Recap & photos: Lambchop's stunning set makes magic at Crooners
by Reed Fischer
September 28, 2026
The lines in Lambchop’s songs are fine-tuned, detailed accounts of whatever frontman Kurt Wagner dreams into existence. Since the mid-1990s, Nashville-bred Wagner’s folk and country songwriting vehicle has created 17 full-length albums. The most recent is this year’s emotional haymaker Punching the Clown. It’s a record filled with rich characters, jokes, beliefs, and places on the map that are either overtly Minnesotan — or at least bordering on it.
“Like a Kool-Aid smile in a scallop shell / We're cracking up in the kitchen / I'm overweight, you're overwhelmed / But it's good,” are the title track’s evocative opening lines. Despite wanting this album to let him “disappear,” Wagner has received some of the best reviews of his career.
Punching the Clown officially arrived on Aug. 21. Lambchop started celebrating early. Back in late June began a three-show residency at Crooners Supper Club in the northern Twin Cities suburb of Fridley. This album doesn’t depart into the jazz and blues stylings commonly programmed at Crooners, though. What made it the perfect venue for these songs was a listening-room experience in its 80-capacity Dunsmore Jazz Room.
Like the previous two Lambchop albums, the veteran bandleader Wagner worked with a Minnesota-based cast of players. One such collaborator is Andrew Broder, who was his right-hand man on Sunday evening, the final residency performance at Crooners. Wagner was accompanied by Broder on acoustic guitar, backing vocals by Randall Throckmorton and Alex Sauser-Monnig (Daughter of Swords).
Prior to the main set, Sauser-Monnig performed some of her own songs solo, stripping “Dance” and other scenic compositions to their essence. Like the card tricks performed by a roving Mike “2600” Davis before the show, her voice and words set the stage for a magical night.
After a stage reset, Wagner and co. sat close together in chairs, and Punching the Clown’s beautifully meditative opener “Just West of Nicollet” kicked things off. The set followed its track listing, more or less. There was also some occasional light percussion by Sonny Broder, but Wagner’s weathered baritone was always right at the center. Even without the full depth of Ryan Olson’s brilliant studio production, Justin Vernon’s banjo, and two choral ensembles, these Lambchop songs held together and revealed haunting and profound truths.
From behind a baseball cap, stylish glasses, and long beard, Wagner delivered his verses with acuity and the occasional wink. Just when a song started to get too caught up in something melancholic, it flipped channels to something bawdy or zany. The seated audience leaned in, laughed, and applauded in an otherwise-near-silent room. (When there was an occasional bleed of Gospel Legacy Live Presents: The Music of Kirk Franklin happening in the performance space next door, it felt oddly additive.)
Wagner guided the night with purpose and humor. “One can judge the import of a song by how long it takes to tune,” he said, while Broder adjusted for the next song’s arrangement. “Obviously, this is a big one.”
He was referring to “Weakened,” a clear highlight on a record devoid of filler. The elder Broder’s acoustic arrangement, familiar and comforting, gained elevation with Throckmorton and Sauser-Monnig’s choral-style harmonies and the younger Broder’s rhythms. Another gem from the night, “To Do,” turned this small ensemble into something monumental while Wagner sang a list of things to do “before I get to heaven” the way John Prine might’ve done.
One “oldie,” from 2022’s The Bible, made the cut and was dedicated to the “profound impact” of Twin Cities musician Chris Bierden, who contributed to it. To wrap up, a new, unreleased track called “The Switch” brought the audience into the center of a ruckus at the fairgrounds. You could almost smell the Corn Roast.
Setlist
Just West of Nicollet
A Doctor in the House
Stella
Weakened
Punching the Clown
White People
The New World Wave
Andrew Jackson Asshat
To Do
Afterburner
Cigar
No Chicago
So There
The Switch (unreleased)
