What is roots music in Wisconsin? The State has a rich tradition of backwoods ballads, polkas, work songs, Union choruses, and string band barn dance tunes. Modern interpretations of this folk music takes many forms from the outlaw country of Buffalo Gospel to the punk-influenced tunes of Nickel&Rose. In 2016, we were fortunate to have one of the midwest’s best songwriters, J.E. Sunde, perform on the Silver Lining stage. Redshift Headlights, led by fiction professor Stephen McCabe, brought their hyer-literate indie rock to Homegrown in 2018. Sometimes it’s hard to place a song in a category, so we at Homegrown just like to say that we appreciate songwriters with original voices and a story to tell.
Erik Kjelland, lead singer and primary songwriter for the Mascot Theory, has written and released over a dozen albums of songs over his solo and band career. We’re excited to have the Mascot Theory performing at Homegrown 2019 in support of their new record “Dawn and What Comes After.”