheridge perform her tribute album, MEmphis Rock and Soul [sic]. We were kept warm by the artist's timely reworking of iconic R&B-rock hybrids off the Memphis-based label, Stax Records. Covering gems from