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The Honeydogs at the West Theatre. Photos by Jill Fisher.

On a snowy, blowy Thursday, Dec. 18, two Minnesota bands heated up the West Theatre with their original indie music. The headliner was The Honeydogs, based in St. Paul; their opener was Six Mile Grove, hailing from Rochester, being the first of a three-show mini-tour for the two groups.

It was an excellent pairing that we got to enjoy late into the evening.

Six Mile Grove is a group of working stiffs who have been committed to music for most of their lives and are still making it for our pleasure as we witnessed on this wintery evening. The five-member group has appropriated the name of a tiny township on the plains of western Minnesota but has its roots in Lyle, a similarly minuscule town located south of Austin on the Iowa border.

Frontman and lyricist Brandon Sampson, is the son of a farmer. He sings lead, plays guitar and harmonica and whistles! His brother, Brian is the drummer, while long-time buddy and band-member Barry Nelson does his thing on lead electric guitar. Dezi Wallace is the bass player, who also hails from Lyle, according to the bio on the band’s website.

Then there’s John Wheeler, a multi-instrumentalist who played pedal steel guitar at this gig. He plays regularly with SMG as well as being a solo performer.

When I think of Rochester, I think of Mayo Clinic and the medical field, so it wasn’t surprising to learn that Brandon is a Certified Prosthetist at Limb Lab in that city. Interesting that it was an injury to his hand when, at age seven, he was helping his dad with fencing. Learning to play the guitar was physical therapy for his hand. And I’m guessing that it may have been that experience that also drew him to a career building prosthetics.

Active for more than 20 years now, the band has produced seven albums, the latest of which is Million Birds (2018), in which Wheeler participated.

Brandon opened the show with the comment that they promised to play all their hits. Since I wasn’t familiar with this band, the joke went right over my head. The first number SMG played was the title track from this album. It weaves together a broad expanse of personal thoughts of what someone wants, emanating from stories heard in childhood, with what our earthly experience entails. I found the song expressive of ambivalence with its ending line “If you want to stay together and make it work, well, I’ll try.”

Six Mile Grove

SMG went on to play another three tracks from Million Birds: “Patrol Cars,” “Not My Fault” and “Early Morning Rain” For the most part, these are easy listening tunes articulating deeply private thoughts, though a few are more upbeat (and danceable!).

Then they gave us a taste of their earliest compositions with “Hollywood” from their 2004 album Bumper Crop.

After that it was on to a couple brand new songs, not yet recorded: “Out of the Woods” and “Songbird.” Finally they played their earliest “hit” which was featured in a documentary film for which it is named—”Century Farm.” Brandon wryly asserted it had been seen by 10s of 10s of people and I finally got the self-deprecating joke!

Brandon asked the audience for show of hands of people who own record players. At least half of us raised our hands, at which Brandon generously offered this latest vinyl LP for free to each one of us. And of course we weren’t discouraged from purchasing various other merch they had on offer. I received the Million Birds LP and have enjoyed listening to it.

The final song of their set was “White Christmas,” with Adam Levy of Honeydogs joining SMG on stage to give it something of a Johnny Cash take.

The Honeydogs took the West Theatre stage at 8:50 pm after a break between the acts. If, like me, you are curious about the name of that group it is purportedly a bee-keeping term, per Adam Levy, that refers to a slated rack that slides in and out of a beehive and collects honey. (I don’t believe anyone in the group is a bee-keeper.)

Other definitions could be apt metaphors for this group: a hot dog topped with honey for a sweet and savory treat; dogs trained to hunt out wild bee hives; and bees, being the “dogs” that create honey.

The band has four members. Like Six Mile Grove, two of them are brothers: Frontman, Adam Levy is the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who played both acoustic and electric guitar on this evening. He also plays piano and keyboards, which were not in evidence. His brother Noah plays drums and all manner of percussion and sings. Tommy Borscheid (who hails from Grand Forks, North Dakota, but now lives in Texas) also plays electric guitar, lead at times. Trent Norton plays bass guitar and sings.

