DBT #447 Mile of Music 2026 +

 

Ok we tried seeing the first two days of the Mile instead of Fri/Sat, or Sat/Sun like in the past.  We have found if we get a hotel room at the Hilton (rare and pricey), we're within walking distance of five or six listening rooms.  We're old and don't do standing and mosh pits unless we really have to.

Our ultimate fest line up that we saw was very interesting and I would say these six artists were definitely our highlights of Day 1 (Sarah Peacock, Crystal Bowersox, Shannon McNally) and 2 (Flamy Grant, Susan Werner, The Rough & Tumble).  

The surprise new voices to us were Chris Pierce and Ruby Mac.

Here's to the music we missed and wanted to see in this in this vast festival of venues and musicians.

My first two videos posted were really a treat to hear.  The Lawrence Chamber Ensemble took two of Ruby Mac's songs and created an orchestration without a guitar.  Ruby in a post said it was like her "Pop songs got Bridgertonfied"  Funny; she was definitely a new voice find for me during the fest, more poppy and Taylor Swift like to me.  Yep she needs a good murder ballad, a funny song, and one about getting drunk; then she would fit my normal style of music.  

And while I'm adding videos I might not always update this post until the end.  You can find the 2026 music at this playlist.

Much more will be written, but we've been to the Mile before and the journey hasn't been documented in the blog very well.  In 2022, we ended having a conflict in the Twin Cities seeing Taylor Rae & Pokey Lafarge, but saw Carsie and Miss Tess at the Mile.  The other years are in my Around Town Playlist; so I'll take the time to pull out the memories while I finish this post.

2025, I did have a wealth of videos posted, but no blog post.  Here's a recap I put in most video descriptions:

Every year we learn something new at visiting the Mile of Music; and mostly it’s stay there longer. This was our first year staying at the host hotel Hilton Paper Valley. Big hotel and yes they were so busy there, but they are a great supporter of the festival so we overlooked any issues in the sports bar kitchen. The music was incredible and we discovered how close and cool The 513 venue was, so we had access to many listening rooms within TWO Blocks. Not that we don’t want to walk a mile, but we would rather spend the time listening. Boy they had great weather too this year. Here’s a list of Musicians in the videos added to the Around Town playlist, and I’ll keep it simple and give you their FB pages. The Rebel Eves - First time meeting this incredible three woman band. https://www.facebook.com/therebeleves Admiral Radio - Love this duo that we met first at SERFA 2024 https://www.facebook.com/AdmiralRadio Aleksi Campagne - A great Canadian talent, son of Connie Kaldor who we saw years ago during our honeymoon trip to Winnipeg Folk Fest. https://www.facebook.com/AleksiCampagne Kristin Andreassen with Chris Eldridge - Wow first time hearing Kristin live after following her over ten years, and oh boy her husband is part of the Punch Brothers. https://www.facebook.com/twistinkristin Adrian & Meredith - Love, love, love them, and yes if I say I could watch Meredith play, dance and sing for hours; it’s not creepy it’s an honest description of how cool of an entertainer she is with her fiddle, voice and clogging skills. Yes we met them at SERFA 2024 too. https://www.facebook.com/adrianplusmeredith Scott Mulvahill - He is just something incredible to watch on his creation, DATABASS https://www.facebook.com/ScottMulvahill Sinking Lessons - We just caught two songs but were very interesting. https://www.facebook.com/sinkinglessons Gabe Quinn - Because Lori forgot her purse at the Starbucks, I caught only part of one song from this young talent. https://gabequinnmusic.com/ Valley Fox - I saw 2/3rd of this group while walking through the lobby of the Hilton. I am now following them. https://www.facebook.com/valleyfoxmke Make your way to Appleton for a Mile of Music, there is some style of music for EVERYONE.

Here's a Mile of Music 2025 playlist I put together today.

YES, YES, YES... this is a work in progress and I'll post to Facebook when I'm done.