One of my recent fascinations has been watching music events that are mostly being organized by one person. The Defend Minnesota! concert was clearly the brainchild of Tom Morello. Daphne Jane put together a show in December 2024 at 7th Street Entry and had pulled it all together. I love the moment when you can see that organizer on stage realizing that it has worked. There’s a pride and delight and it’s fun to witness. Over at Turf Club in Saint Paul, it was Clayton Ryan doing the hard work of organizing and headlining.

Up first was St. Rangers, a quartet with four vocalists with banjo, guitar, viola, and stand up bass. They have a 2025 EP, Witness Marks, which has an old school country sound to it, along with some major bluegrass influence. Opening on an instrumental gave each member the opportunity to take a bit of center stage and they seamlessly transitioned into Vintage Car, which quickly had two of the band singing harmonies to our banjo player on lead vocals. A cute end to that song (“taking the long way home”) again led to immediate guitar intro to the next number. I always like a mix of vocal parts and the baritone and alto mix was really pleasant to listen to and the multiple string instruments created a great blend. The first break had a cute intro of the band started by guitarist Rachel Bearinger and ended with a wonderful story from banjo player Garrett Nassett who lives in the Midway neighborhood where Turf Club is. When cleaning out the garage after he bought his place, he found a very old Turf Club matchbook, which he had tucked in his hat and showed us. With their Turf Club debut well underway, that bit of karma had played out perfectly. Ghost Town Waltz was light and airy despite the imposing title. We had a Molly Tuttle cover of Crooked Tree and the guitar intro set the tone for this upbeat piece and bassist Olivia May’s work here was the perfect foundation. Juliet had Bearinger continue on lead vocals, and had a neat viola solo by Josh Peterson. Ending on Purgat’ry with Peterson on lead vocals, St. Rangers has played their bright country songs in a great set.

Matcha Fever was up next and was another quartet. However, this was a very different vibe. With vocals/guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, this was a retro 70’s or early 80’s yacht rock sound. We had some dance moves, with the keyboardist really in the dance zone, dropping a splits late in that opener. We got a short message from the lead singer (clad in white suit with purple turtleneck), “my name is Tony and this is a dance party!”, and they were off again. The funk bass solo was brilliant, and the complex keyboard work at the end got the deserved applause. The mix of high confidence with outstanding musicianship made this shine and you would have to be pretty small minded not to be entertained by Matcha Fever. A song with the repeated “it’s magic” lyric was spot on for the genre and our keyboardist’s backing vocals were lit. A new song Let Me Buy You Coffee hit the drum intro hard and as I listened closer, Matcha Fever revealed superb musical skills, with small complicated rhythm changes and musical riffs, and when we got the spoken “this is your bass player speaking and we are announcing a dance party at the front of the stage”, the happiness meter might have blinked out at the top setting. A song being released on an upcoming EP had three of the band on vocal harmonies, and the transition to the next song had more of the great keys work before giving way to vocals. A recorded announcement regarding their merch and social media was brilliantly played and gave the band the shortest of breaks as they continued their nearly epic run. There’s homage, and then there’s carrying a torch into new territory, and Matcha Fever was squarely in the latter. We got a special guest on saxophone for the closing number Sparkle, and Matcha Fever had surpassed all expectations with an excellent set.

Last up was headliner Clayton Ryan. He’s a South Dakota native who, after some time in Los Angeles, has relocated to the Twin Cities. He has some released material, including 2025’s Ghost Town, which was squarely country, though occasionally hinting towards The Band style sound. The quintet (vocals/guitar, keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums) immediately came out with a more funk Americana rock sound that actually pulled our two openers together, in an aha! moment. After a quick intro, Gas Station Social Club was a great entre into Ryan’s new sound. A bit redneck, a bit rock, and a little blues, this was pretty great stuff. Two Finger Wave was funny and rocking, and Clayton Ryan and band were rolling. Emptying the stage, Ryan was on guitar and harmonica supported by one member on steel guitar, with an intro of “this song is about a cat”, which was as good as any for The Cat’s Upset, a breakup song about the things that really matter. That quieter number was a good one, and when Ryan broke up laughing at a bit of steel guitar, “that is what a cat sounds like!”, it endeared him to the audience in a completely different way. Killin’ Time was super country and could easily have been on a Nashville radio station. Ryan, who is an extremely tall man, was absolutely center of attention for the set, and his backing band leaned into the supporting role. Ten More PBR’s was as silly as you would hope for, with Ryan mostly speaking and playing on harmonica. A lyric of “cut it off for me”, had Ryan lose the barstool and grab the guitar again. The lyrics of “we’re only going to get 50 bucks” for the gig landed the titular lyric and was pretty insightful as it went. More Anybody Else was introduced as a love song, and continued to highlight additonal genres that Clayton Ryan was moving into. Cabin in the Stars was the closer after the band intros and profuse thanks to the openers and Turf Club, and was a reflection of death and legacy and was a fantastic end of Clayton Ryan’s evening at a Turf Club. Back in an instant, the encore was a funk special of Livin’ on Mountain Time and was an extended number to give multiple solos and a spectacular evening came to a close. Clayton Ryan earned his victorious look as he had successfully landed his well organized evening.