Give fair warning, there is plenty of music around the perimeter of Hudson that you’ll be missing out on if you don’t hit the road for a few extra miles:
— In addition to the St. Croix County Fair, (see the home page), there is more music on the other side of the county. Featuring modern country (a bit more than half their play list), and rock and pop music (the other 40 percent), Shotgun Wedding is a female and male fronted band featuring some top Twin Cities’ musicians, hailing from other local bands such as Under the Covers, The Bad Animals, Playback, Shane Wyatt, Shadowstone and The Hootenanny. They play the Willow River Saloon on Friday, July 22. This combination of talent and experience makes Shotgun Wedding one of the best shows in town, they say. Its members, some of whom you may have seen before in their previous bands, are Jimmy Fromm on vocals, guitar and mandolin, Troy Hommerding on drums and vocals, Wendy Miller on vocals, Jules Olson on bass guitar and vocals, and Greg Vall on guitar.
— They may be well established, but still are shiny and new. The Sonshine festival of Christian music of all sorts hits the Somerset ampitheater all this weekend. The more than 80 bands and speakers across multiple stages include Grammy Award winning artists (and in this case rockers) Switchfoot, For King & Country and Michael W. Smith. Camping is available, as well, for the fest running July 21-23. More information is available online at their web site.
— A horse is a horse, of course, of course … While that may not be one of the songs they played, the members of the River Falls-based band Triad, reunited during River Falls Days after more than 30 years, say its like getting on a horse again — or riding a bike. You pick up where you left off with the Old School songs. Casey Killmann came from South Dakota, and Peter Radd from the fertile music ground of Las Vegas, to join to River Falls residents Tom Pechacek and Greg Brown and play a show downtown.
— While they are mostly earthy save the St. Croix types, all this weekend is RiverFest, with a slogan you might not expect from them, “Party with a Purpose.” There was but one music offering, a community band, but Saturday still has six separate family-friendly activities and Sunday two.