The Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers and A Kin are on the road in January on the Frozen Solid tour, which will be making a stop at the GunFlint Tavern on Sunday, January 17. The Sapsuckers are Nikki Grossman and Joe Hart. Grossman and Hart will warm things up with some classic hillbilly and western-swing music.
Why would a bunch of old-time country musicians head north during the January cold snap? In the case of the fiddle-guitar duo The Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers and the newly formed country-folk combo A Kin, it’s because several members have ties to the frozen northland — and they know first-hand how long those winter nights can be!
Thus was born the notion of the Frozen Solid tour, with stops in Grand Marais and a half-dozen other locales from Jan. 14-25.
The idea for the trip came from country crooner Sandler Waggoner, who formed A Kin with Shawn Neary and acclaimed folk singer Kendra Swanson.
“Sandler and I have both lived in northern Minnesota ,” said Joe Hart, who lived in Grand Portage and makes up the Yellow- Bellied Sapsuckers with Nikki Grossman. “January nights can be awful cold. We thought it would be a nice way to warm up the winter with some country music.”
The Sapsuckers perform original songs and fiddle tunes inspired by the classic hillbilly, western-swing, and old-time fiddling traditions — and they also mine this same repertoire for forgotten gems that deserve to be heard again. Grossman plays fiddle, guitar, and sings, and Joe Hart plays guitar and vocals. Their second album, Ocooch Mountain Home, has received high praise.
The group will perform at the GunFlint Tavern in Grand Marais at 7 p.m. Jan. 17.
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