Lakeside Guitar Festival is a free outdoor music festival set at the Historic Como Lakeside Pavilion, a lakefront community Artis oasis in Saint Paul. LGF is run by community-conscious musicians and presents a diverse lineup of local and international acts across musical genre, focusing on encouraging new artistic collaboration and highlighting the world class small business and arts communities of Saint Paul. Previous headliners have included Keb Mo, Sunny War, and Steve Cropper performing alongside Minnesota greats.
LGF 2023 expands to three days of concerts and workshops across Saint Paul, featuring Marc Ribot, one of the world’s great creative music guitarists as Saturday headliner and Minnesota songwriting legend Charlie Parr headlining Friday night, both at the Como Lakeside Pavilion and both FREE. With 15 plus acts across 3 stages, a vendor village, a Minnesota meets Mexico City improviser’s stage at the waterfall serves as the Music Mission “Identify” series culmination, and community activities from a pedal swap to bike and walk paths, LGF 2023 offers fun for the whole family of music lovers. Saturday August 12th closes with Minnesota’s Last Waltz (ticketed) at the Como Lakeside Pavilion.
A Sunday night ticketed show at Turf Club presents “Americhicana” songwriter Carrie Rodriguez from Austin, Texas, klezmer rock heroes Klezmerson from Mexico City, and a first of its kind duo between jazz/rock and beyond legends John Medeski and Marc Ribot. The show serves as a Music Mission benefit. Purchase Tickets Here!
Klezmerson will offer a workshop at the Jewish Community Center of Minnesota as part of LGF activities with Marc Ribot giving a workshop as well at El Diablo Amps, both on Sunday August 13th.
LGF is Music Mission’s annual flagship event. Music Mission supports communities throughout the Americas in creating and sharing their music, providing quality and visionary arts programming, scholarship and education opportunities, and instruments and basic needs support to communities in Minnesota and Mexico. More information is at www.musicmissionmusic.com
Lakeside Guitar Festival is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant for the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Friday Aug 11
Promenade Stage -Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
6:00-6:45 Brothers In the Mud
7:00-7:45 The Mood Swings
8:15-9:30 Charlie Parr
Saturday Aug 12
Grand Lawn-
11:45-12:45 El Diablo Pedal Swap
11:00-11:45 “Strum Along/Sing a Song” led by Kith + Kin Chorus
Promenade Stage -Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
12:00-12:45 Joyann Parker Duo
1:00-1:45 Rod Harris Jr
2:00-2:45 HoneyButter
3:00-3:50 Marc Ribot's Jazz Bins
Cafe Stage (inside Dock&Paddle)
12:15-1:00 Skarlett Woods
1:15-2:00 Dandy L. Freling
2:15-3:00 Kelley Smith
Waterfall Stage
11:00-11:45 Paul Metzger Improvised Modern Banjo
12:00-3:00 “Identify” at Lakeside Guitar Festival Mexico-Minnesota Improvisers Collaboration
Gates Close at 4:15
6:00-9:00 The Last Waltz (ticketed show)
2023 LGF Lineup and Schedule
Friday Aug 11th 2023
Friday Aug 11th 6:00-6:45pm Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Tom Feldmann is a renowned player, instructor, songwriter with an authentic take on acoustic blues unlike anything heard in years. Gifted with fine slide and fingerstyle chops, he also possesses a strong, gritty voice. “His are some of the best picked blues I’ve heard, and I’ve heard lots!” – Jorma Kaukonen
Noah Levy is an in demand drummer that lives in the Minneapolis / St Paul area of Minnesota. He has toured and recorded with a long list of international artists including Brian Setzer, Soul Asylum , The Honeydogs, Peter Frampton, Nelson, The Bodeans, and Golden Smog. Noah spends a lot of time as a session player working in studios around town as well as his own home studio. His playing is fiercely finessed.
Friday Aug 11th 7:00-7:45pm Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
The Mood Swings are a Minneapolis-based band who have recently rebooted after a long hiatus. The current Mood Swings lineup consists of: Ashley Ackerson (guitar, vocals, songwriter), Kat Hixon-Smith (guitar, vocals), Mike Reiter (drums) and Mark Wade (bass).
