The Current presents

Pert Near Sandstone

Winter String Band Gathering & Side by Side Record Release Parties

with The Fretliners and The May North

Doors: 7:00 p.m. | Performance: 7:30 p.m. | 21+

INFORMATION | TICKETS

Pert Near Sandstone

Crossing Old-time instrumentation with contemporary sensibilities, Pert Near Sandstone emerged twenty years ago from the Minnesota acoustic music scene. With infectious energy and collaborative spirit, they have established themselves as standard-bearers for the vitality of the Midwestern roots music scene, alongside Minnesota brethren Trampled by Turtles and Charlie Parr. They have toured extensively and performed onstage with the likes of Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas, earning dates along the way with everyone from Yonder Mountain String Band to Steve Martin. NPR's Mountain Stage praised the band for putting a "Midwestern stamp on Appalachian [sounds]," while A Prairie Home Companion described Pert Near Sandstone as “a force on the Minnesota roots music scene and beyond,” and 89.3 The Current praised their live performances as "a frenzied string shredding spree that takes audiences under its spell."

As festival favorites in both the US and Europe, the band helped to launch the Blue Ox Music Festival in 2015, which they continue to host and curate each June in Eau Claire, WI. For the past decade, the now prestigious music festival has helped bring into the local community a great many nationally treasured artists such as Bela Fleck, Billy Strings, Tyler Childers, Jerry Douglas, Margo Price, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Charlie Crockett, The Infamous Stringdusters, Jason Isbell, Greensky Bluegrass, The Drive By Truckers, and so many more.​

“Our waiting days are finally over,” the title song decries, echoing the sentiment of a community recently pent up and beyond longing. It’s a strikingly different world than when Pert Near Sandstone first began near the sandstone river bluffs of St Paul. The former latchkey kids who grew up together a few Mississippi miles upstream have been performing and recording this past year in earnest, culminating in their eighth studio album.

Waiting Days (2023) has all the merit of maturity and the strengths of its four songwriters, offering responses to each other’s compositions through a long camaraderie. After almost twenty years together, their bond has grown to reflect that of a band of brothers. By contrast to tiktoks, reels, and tweets, this album was formed from the wilderness and carved from the heartwood. The band would say their music and sound come about organically, but under the tall oak trees of the Twin Cities, those wooden instruments may have been antennas drawn to the marrow, like a divination wand used to scratch an itch or soothe a wound, they tapped into this latest collection of songs.

As longtime stewards of the modern stringband revival, Pert Near’s songcraft is informed by the American folk tradition in a delivery of acoustic instrumentation. Their studio efforts have gradually strayed from the reliquary of common string band selections. Instead, Pert Near offers another full album of original songs that meditates on this exact present, rich with context and reference. There are songs that reach into a field that isn't always aglow with sunlight, while finding beauty in the tenderness of relationships. There are traveling songs sung by a band that has hit the pavement hard over their time, simultaneously creating a soundtrack for those all night drives that music festival devotees well know.

This isn’t music reaching for the banality of pop hits - this is fresh air for blades of new grass to grow in. At times there is an almost symphonic string section that lifts the melody, while other times the simplicity of banjo and pedal steel indeed helps us believe the genuine intentions of Pert Near Sandstone’s creative resolve. The interplay of mandolin and fiddle carry much of the music across the songs, but it’s the mixture of guest instrumentalists that gives this album a unique tapestry of sounds and texture, opening a deeper space that has become standard in production for Pert Near Sandstone projects. Trampled By Turtles’ fiddler and original Pert Near member, Ryan Young, recorded and mixed the album, along with his fiddle and other accouterments used to bolster the energy of the songs. The intimacy of collaboration is at the heart of this new project, after all, which spanned several of the harshest weeks of a midwestern winter.

Anyone that knows this band is aware of their humor and levity, and that charm is never far from the surface. It is a central component of their expression and shared experience. The connectedness to community is at the core of Pert Near’s music and philosophy as these songs shine a light upon. We are all here together. As the title track declares, “...I want to take you with me when I go.” Let’s get ready. Now is our time. The waiting days are over.

The Fretliners

The Fretliners are a band defined by their songwriting—stories carried by powerful harmonies, dynamic arrangements, and a sound that feels both timeless and new. Their music leans into the tradition of acoustic string instruments but reaches well beyond genre, resonating with listeners through honesty and craft.

In 2023, they swept both the Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass band competitions—an achievement matched only once before. That fall, their debut self-titled album earned widespread acclaim, praised for its originality and heartfelt lyricism.

With songs that balance tradition and innovation, The Fretliners continue to chart a bold path forward, creating music that connects as deeply on record as it does on stage.

The May North

The May North is a three-piece folk group from St. Paul, MN. Their latest album, Driftless, was recorded and produced by Dave Simonett of Dead Man Winter and Trampled by Turtles, and is the band’s fourth studio release. With a sound that’s part roots, part bluegrass, and a bit of breakneck blues, the band pays tribute to these musical forms while also carving its own path. There’s a restless spirit flowing through the North Country that’s hard to define, and sometimes a good song is the only way to put it into proper perspective. The May North has a rare knack for doing just that—making sense of love, loss, long winters, longer highways, and the shifting lines between urban and country living. With evocative ballads and hard-driving foot-stompers, their engaging songs bring live audiences from quiet reflection to howling jubilation. This is bluegrass without boundaries, folk without pretense, and honest storytelling without apology.