AJ Lee Setlist

When You Change Your Mind
Faithful
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky (Johnny Cash cover)
Wish I Could Say I Was Drinking (Cadillac Sky cover)
The Weenie Dog Song
Seaside Town
Wildwood Flower Blues (Harley Allen cover)
Fishin’ in the Dark (Ed Bruce cover)
Tear My Stillhouse Down (Gillian Welch cover)
Glendale Train (New Riders of the Purple Sage cover)
From a Buick 6 (Bob Dylan cover)
Put Your Head Down
Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover)
— Encore —
Unknown

Steam Machine Setlist

Going to Town
Sweet Heaven
Pole Cat Blues
Don’t Bring Me Flowers My Darling
Buckle Up the Backstrap
Ragtime Annie
I Hear a Low Wind Sweeping
Doing the Goofus
Seven Years Blue
Luther Caldwell’s Bb’er
Somewhere Someday Again
Cacklin Hen

Set Times

DOORS
7:00PM

STEAM MACHINE
8:00PM

AJ LEE &
BLUE SUMMIT
9:00PM

One of the great things about a thriving music scene like the Twin Cities is that you can get to just about any music genre that you could imagine. Here in the middle of January where escapism is a hefty need, it was a night of bluegrass with AJ Lee & Blue Summit launching their new winter tour at St. Paul’s Turf Club.

Locals Steam Machine got things started. Fronted by fiddler (and often solo performer) AJ Srubas, the band self describes their work as “old time”, and you can hear that in their 2018 self-titled debut. The quartet (fiddle/vocals, guitar, banjo, and stand up bass) started with the instrumental Going to Town, which lived up to its name and got a big cheer as they continued straight into the next number. Sruba’s fiddle work was great, and it was sonically well complemented by the banjo. A cover of Tommy Magness’ Pole Cat Blues was another great instrumental. The band showed some range with banjo player David Robinson taking lead vocals. That back and forth between songs with vocals and instrumentals was surprisingly effective, and let the band show up differently. Points to guitarist Rina Rossi, who seemed to be the glue on all backing vocals and keeping things on track. Bringing several members of the headliner up to stage for an instrumental of Ragtime Annie let both of the AJ’s (and others) fly on their respective instruments (Sruba on fiddle, Lee on mandolin). Rossi finally got lead vocals and her song choice of I Hear a Low Wind Sweeping was perfect for the times in the Twin Cities for fighting with love against a world “full of hate”. Somewhere Someday Again was a late set number that really encapsulated the Steam Machine sound with Robinson taking lead vocals again and Sruba on harmony. A super high energy instrumental of Cacklin’ Hen closed things out and Steam Machine walked off stage to a great crowd response.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit were next to the stage. The bluegrass band out of Santa Cruz, California is very active and their most recent full length is the 2024 album City of Glass. The quartet (vocals/mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and stand up bass) started with When You Change which had a dark, impressive sound. From there, they went straight into that classic bluegrass sound and were already showing an interesting range of sound. Our guitarist got lead vocals on a cover of Johnny Cash’s Ghost Riders in the Sky, which was a delight in the band’s hands, including some outstanding fiddle playing and honestly, a great bass voice. A quick tuning for Lee’s mandolin led into the very Americana City of Glass, with those “rocks will tumble” lyrics ringing bright and got some of the crowd clapping along in time. AJ Lee & Blue Summit had leveled up with the crowd, who were ready with applause and actually dancing up front. A call out to this being their first stop and acknowledging the weather, “I went for a walk, no need to call me a hero” was a brilliant bit of banter and that connection with the audience went far. Seaside Town was brilliant for both the deep bass vocals from guitarist Sullivan Tuttle as well as some great long instrumentals. Fishin’ in the Dark was a countrified winner and the band was firing on all cylinders. A cover of Glendale Train was plucky and fun with great mandolin and the longest instrumental section as we headed to the home stretch. The bassist got lead on a song about Virginia, though whether for the state or a woman was up for debate. Closing on Neil Young’s Harvest Moon was a great choice for AJ Lee & Blue Summit, but they were out quickly for an encore that gave the crowd one last opportunity to dance and cheer the evening to an end.