The 27th Annual Homegrown Music Festival, the biggest week-long music event in Minnesota, ran from Sunday, April 27, until Sunday, May 4, at more than 30 venues in Duluth.

Indie folk band The Head and the Heart are releasing their sixth album, Aperture, on Friday, May 9, and starting their North American tour on May 30. Vocalist and guitarist John Russell and pianist Kenny Hensley spoke to Jill Riley of The Current’s Morning Show about the process of recording the new album and their upcoming tour.

The Current caught up with Van Etten at home before she and the Attachment Theory began their current North American tour, which stops at St. Paul’s Palace Theatre on Saturday, May 10.

Folk and Americana artist Metts stands apart from other ‘American Idol’ alumni by virtue of creating his own music.

The late singer-songwriter had visited The Current on a couple of occasions, and always brought his warm, genuine spirit.

The three-day festival included a reunion of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the debut of Giddens’ new band, The Old-Time Revue.

The 27th Annual Homegrown Music Festival runs from April 27 to May 4 in Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin. More than 170 acts are scheduled to perform in 38 venues, which are broken down into neighborhood clusters each night for maximum listening adventures.

The seven acts voted into the Rock Hall this year include Southern rap and Midwest garage rock duos, pillars of the grunge and English blues rock eras and the '80s most unusual pop star.

For musicians like Rhiannon Giddens and Rissi Palmer, trying to break down doors in the folk and country music scenes has been a long road. A festival in Durham this weekend aims to remedy that.

Formed in 1975, Pere Ubu embodied the industrial decay and hardscrabble ethics of Cleveland. Thomas tied together the band's sound with uncompromising vocals that exuded steely menace and unfettered anguish.