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The McNasty Brass Band at Bent Paddle. Photos by Jill Fisher.

The McNasty Brass Band blasted into Duluth from Minneapolis on Monday, April 20, to give another boost (not that it was needed) to JAM Duluth. The Curmudgeon, who was recently sprung from rehab, and I made it over to Bent Paddle Brewery to hear this pumped up group of 10 men do their thing. We managed to squeeze into the packed place and were amazed: how can you not love a band with a sousaphone?!

The lineup of MNBB included band leader and trumpeter Riley Helgeson, fellow trumpeters Jake Baldwin and Josh May, trombonists Sten Johnson and Cody LeDuc, saxophonists Aaron Levin and Connor Carroll (baritone sax) and, very importantly, sousaphonist Mike Mello.

Helgeson let the crowd know how happy they all were to be back playing in Duluth and noted that the group has been driving up to play here for 10 years plus. With three albums to date, their repertoire includes originals as well as classic jazz numbers such as the New Orleans style “Fire In the Hole.” The original tune, “Party Bus,” is from the band’s 2017 album King Size Life. It sure sounded like a party!

They gave Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again” a raucous delivery with a hot baritone sax solo by Connor. This is on its most recent album MNBB, released in 2023. Then came “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Party” from King Size Life. It featured the band chanting and had a snappy ending. There was a story behind the next song they played involving a risky trip to Duluth, the original title of which was “5 Hours to Duluth” (Northlanders can imagine the circumstances). The song is now simply named “Duluth.” Some vocals are included with it and it, too, had a crisp finish. Then there was “Chokeslam To My Heart” that Jake sang in his high tenor voice and which had the crowd joining in on the lyrics: “You broke my heart in two places.”

The band ended its show with a tune written by Sten Johnson back in about 2010 which oozed with emotions conveyed by heavy drums and down low chords.

A musician who heard them opined not only that “they are in the pocket” but that the “pocket is  deep!” I concurred. One thing I noticed was these guys didn’t need any music stands. Everything was played from memory and the heart. Very cool show for being totally hot.

The next night, Tuesday, April 21, it was off to the West Theatre for the Lew Apollo concert. That show had the Barnum-based band So What opening. The group was formed in mid-2024 and made its first live appearance late July last summer. So What is comprised of Kaleb Montgomery (vocals and rhythm guitar), Nick Stenstrup (lead guitar), John Zmyslony (bass) and Brian Pfiefer (drums).

So What

This was a rockin’ set that included the recently composed original, “Comfort of a Few,” along with the slow soulful tune “Coffee” (to be digitally released on May 8, all platforms) and “Good Time” (to be released on May 15). By the time you read this, I will have seen So What perform for the second time as a part of the Homegrown Festival at Bent Paddle on Monday, April 27. With their new album set to drop digitally on May 29, an album release party will be coming up. You can check that out and other upcoming gigs by following them on Instagram @thebandsowhat.

The evening’s headliner, Lew Apollo (given name, Leif Eggen) is a Minnesota native, born and raised in Barnum, who is currently based in Austin, Texas. He is a rising star of the blues/rock/soul music scene, having toured nationally with the Los Lonely Boys. This concert was an exciting excursion into a personal musical expression that exceeds the boundaries of any one genre.

Lew Apollo

Apollo’s onstage persona is highly individual and stylish — on this evening he was decked out in old-style black pleated pants, black tee-shirt and white bolero jacket, with a flashing dangling earring.

Musically, what I found most noteworthy was his cool, clear falsetto voice, in contrast to how other reviewers have described Apollo’s vocals: “sultry, smoky.”

This attests to his wide vocal range, which he used to great effect. He plays lead electric guitar. The players who comprised his six-piece band on this evening were Blake O’Neal (rhythm guitar), Rube Harrison (keys), Scott MacIntyre (bass), Kevin Parmely (drums) and female vocalist (and Lew’s wife) Mello Jaxn.

