Leif Vollebekk at Fine Line (Nov 6, 2025)

The Fine Line played host to two singer-songwriters with an expanded sound beyond the conventional acoustic guitar.

Valley James first took the stage in a satin red dress and a black six string guitar. It was her first time in Minneapolis, and she said it was a gorgeous day with changing of the leaves. Then she added, “Buckle up!” Most of the evening would involve playing sad, sad songs.

James is supporting her debut album, Star, named after the town she grew up on in the high desert plains of Idaho. Her life almost plays out like the country songs she sings. Married at 22, divorced by 23, at 26 she pawned her wedding ring to buy a black Fender Telecaster. By her thirties, she learned how to play it, eventually moving to Nashville to record her first album at 37.

After singing “Any Fool Will Do” James joked that she did have one happy song “Kill for You.” Then a cover of Patsy Cline’s “Leavin’ On Your Mind” which highlighted her voice with its hollow expanse of loneliness.

It was James’ voice that drew in the audience, as she strummed her guitar. And by the time she finished with “Butterfly” the guitar remained silent as her voice continued and eventually faded.

Between sets a crew of techs descended onto the stage to tweak and refine the mic levels while Lucinda William’s “Fruits of My Labor” played through the main speakers. The Fine Line stage is not an expansive stage, and it was a first for me to see a headliner not use all of it as a raft of guitars hemmed in one side and a traveling baby grand piano hemmed in the other. It seemed where Valley James’ music was expansive and longing, Leif Vollebekk wanted to create a more intimate setting with his group.

Vollebekk invited Valley onto the stage right away for she had to be on the road to get back to Nashville. So they sang a beautiful duet together before hugging and departing, highlighting the transient nature of musicians who make a living by living on the road.

Vollebekk is from Ottawa and now living in Montreal. His music has been described as somber, melancholy pop, but his persona on stage was lively and convivial. He was excited to be at the Fine Line and to be playing with his band, switching between the baby grand and the raft of guitars.

Due to their static nature, singer-songwriters are easy to capture when it comes to concert photography, but Vollebekk was in constant motion. Even between songs you could see his mind racing five steps ahead as he played snippets of other songs between his songs, asking if anyone saw Licorice Pizza, then strumming Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It” which was in the movie. A little later he led a quick sing-along of Green Day’s “Basket Case.”

Vollebekk’s music is not filled with neurotic rage, but contains pensive restlessness with a sonic palette that finds his songs in TV shows like Untamed, Lovesick, The New Pope and Shrinking. He has released five albums since 2010, his latest, Revelation, he produced himself. NPR’s World Cafe described it as “… taking a deep breath, a long walk in the woods or a beautiful afternoon nap in the sun.”

Whatever the analogy, Vollebekk’s music stirred deep emotions in the crowd with songs like “False-hearted Lover” and “Long Blue Light.” The songs were atmospheric meant to evoke emotion more than thought. He even told a funny story about “Surfer’s Journal.” After recording the song, the recording engineer had a question. Did the surfer die in the end? Vollebekk responded, “How should I know? I only wrote it.”