Combining elements of fuzzpop, 60s garage, hard rock and an adventurous spirit, The Mood Swings sound melds these ingredients into hard hitting tunes prickly with pop hooks, sharp-witted lyrics and searing guitars. Their live show is a full-on sonic and visual assault anchored by a solid rhythm section, Kat's striking stage presence and Ashley's searing lead guitar work.
Friday Aug 11th 8:15-9:15pm Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Charlie Parr - an incorruptible outsider who writes novelistic, multi-layered stories that shine a kaleidoscopic light on defiant, unseen characters thriving in the shadows all around us. Parr has released 14 studio albums and tours the globe performing at legendary venues like Newport Folk Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Troubadour, and Bowery Ballroom. But he hasn’t moved to LA or Nashville; he’s
stayed in the cold grey north of Minnesota, because that’s his home.
Saturday Aug 12th 2023
Saturday Aug 12th 11:00-11:45am Grand Lawn
Gather up/tune up 11:00 Strum Along/Sing a Song 11:15-11:45
All levels invited to create this giant community strum along! Bring your guitar and strum along to a couple songs or chords alongside your fellow humans. Sing along! (any stringed instrument accepted even air guitars!)
Kith + Kin Chorus -an uncommon choir in the twin cities, strives to build community, spread joy and give in service of others through harmony.
Saturday Aug 12th 11:00am Waterfall Stage
Paul Metzger - Improvised on Modified Banjo, elegant with rustic audacity (ethereal)
Saturday Aug 12th 11:45-12:45 Grand Lawn
LGF 4th Annual Gear Swap, sponsored by El Diablo Amps and Guitars. Gather your unused/unloved gear and swap them out for something new and exciting! Trade with your fellow Twin Cities pedal junkies, or trade with El Diablo himself! This event is free and open to the public. Register for a chance to win a FREE Chase Bliss Audio pedal! For more info, visit the El Diablo Amps Facebook Page
Saturday Aug 12th 12:00-12:45 Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Joyann Parker Duo With roots in the church and a solid foundation of musical education, Joyann Parker found her authentic voice later in life and created her own blend of roots music that combines soul, R&B, gospel, jazz and traditional blues styles. Parker has been a steadily rising star on the Midwest music scene and now brings her full range of talent as an accomplished singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter to national and international stages. Mark Lamoine is a brilliant guitarist whose playing breathes with Joyann's powerful music.
“Identify'“ Series Mexico-Minnesota Improvisers
Saturday Aug 12th 12:00-3:00 Waterfall Stage
MN meets Mexico City- Soloists from Mexico City and the Minnesota creative music scene collaborate in a first of its kind day of improvisations as the LGF Waterfall Stage. Part of Music Mission’s “Identify” series encoring conversation and collaboration between artists and communities of differing socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds.
Leading the day are bassists Adam Linz, an iconic player from Saint Paul, and Carina Lopez from Mexico. Sets will run 20 to 30 minutes and feature soloists and debut duos visiting the outer realms of the sonic experience! Don't miss this!
Featured players: Holly Hansen (guitar and effects), Benjamin Shwartz (viola), Paul Metzger (modified banjo). Adam Linz (upright bass), Carina Lopez (electric bass)
Saturday Aug 12th 12:15-1:00 Cafe Stage
Skarlett Woods Profoundly introspective, Skarlett is a Minnesota-based Singer Songwriter/Performer/Producer/Artist who has never been one to follow what most people view as conventional. With a stage presence that demands the attention of a room, Skarlett undoubtedly is gently gaining her loyal fan base through her melodic and rhythmic style writings that she pairs with flavors of Blues and Soul. At the heart of it all is a 7-string guitar and her voice.
Saturday Aug 12th 1:00-1:45pm Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Rod Harris Jr a Grammy Nominated Jazz Guitarist Rod Harris Jr has become a prevalent musical force and well known amongst jazz guitarists and musicians within the U.S and abroad. Not only is Harris well-respected amongst fellow jazz guitarists and musicians he is also beloved for his r&b, hip hop and scoring works.
Saturday Aug 12th 1:15-2:00 Cafe Stage
Dandy L. Freling A Boot Stompin' Finger Pickin' Folkie. A highway-kind traveler combining a touch of the high and lonesome hollers of the Appalachian hill people with the low-down, dusty grooves of the cosmic cowboys, Dandy has created a unique songwriter banquet sure to satisfy the hunger of any weary passerby. A boot stompin' finger picker with remnant hollers of the greats of our past.