The playlist explored both recorded songs (“Die For You”) and brand new songs he was debuting. I wasn’t able to note the titles, however, since I was compelled to dance to most of the tunes. Also, the vocals were not particularly clear, so most of the lyrics were lost. But the music made up for it. Check out his music online to hear the complete package.

Taking a night off, the C and I returned to the West Theatre on Thursday, April 23, to take in Jorma Kaukonen’s “Final Tour.” This was a long-sold out show, that the C, among many other white-haired folks, was particularly interested in witnessing. This music legend did not disappoint.

Other than Jorma’s role in founding Jefferson Airplane back in the day, I really knew nothing about this performer, not ever being a Hot Tuna fan. I’m not sure why since I love the blues! Anyway, as far as I could ascertain, he didn’t play any Jefferson Airplane songs. But he did play some that were recorded by Hot Tuna, including “I See The Light,” “Hesitation Blues” and “Sea Child.” He also played some original tunes, one of which was written while living in Sweden for a time — I believe that was “Ice Age.”

At age 85, Jorma appears to be going strong, with his guitar chops still in tip-top form and no crib notes in evidence. As for his voice, I’m not so sure. I heard him end virtually every line, in every song with a trailing off groan or growl. I wondered if this was a signature vocal characteristic that distinguishes his sound. If so, it seems to have gotten out of hand.

John Hurlbut and Jorma Kaukonen

Fortunately his pal and musical sidekick, John Hurlbut, joined him on stage to provide the vocals for the last few songs of each set. His vocals were sweet, clear and on-key. One of the best parts of this concert, in my book, was their covers of three Bob Dylan tunes: “She Belongs To Me,” “I’ll Remember You” and, as kind of an encore, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”

I got the opportunity to speak briefly with Jorma after the concert in his tour bus. The several questions I had in mind to ask him were related to this being his “final tour.” But he clarified that he was on his final BUS tour and said he would certainly still be playing concerts here and there, just not doing any more grueling extended road trip tours. So there’s still a chance for Jorma Kaukonen fans who missed this show to see him in concert.

JAM (Jazz Appreciation Month) is pretty much a wrap for this year, with shows overlapping with Homegrown on April 26 and 30. For me it ended with the fabulous jazz crawl in Lincoln Park Craft District on Saturday, April 25. Before I headed over there, however, I took in the last show by the Depot Jazz Quartet at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.

As a reminder, multi-instrumentalist Randy Lee leads the group, with Bobby Purdy on electric guitar, Mark Glen on upright bass and Rick Brunner on drums.

The quartet’s final show was extra special with Tim Stratioti joining the regulars playing trombone and providing vocals. No matter what some other music critic wrote about his voice, I didn’t hear any semblance of “Alfalfa” on his rendition of Peggy Lee’s “I Love Being Here With You.” As he was a guest, Stratioti was asked to suggest several songs for the group to play. One was “It’s You I Like” that was sung by Mr. Fred Rogers on his children’s TV show. It was quite wonderful. Several Bossa Nova tunes were included along with the usual jazz standards.

As is typical with jazz performances, there were several notable solos, one being “Memories of Tomorrow” by bassist Glen and an extended drum solo by Brunner in the bebop rendition of Charlie Parker’s ‘Au Privave.” The place was at nearly full capacity with record-tying attendance due, in part, to the St. Croix Preparatory Academy of Stillwater’s combine music programs having a field trip!

With two hours of jazz already under my belt, the C joined me in heading out to Lincoln Park to catch what we could of JAM’s jazz crawl. First stop was the Dovetail Café to hear the Hawk Ridge Hot Club. It was surprising to see Andy Lipke as one of the foursome making up the group. He was playing acoustic guitar for this gig, while Pat Sullivan also played acoustic guitar, Lian Ojakangas was on fiddle and Tim Churchill played upright bass. These guys produced some great sounding “gypsy jazz.” Just FYI, I am loathe to alter the genre name to “hot jazz” for purposes of being PC. It feels like one loses the soul of this style by renaming it that.

