Midnight Movers Setlist

— Set 1 —

Unknown ~~Green Light~~
Way Down in the Hole
Let’s Stay Together
Satisfied
I Don’t Want to Know
Walk a Mile in my Shoes
Lost in the Flood
Werewolves of London
If It’s Really Got to be This
Way
Delta Lady
— Set 2 —

Can’t Be Still
Green Light ~~Said I Wouldn’t Do It~~
Wearing that Loved On Look
Nobody’s Fool
Burning Love
Time is Tight
Up On Cripple Creek ~~No Good Deed~~
No Good Deed ~~Up On Cripple Creek~~
So Much in Love
Take Me In Your Arms

With so many fantastic musicians and venues in the Twin Cities, if you’ve committed to having live music every day of the year, the logistics are still pretty insane to think about. And when you consider that the White Squirrel Bar in downtown St. Paul often has two or even three sets on a given day, you have to work double to make sure it all works out. On that front, White Squirrel often locks in on a musician or band for a regular set, say a monthly residency or even a one day a month through the entirety of the year. For the musicians, it feels like a chance to work on a variety of things you might not otherwise. I hit a “fourth Monday of every month in 2026”, with a group of true professionals calling themselves The Midnight Movers on an early evening show on Memorial Day.

The Midnight Movers may have perhaps one of the more unique self descriptors of “a country soul combo” and goodness they lived up to it. (Side note: footwear may have been the big tell as we ranged from Converse to cowboy boots, though boots won 2-1.) The quintet (Ray Barnard on vocals & keyboards, Dan Lowinger on guitar, Nick Salisbury on bass, Joe Savage on pedal steel guitar, and Noah Levy on drums) are all in a variety of bands and were cooking right away and that mix was a fun and vibrant sound. Savage got an early feature and vocals on the second song Way Down in the Hole, made famous as the theme song for the TV show The Wire and he hit those vocals well. An instrumental version of Let’s Stay Together with vocals replaced by the steel pedal was inspired and got Barnard to comment afterwards, “that’s a good example of what we do”. Lowinger finally got a good guitar solo on Satisfied, a countrified gospel number. I love these small venues where the band could call out their hellos to various audience members between songs. The other, completely unsurprising aspect to this show was the skill at each position. Levy was quietly killing it at drums in a way that never called attention to itself. Salisbury might have been even quieter in his presence (he hardly looked up), but that bass work was consistent and perfectly supportive of what each song needed. We got a Barnard original in Lost in the Flood, and it had the funkiest keys work of the first set, and had Savage appearing on harmonica. Werewolves of London was one “we haven’t practiced together”, but of course came off without a hitch and Savage was appropriately silly with lead vocals. And this is where all that professionalism came through as they worked through a series of non-verbal comms to land it perfectly. The first set ended on Delta Lady, a good rocker to take us to the break.

Levy got them going into the second set on a tight rhythm and Can’t Be Still was a good instrumental with soul and country running side by side and gave Lowinger another opportunity to shine. We had another Barnard original in Greenlight, where the mix of bass licks and singing kept the song from going too far into country territory. Nobody’s Fool was “a bassist selection”, but it was right in line with the evening’s vibe. Time Is Tight was a great instrumental and a well named one as The Midnight Movers were running out of time versus their set list. And indeed, the band dropped a number to get to The Band’s Up on Cripple Creek, a perfect match of song and band vibe. Or not, as No Good Deed simply appeared out of order from the printed list and was a fabulous late set rock song. So Much in Love had Levy on brushes and the keys were featured, with just enough steel guitar to keep the Americana theme in play. Ending on Take Me in Your Arms, The Midnight Movers demonstrated a wonderful mix of skill and whimsy and if you find yourself looking for a great time, there are seven more fourth Mondays to get the chance to see them live.