Saturday Aug 12th 2:00-2:45pm Promenade Stage-Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Honeybutter- with the velvety romance of old cinema, they mix Brazilian guitar, honeyed vocals and homemade percussion to make music that’s earth-bound and timeless.
Saturday Aug 12th 2:15-3:00 Cafe Stage
Kelley Smith- a guitar picker with an old-timey voice. Her first record, Moon Child, comes across as a mid-life coming-of-age story. Iris Dement meets Norman Blake. Great fingerstylist with a compelling earnest voice. Adventures in Americana says, ”Her authentic, rootsy sound, falling somewhere between country, folk, bluegrass and old-time music, is a pitch-perfect vehicle for the themes she explores in this five-song EP.”
Saturday Aug 12th 3:00-3:50 Promenade Stage- Presented by Baird-Brennan Jandric Antkowiak Group
Marc Ribot: The Jazz Bins Marc Ribot’s four months with jazz organ legend Brother Jack McDuff were his first ever with an internationally touring artist. Their 1979 itinerary included Ribot’s first concerts in Europe, and his only to date in Gary, Indiana and Rochester, NY. Although the two never recorded together (due to artistic differences that became apparent in Ribot’s later work...Brother Jack reportedly spent much of their stage time fixing Ribot with what side musicians referred to as his “death ray”), Ribot never lost his affection for McDuff’s music and the Hammond organ dominated Soul Jazz scene from which it emerged.
Fellow Jazz-Bin, Greg Lewis, is not only one of the greatest virtuosos of the Hammond b3 organ alive. Says Ribot: “Greg is NYC’s best kept secret. He can tell a story on Hammond like nobody else." The Jazz-Bins use deep grooves and over the top improvisation to channel the spirits of Newark’s Key Club Sparky J’s Lounge, and NYC’s CBGB’s c/a 1977 into a quest for punk/soul salvation. The Jazz-Bins go— not exactly ‘ancient’, but ‘back’— to the future, to tap into a scene that never really existed (but should have, will, and does whenever people drop their preconceptions about ‘genre’ long enough to feel the groove), and a vibe that never really stopped. Dig it!
Saturday Aug 12th 6:00-9:00 Promenade Stage
This is a ticketed show
What would anybody leave so quickly for?
Music Mission presents the Lakeside Guitar Festival Afterparty with
MARC RIBOT + JOHN MEDESKI, CARRIE RODRIGUEZ, and KLEZMERSON
At the Turf Club on Sunday, August 13, 2023.
$25.00 advance / $28.00 DOS
6:00 PM Doors / 7:00 PM Showtime / 21+ show
Aug 13th 2023
Jewish Community Center of Minnesota
Klezmer Fusion Workshop with Klezmerson
Part of the Bo'u Nashir - Come, Let's Sing! August 2023 collection
Klezmerson offers a collaborative workshop that offers insight into fusing Jewish music traditions with traditional Mexican musics.
History of LGF: Founded in 2013 with major backing by McNally-Smith Collage of Music and help from the STAR grant. Chris Osgood ( punk rock guitar slinger, scenester and all around angel of arts ) asked that Molly put together an afternoon of guitar hero music that would bring folks of all ages and genre loving music fans to Mears Park in the heart of the warehouse district of St. Paul . Under the dynamic guidance of Chris and the many hats he wears, Lowertown Guitar Festival, the big FREE fest was born.
Not only was it 8 hours of exceptional guitar skills spanning 2-3 stages, it also included free workshops in the morning at McNally-Smith covering technical skills like guitar effects, tone and other more gear focus topics.The college hosted a teen guitar seminar in the morning, culminating in a teen guitar challenge at the site starting at noon where kids had an opportunity to shred and compete for gear donated by major manufacturers like Fender and Martin Guitars. Over the years we have added a "market place”, and in 2016 included a luthier's showcase.
2018 found us at the historic Como Lakeside Pavilion, a venue that hit many high notes for our growing team. Todd Clouser came aboard providing added support and a broader reach. We were able to keep the festival free, adding another stage, more vendors and a covered area from the elements keeping us outdoors.
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