The Lakeside Guitar Festival (August 14, 2026)

I was on my way to St. Paul and it felt like one of those nights where it might rain, which for an outdoor festival is not ideal, but thankfully the majority of the acts would be at the covered Promenade Stage in the Lakeside Pavilion at Lake Como.  

It was my first time covering The Lakeside Guitar Festival and a special shoutout to Todd Clouser and Molly Maher who through their Music Mission collaboration were responsible for assembling a diverse and dynamic group of musicians with guitars in hand.  And Friday’s night billing was a wonderful start.  

Kicking off the evening was Zacc Harris.  We just saw him in his band at the main stage at the Twin Cities Jazz Fest in June supporting his latest album Chasing Shadows.  On Friday he stepped on the stage with Matt Peterson on bass and Eric Larson on drums to play songs from his American Reverie project, which takes songs we all know and reinterprets them through a jazz prism.  

Harris started off “Amazing Grace” with a blue intro, then into a more jazz vein.  Then it was “Hard Times” by Stephen Foster, Harris and the band using the turn of the century melody as a starting point to explore new musical ideas.  

Harris told the crowd the idea of American Reverie came on a trip back home to Virginia.  In the Appalachian mountains, the song “Shenandoah” came to him and the inspiration came soon after.  Then he played the traditional “The House of the Rising Sun” and Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows.”  Then the trio got cooking with some gut-bucket blues for “Darlin’ Cory” which was a crowd favorite.  

Chastity Brown next took the stage, first pouring herself a glass of wine in a coffee cup before touching base with her musical guests, then settling in a chair with her guitar.  And as she sang her first song, the black curtains began to billow behind her as the wind and rain began to sweep across the lake.  Sitting close to the stage, it was a stirring moment of nature interacting with a live musical event.  But for those closer to the perimeters of the open pavilion, well they were going to get wet.

We last saw Chastity at First Ave August, 2022, promoting her album Sing to the Walls, and what a treat it was to see this beloved local singer/songwriter up close in such a casual environment with the wind and rain. 

After “Wonderment” Brown invited Terrell X on stage.  He is a beat box musician going on four decades and we were lucky to catch him at the Minnesota Music Archive Launch Party at The Hennepin Event Center in April.  With Brown he provided his own unique support as she sang two great driving tunes “Colorado” and “Back Seat.”  

After Terrell X stepped off the stage, Brown took a moment to talk about the time still reverberating through the community.  Many musicians released protest songs when ICE filled the streets.  Most of the songs were about the antagonist.  Brown sang a eulogy about the family of Renee Good. She wrote “Year of Twenty Six” for the piano and it was her first time playing it on guitar, and it was profoundly stirring moment for Brown who is also in a same-sex marriage.  

Brown then brought Jorge Servin on stage to play drums.  But before she turned her back to the audience she said, “I’m going check in with Jorge before I check back with you.”  And after a little back and forth between the two she added, “This is how musicians make friends.”  

Before she ended her set, Brown gave a big shoutout to Molly Maher. As a traveling musician, Brown said that in all her travels the first time she saw a woman working at a guitar store was Maher and Maher is the first person Brown goes to if she is looking for a particular sound in a guitar. 

As the last act started to set up, a popup of Jerónimo González and  friends started to play next to the bar.  They were supposed to play alongside the lake, but the weather was not ideal.  So Gonzalez with his  jarana jarocha (a stringed instrument from Veracruz, Mexico) entertained the gathering crowd with traditional Mexican folk songs.  A favorite moment was during “Volver, Volver” a gentleman in the crowd with a tan fedora and a cannonball frame began to bellow the lyrics to the song, lyrics he was reading from his smartphone.  

Yasmin Williams next took the Promenade Stage to close out the night. In her intro Maher said she had been trying to get Williams to play at the festival for four years, and it would become apparent why Maher was so persistent.   Based on my limited amount of musical knowledge, I would say no one plays the guitar quite like Williams. 

“Hey Y’all,” Williams said after the introduction.  “What’s up?”

Two things were revealed with the greeting.  First, she’s from the South, Virginia specifically.  Second, she’s young, 29.  And though she is strictly an instrumentalist, she was quite funny and engaging with the crowd. The business of playing the guitar can sometimes be quite serious, but there was a joyful liveliness in her persona and music.  

Williams told the crowd that her first introduction to the guitar was through the video game, Guitar Hero II.  It was during the video game sessions that she rested the guitar controller in her lap.  She didn’t even know any better not to do that when she actually started playing the real instrument.  

Watching Williams play “Friday Night” she treated the guitar almost like a percussive instrument, using her palm and knuckles to rap the body.  At times she seemed to play it like a piano, running both hands up and down the strings.  For “High Five” she even broke out a little hammer.  She said she first tried using a real hammer until she broke the instrument.  And for “Through the Woods” she even incorporated  tap shoes which kept the beat on a metal board resting on the guitar case. (Definitely a one-person band.)

Williams then played a song about how she doesn’t like the city of Pittsburgh.  The name of it was “Hummingbird” which was apt for she played just as fast as the wings of the little bird. Then it was “Sisters” a song dedicated to the Oregon town that she loves more than Pittsburgh.  

Even though she did not sing, Williams said that she could see herself moving into the territory.  She even played a song that was more melodious, saying it was a new song that was still untitled.  She said she was open to suggestions in which a guy from the audience shouted out “Pittsburgh!”  

It was that kind of night.  An engaging performer dazzling an engaged crowd in a casual setting, everyone having fun.  

Thanks Todd and Molly for putting on a great show!