Luke Callen and Clare Doyle Stripped Down Song Swap

Mon, May 05

6PM DOORS 8PM SHOW Join us in the starlight room! Seating is first come first served. Full food and beverage menu available for this show. $12 ADVANCE $18 DAY OF SHOW In an age of quick fixes, flashing screens, and pop ‘songs’ that are more formula than art, an album that takes its sweet time is a radical act. “Also Going Nowhere”, Luke Callen’s third full-length effort is just that - a collection of songs that spread out through time and space, dripping with honest Midwest charm and a mischievous glint. It’s music that you can relax into, paired with lyrics you’ll want to chew on and savor, that ask something of their listener. These songs are proof and reminder: you don’t actually have to go anywhere at all to, you know, get somewhere. That’s not to say the subject matters within this work are by any means easy or expected. Clementine follows a gun-totting mother up near the Taconite mines of Northern Minnesota. Deals go horribly wrong on the street corner in Lake Street Hustle. The cosmic, primordial soup mixes with wildflower seeds in Some Reason. These epic tales swirl alongside summertime swimming holes, interstate drives, fishing trips with Dad, and unlikely marriage proposals. All of it, grounded and cohesive in the hands of a locked-in rhythm section (Chris Grey on drums and Lauren Anderson on bass) playful lead guitar (producer Erik Koskinen) the warm hum of an organ (Frankie Moscow), and of course, Luke Callen’s confident finger-picking and weathered vocal delivery. This no-frills arrangement style is like a drink of water for those of us who crave something real and honest to listen to. The sonic palette pays homage to a whole plethora of elements endemic to the American music tradition without feeling derivative or landing too hard on any one side of the genre question. Sure, fans of John Prine, The Band, or Randy Newman will undoubtedly hear traces of Callen’s biggest influences, but there’s a modern assessment within the music that is the distinct voice of an artist coming into his own and sharing stages with fellow pickers and balladeers like Charlie Parr and Margo Cilker. This album is Callen’s strongest recorded work yet - but even so, his work isn’t the type to get puffed up or ahead of itself. “The highway begins where it always ends/on the same goddamned street” he sings, a throwback to the title of the thing, which seems to be said with a wink and wiley understanding of the world in which we live today. Ultimately, Callen never strays from this central theme: our ordinary lives are noteworthy, and that miraculous, strange, beautiful things are happening around us all the time. We just need to take a seat, stay a while, and insist on using our attention for good. The album lands in the streams on February 2nd, 2024. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘It was a hell of a year,’ says Americana artist-to-watch Clare Doyle, reflecting on a breakout year in which she was named one of First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2023, and Emerging Artist of 2024 by Music in Minnesota, and released three debut singles which garnered immediate attention for their infectious blend of soulful country and rootsy rock, and a bold lyricism that’s hailed as “a fresh perspective in emotional storytelling” by Music in Minnesota. Doyle had settled in New Orleans until the pandemic forced a move back to her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, where she began to write and rediscover a musical identity she’d neglected for years. Armed with a decade of heartache, adventure, addiction, and life on the road, she began to alchemize raw emotions into a collection of songs that run the gamut from clever and rollicking, to gritty and gut-wrenching. Initially inspired to write by heroes like Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard, now Doyle incorporates both classic and contemporary sensibilities into her songs - she draws on a range of influences to write candidly about loving, losing, hurting, and making a hot mess of things. “A lot of artists cite Jason Isbell or Ruston Kelly as…inspirations, but rarely do you hear the attention to detail and knack for describing emotions that prove they’ve really learned from those two master storytellers,” writes Carol Roth of Adventures in Americana, “With Doyle, you can tell.” In a short span, Doyle has established a reputation for a mesmerizing live show that brings audiences along for a ride - from the electrifying heights of a cathartic anthem to the pin-drop quiet intensity in a breakup ballad. She has been tapped to support artists such as The Cactus Blossoms, The Last Revel, and Them Coulee Boys.