Bob Dylan, Prince, The Replacements, Semisonic and Lizzo all share a commonality: their time in Minnesota.
A cult-city among creatives, it seems there’s something in the water that creates potential for greatness in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area. Living here means witnessing and being on the precipice of musical innovation.
The storied history of Minneapolis as a hub for the arts creates and sustains an environment that’s novel and inspiring, yet homey enough to get one’s foot in the door.
Prince told Oprah Winfrey in 1996 that he would always live in Minneapolis because “It’s so cold it keeps the bad people out.”
The dreary, harsh weather that defines our winter months creates interesting and fresh perspectives paired with the wide availability and variety of local music. The fostering of, and investment in, the arts on a policy front can’t hurt either.
The city is ornamented and filled with tokens of its appreciation for the legends that have passed through, played, returned and stayed here. Dylan’s rainbow-striped face is impossible to miss downtown on Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue.
The crown prince of folk had North Country roots. Dylan was born in Duluth and reared in the small town of Hibbing. He drew influence from the scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which he referred to as “rock and roll towns.”
He famously attended the University of Minnesota for a brief time, resided in a Dinkytown apartment and played coffeehouse venues. At the time, Dinkytown was the epicenter of folk music in Minnesota.
University professor of cultural studies and comparative literature and keyboard player in minimal-ambient band IE, Michael Gallope, said Minneapolis has an almost cultish allure and appreciation among creatives.
“I sense that people who are here are here in part because they really value what the community is, and that creates a lot of positive circumstances for doing genuine new work,” Gallope said.
The Como neighborhood, located just minutes away from campus, hosts local music acts every weekend for under $15. It’s incredibly accessible. Many Minneapolis and St. Paul residents don’t have to look much further than their backyard for up-and-coming, innovative live performances from local bands.
University music associate professor Scott Currie said the area has tended to punch above its weight class as far as producing unique talent goes.
“There’s a very strong DIY scene in Minneapolis in particular,” Currie said. “And that’s been the case for 30, 40 years now.”
Will Langason, a local musician and DJ in the bands By Will Alone, Linus, and Peeler said the Twin Cities are isolated from other urban areas, making them a hub for creatives from a multitude of areas in the Midwest.
“We have to kind of make it ourselves, and it’s not like we’re in a big city,” Langason said.
Accessibility, as well as availability, are cornerstones of the scene here. Good music and art are hardly out of reach and performance opportunities are not so difficult to come by. These are advantages that a mid-sized metropolitan area like the Twin Cities provides.
Gallope said the scene here strikes a perfect balance between visibility and accessibility for burgeoning local acts.
“Many people my age are jealous of what’s going on in the Twin Cities,” Gallope said. “Because it does have that balance where there’s enough people for there to be a lot of cool and weird stuff going on, but it’s not so big that there’s turnover and churn and too much competition.”
Outside of the music itself, institutional structures allow for the arts to flourish here as opposed to other cities with similar population sizes.
Currie said while the Midwest has a longstanding tradition of choral and band traditions in public school music curricula, Minnesota has a unique advantage due to our funding of music and arts programs more broadly.
“The legacy funding act was passed with the sales tax revenue going to the arts and the parks,” Currie said. “And that, certainly in the last 20 years, has played a significant role in making sure that there’s state funding for the arts, which is probably not the case to anything like this extent in neighboring states.”
This investment is paying off, as Minneapolis remains a haven for creativity and sonic innovation. In its reverence and continuation of a great musical tradition, it remains on the leading edge. It’s a well-kept and underrated, yet not overlooked, secret.
A Midwestern legend emerges where folk heroes, larger-than-life figures, and musical movers and shakers, and traverse the icy streets of the Twin Cities, never leaving their roots behind, no matter how high their stars rise.
