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Acts you may or may not have seen in River Falls make you ask, what’s in the ‘grass?

Among the new and headlining acts at the River Falls Roots and Bluegrass Festival this weekend, are some that play jamgrass and folkgrass and skirt raisin’ music and even use a washboard. (For complete times and locations see this web site’s Picks of the Week department).
— Friday night, Tin Can Gin is fast-paced and upbeat and from Duluth where they recorded at the noted Sacred Heart studio, then Kind Country is an eight-member “jamgrass” and folk group, and then Dead Horses is a group of young acoustic and “folkgrass” players.
— Saturday afternoon, Singleton Street plays gospel that includes oldtime and also Celtic and Americana, then it’s the Middle Spunk Creek Boys that have been around for 40-plus years and got their start in the same venue as Leo Kottke, then its King Wilkies Dream that was named after a fiddle tune and also incorporates swing and tin pan alley and old time and a bit of pop.
— Saturday night, its Black River Revue which is also from Duluth and Superior and throws in a washboard with their bluegrass, then its Art Stevenson and High Water that’s the best-known on the bluegrass Midwest circuit since 1993, and then Them Coulee Boys with their skirt raisin’ rock and punk and jam music.
— Sunday morning, Hand Picked Bluegrass that’s a high-energy acoustic trio from Tomahawk.

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