The Honeydogs is a well-regarded band in the Twin Cities, which has played sold-out shows at First Avenue in Minneapolis and have been recognized with a star on the façade of that venue — a prestigious public acknowledgement. Its first show there was in 1994, so the guys have been around a while. They have 10 full-length studio albums to their credit, which includes Chasing the Sun, a compilation of 25 best of Honeydogs tunes (2010), plus two EPs: Can’t Feel the Beating (2008) and Sunshine Committee (2009).

Seven of the 10 songs from its most recent album, Algebra for Broken Hearts, released back in July, were highlighted in this concert. The title track was the first number performed. The concert rendition of the tune was quite spacey sounding, with long, whining guitar notes that sounded distinctly different than the rendition on the CD I purchased that evening. (The fact that I bought it reveals my admiration for what I had heard.)

The band’s full sound, variety of moods and melodies and impressive percussion was very satisfying. It wasn’t just me either, other passionate music fans who, like me, hadn’t heard them previously were over-the-moon about the band’s performance, including the Curmudgeon!

Early on, Adam expressed appreciation for the historic West Theatre. He mentioned that they would be playing at another historic theater, The Parkway in Minneapolis the next evening and that it was designed by the same architect as the West. That was interesting news to me!

The second song they played, “Those Things Are Hers,” is from their very first, eponymously-titled, album released in 1995. Since I wasn’t familiar with any of the band’s songs I wasn’t noting their names, only that they really rocked.

“Busy Man” from their 1996 album, Everything I Bet You, was a title that was announced. I noted it was “a real rockin’ country number. Tommy produced some dynamite slide work on a couple songs and, on another, knelt before an amplifier to elicit freaky feedback.

But the one that put me over the top was a song where Noah banged out a complicated atypical rhythm (again the song title is unknown to me.) Many of us couldn’t take our eyes off bassist Trent, who provided an excellent groove along with harmonies throughout the concert.

Adam, who presents as a genuine rock star, has a strong, on-pitch voice with somewhat clipped phrasing. The loudness of the instrumentation made it very difficult to understand the lyrics. And for a time it was virtually impossible to hear the harmonies being sung by Trent (and perhaps Noah, who I couldn’t see from my vantage point) until I mentioned it to their soundman who rectified the problem. 

But no matter, the music was enough. It made for great dancing.

As introduction to the song “I Don’t Wanna Fight,” Adam stated it was about all the fighting going on in the world. He exclaimed, “Just STOP for God’s sake” and wondered “how did it come to this?” which drew appreciative applause.

Later he praised the décor of the adjoining Alhambra Lounge, which he said has more taste than the redone White House. He added that “it has gold trim and all but is so much more tasteful.”

The audience demanded an encore, so the band came back to play an obscure Christmas tune (thankfully not one of the overworked chestnuts), with Noah’s son Isaac taking over drumming duties. This freed Noah to come up front and sing with brother Adam, which was quite special.

The Honeydogs with brothers Noah and Adam Levy sharing lead vocals and Noah's son Isaac on drums.

Then they played a cover of Sam and Dave’s song “You Don’t Know Like I Know” and nearly two hours of fabulous music came to an end.

This band has the high energy level of bands like Lamont Cranston, The Jimmys and Belfast Cowboys. Indeed, I would say The Honeydogs was something of a cross between Rich Mattson and the Northstars and Boxcar.

One can only hope these fellas will bring the band back to Duluth so we can hear and dance to their wonderful music once again.

UPCOMING:  Saturday, Dec. 27, Indecent Proposal will be at Earth Rider’s Cedar Lounge beginning at 8 pm. On Tuesday, Dec 30, Homegrown Tomatoes will be playing at Sir Ben’s 5 to 7 pm. AND it’ll be a “Very Doggy New Year’s Eve Shindig” at Bent Paddle Brewing with Saltydog, Boss Mama & The Salty Hooch, and Twine from 8 to midnight. Meanwhile many folks will be helping Misisipi Mike Wolf celebrate his birthday at Carmody Irish Pub.

And heads up! The Depot Jazz series begins on Saturday, Jan. 3, from 3 to 6 pm.

See you out there!