Jeremy Messersmith with Keep for Cheap at House Show (July 23, 2026)

Jeremy Messersmith Setlist

1. Ghost
2. The New York Times Crossword Puzzle
3. Spiral Bound
4. Boomers
5. Twenty Years
6. The Mall of America
7. Tourniquet
8. It’s Only Dancing
9. 666
10. Giants
11. A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard
12. I Want To Be Your One Night Stand
13. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Mister Rogers cover)
    
    — on ukulele —
14. Everything Is Magical
15. Everybody Gets a Kitten

When I was at Pilllar Forum earlier this month reviewing Alexander Natalie, I ended up in a conversation with both of the moms of Kate Malanaphy and Autumn Vagle of Keep for Cheap, who opened that evening. After the standard conversation, including how proud they both were, they mentioned that there would be a house show coming up in a few weeks headlined by Jeremy Messersmith and then they promptly invited me to attend. And so that’s how I ended up in a backyard in Hudson, Wisconsin in late July on what turned out to be a truly beautiful evening. With the most welcoming situation (a taco truck, drinks, the small pool available for dipping your feet in), this couldn’t have been a nicer set up for a low-key evening of live music.

Keep for Cheap began, though we had “2/5th of the band”, but it turns out the Vagle and Malanaphy originally started out as an acoustic duo in their early days at Hamline University. They were clearly excited to be back at it for the first time in a while, and with Vagle on guitar and Malanaphy on bass, they were at such ease with all the friends and family in attendance. Ski-Doo was a great start for the pair, hitting some of their lyrical themes of nature and the ever changing quality of things. The song from the full band can play full Americana to much more indie rock, but the stripped down version here really narrowed the edges of each number into a set of solid folk rock. Life Is Like That was full of emotion and that repeated chorus of “Are we doing our best at reaching to one another? Always, life is like this.” was a haunting melody as the light shifted from full afternoon to the beginnings of softer dusk. The predictable change of instruments (switching places so as to not have to change cables) had Malanaphy starting on lead vocals and it was a deeper toned, but quieter number. Forgive Me had a catchy set of guitar work and had the pair at their lyrical best, and included some fun vocalizations in the interlude before the final verse. The instrument switch back had Keep for Cheap moving into their last songs. They closed on an upbeat number and had a hilarious bit of crash and burn on the first chorus. You have to love it when the band completely loses their s**t for a minute, and the laughs were big and authentic. They regrouped without ever stopping and had some of the biggest vocals of the evening. Asking anyone who knew the song to join in the chorus, it was a beautiful moment with all those singers before giving way as Keep for Cheap finished up strong. 

After a small break, Jeremy Messesmith was up perform, solo on acoustic guitar. We’ve seen Messersmith multiple times here in 2026, but either in guest appearances, such as his quick hit with The New Standards in June or with “the shortest set of my career” as part of The Current’s Minnesota Music Month at Amsterdam Bar & Hall in April. With the excellent new album Fox/Coyote released in April 2026 as well, Messersmith continues to be very busy as a musician. He kicked things off with Ghost, and Messersmith had instantly hit with mid-set energy and the dark lyrical material was masked by the bright music. His great sense of humor and wit was on full display with The New York Times Crossword Puzzle, which actually played as a good radio song. His banter was exquisite (“Wait, there’s churros at the taco truck? It feels a bit too early to ask for something from the audience, but…”) and he had such control on vocal and guitar acoustics that was very impressive. Boomers, off the new album, was so deeply satirical and Messersmith’s soaring falsetto on “I’ll tell you a secret” was dipped in acid. Into requests, Mall of America continued the darkly funny theme and also got us Messersmith whistling. It’s Only Dancing was perfect for the backyard summer vibes and had a throwback rock feel. At the start of the set, he had sent around the Box of Inappropriate Questions for people to submit their own, and Messersmith was in a comedian routine as he broke into it, and then he was back to some more songs. (Side note: Doesn’t Jeremy Messersmith & The Box of Inappropriate Questions sound like the kick-off of a new YA fantasy book series? Somebody get on that, please.) 666 was a hilarious reflection on his fundamentalist upbringing and Messersmith pivoted to some more reflective songs, and A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard was stunningly good and had the audience in almost complete silence. Asked (from the box) what his most prophetic song was, he went into Sweep Me Off My Feet, bringing us squarely back into the humor. One last run through the questions got him to a song that he would be embarassed to play for his father (and did!) in I Want to Be Your One Night Stand. A switch to ukulele also had him down into the audience for a pair of songs, and the closer Everybody Gets a Kitten was a chef’s kiss of a close. Jeremy Messersmith had taken the perfect day and wonderful atmosphere and had capitalized with an excellent evening of humor and music.