HRHC played quite a number of my favorite tunes from the early 20th century. Pat sang on “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “After You’ve Gone.” These displayed Pat’s old-timey vocal quality that sounded like it could have been taken off a 78 record. Loved it! Their other selections were all swingy and fun. I will want to hear these fellas again sometime.

After this performance, it was off to Bent Paddle to take in the end of Becktet’s show. This quartet consisted of namesake Beck Fulin (trumpet and flugelhorn), Marshall Dillon (electric guitar), Grant Carl (bass guitar) and Ian Hopp (drums). I guess what we heard there could be considered cool jazz, but don’t quote me. Next stop was Duluth Cider to hear the tail-end of Sarah Navratil and Emma Garau Duo’s set. It seemed to me to be total improvisation between Sarah on saxophone and Emma on drums. Not bad, though not really my favorite style of jazz.

The last of the crawl was over to Ursa Minor to hear Kroma, for my second time ever hearing them. This evening it was a trio comprised of Joshua Tesch on electric guitar and pedal steel, Grant Carl on bass guitar and Garth Anderson on drums. Here was an entirely different jazz sound, which the C calls easy-listening jazz. I, on the other hand, would characterize it as nuevo jazz that has a meditative, atmospheric quality, much like the music of Landscapes, of which Garth and Joshua are both members.

All in all, the crawl gave us quite the exposure to a broad range of jazz styles. Both Tom Woytka and Grant Carl deserve kudos for together organizing this jazz extravaganza called JAM Duluth again this year. I can only hope that they manage to reprise it in 2027.

Was that enough music for one week? Nosiree, Homegrown began on Sunday, April 26, with the  founder’s reception taking place at Blacklist Brewing Co. at 4 pm. Then the Ryan Van Slooten band kicked off the evening portion of the music program, followed by The Gemstones. Wow, these were both great sets, especially for us dancers in the crowd. My goal in attending homegrown gigs is to see a combination of bands new to me as well as my favorites. This evening provided both since, despite Ryan Van Slooten having played during all but one Homegrown since 2000, this group was new to me. As for The Gemstones, I first saw this group when it was Afro Geode and The Gemstones, opening up for Homegrown back on May 1, 2022. It’s crazy how polished and tight it has become, especially after the untimely death of its lead singer Diona Johnson in April 2023. These two groups provided the music that inspired non-stop dancing.

At 8 pm, The Repairmen took the Blacklist stage. Their vibe was far more mellow with Garth Anderson’s poetic stylings, Tim Rubin’s country ballads and Joshua Tesch’s steel pedal whines, all backed by Jeremy Roseth on drums.

I must say the sound here was greatly improved from last year’s Homegrown, so much so one could actually understand the lyrics. This was particularly important for enjoyment of The Repairmen, so one could fully appreciate songs such as “The Dying Side of Life,” “Head Radio,” “Brown Delight” and the love letter to Duluth that is “Duluth Song.”

500 Million Society

When The Repairmen concluded their set it was over to Zeitgeist Teatro to hear 500 Million Society led by Tim Nelson. His fellow band members included Russ Sackett (keys/organ), George Ellsworth (keys/synthesizer), Dicky Brooks (bass guitar) and Jim Hagstrom (drums).

This group provided the first punk music I heard at the festival and I don’t suppose it’ll be the last. Though this isn’t my favorite genre of music, these guys rocked. My only beef is this venue has no dance space.

As I look forward to the remaining days of Homegrown, I’m thinking it’s just too much to report on in next week’s Listen column (for which I have other plans, in any case).

Since the festival’s Field Guide is out there, free for the taking, I think I will pass on writing up my personal thoughts and just enjoy this annual tsunami of local live music.

See you out there!