The country and Americana bands must always be happy to get to the cooler temperatures of autumn. Lots of other genres can wear what they like or at least have multiple attire options for those broiling days of summer. But your country music rooted bands really flourish in jeans, long sleeved shirts, the boots, the hat, etc. On a cool fall night, Briscoe was bringing their Americana sound to the Turf Club in Saint Paul.

Jack Blocker started and the Nashville based (originally from Texas) singer and songwriter released his debut record The Land On Most High in 2025. It’s a very country sound, which makes sense given Blocker’s love for Nelson and Kristofferson among others. Appearing solo with acoustic guitar (and an outfit that included a jacket), we had a brief false start as the guitar wasn’t making the right connection, but after a fraught moment, Blocker was off and going. An opening Johnny Cash song got the lyric with “St. Paul” and received the appropriate whoop from the crowd and he was over the initial technical issue terror and into the performance. 100 Dollar Bill was an original and had Blocker starting to open up on vocals and showing a good sense of humor on his lyrics. A choice between “a slow drinking song or a slow love song” got a surprisingly fast audience response for love and You Never Liked Hank Williams was the song for the disagreement between lovers and his drawled singing was perfect for the genre. Not only was this Blocker’s first show in Minnesota, it was also his first of a run opening for Briscoe. We got a new song from an upcoming record and When the River Runs Dry was a solid continuation of his style. A song about his home state felt like both homage and satire at the same time. Closing with Big Jefe, Jack Blocker had overcome first night jitters and nailed a fun set.

Briscoe was the headliner and the Austin, Texas duo of Phillip Lipton & Truett Heintzelman is a band that we’ve seen multiple times despite their relative youth, most recently seeing them here at Turf Club in August 2024. They have a pair of albums with Heat of July released in September 2025. The quintet (vocals/guitar, banjo/keys/vocals/sax and more, keyboards/guitar, bass, and drums) came out to Saving Grace and that folk Americana sound was solid. A switch from Heintzelman to Lipton for lead vocals on The Well was a good switch that would continue through the set, and the audience was singing along. Briscoe had an easy going vibe which I think endeared them even more to the audience. The title track from the new album hit the sweet spot of that upbeat folk Americana and Briscoe was sailing. A John Prine cover of Make Me An Angel had Lipton go off on harmonica as Heintzelman’s vocals were a great fit for the material and the latter song dual vocals nailed the aesthetic. The sax made its first appearance and was strangely such a good fit musically. Though the attention was correctly on the front duo, the backing trio was putting in yeoman’s work and really filling that sound out. Lipton switched over yet again, this time to keyboards, and it was an impressive display as a multi-instrumentalist. Dirty Shoes was an older number and had Lipton on lead vocals and the crowd fully into it. Lipton continued to fully shine as he moved across instruments and vocals and he seemed to be the spark plug of the band. The backing band headed off stage and our duo had an acoustic song that was a real highlight with the dual vocals and Lipton’s harmonica interlude rang through. The band back on stage, Briscoe went into a great version of Free, with Lipton back on keyboards. Hill Country Baby was the rockingest number of the evening and we were close to the end. A Three Dog Night cover of Never Been to Spain had Blocker back up to sing and he killed it. As Briscoe closed the evening, they had hit all their marks and that final southern rock song had the crowd singing along and cheering whole heartedly. Coming back extremely quickly, the encore of a strange version of Folsom Prison Blues, but it worked fine and Briscoe headed for the merch table to sign records and take photos with fans.