Looking forward to a great night with 2 great acts.  LONG MAMA had to cancel their last gig due to COVID, so this will be their first shot at the Carpe.  ERIK, who produced their new record, is a seasoned Carper.

LONG MAMA: Songwriter Kat Wodtke leads Andrew Koenig and Nick Lang (Ryan Necci & the Buffalo Gospel), along with Samuel Odin (Horseshoes & Hand Grenades), on a haunting journey of wide-open spaces and tight spots, each song blistering with heart and grit.

​With a penchant for the theatrical, Wodtke’s songs weave tall and not-so-tall tales of mountain manhunts, doomed honeymoons, stalled engines, and gravel roads into an experience as captivating as the landscapes she’s traveled. Her longtime love affair with classic country, folk, Americana, R&B, and punk music braids each into Long Mama’s singular sound.

Poor Pretender, Long Mama’s debut LP out October 28, was engineered by Erik Koskinen and recorded live over a long, snowy weekend in small-town Minnesota. The album showcases the band’s particular ability to conjure the beautiful in the broken, the silver in the ore. Shimmering below the surface of each song is Wodtke’s lived insight into our human faults and fissures: the moments in life when we can slip and lose our footing…or claw our way out, better people on the other side of the canyon.

A blend of American folk, country, rock-n-roll, and blues, ERIK KOSKINEN realizes a sound that is distinctive and fresh while familiar and classic. Erik has recently released Burning The Deal on Real Phonic Records/Tone Tree Music. The “Big Plane” video clip features Amelia Fleetwood (daughter of Mick) and the track is out now.

Koskinen’s albums are a lyrical and musical metaphor of America’s theaters of war, history, relationships, and reflections in the mirror. Burning The Deal was produced by Koskinen and Bernie Larsen (Melissa Etheridge, Jackson Browne) and recorded by Jason Mariani (Mumford & Sons, Kenny Loggins) at Brotheryn Studios in Ojai, California.

Knowing but not didactic, Koskinen channels the ways of Whitman and reverently enters the anthology of uniquely crafted wry songs with the likes of Woody Guthrie and Ry Cooder while speaking as plainly as your neighbor. The Minneapolis Star Tribune calls Koskinen “the real deal” and “the best country songwriter in Minnesota.”

Koskinen just completed a tour out west with frequent collaborator Jeffrey Foucault.