Category: News

Night One: The Yawpers. Monday, May 4. 5–7 p.m. Crow Peak Brewing Co., Spearfish. Star Wars Day. Costumes encouraged. Free will donations to Ridge Riders Trail Foundation.

Night Two: Wayfarer + Dylan Lewis. Tuesday, May 5. 6:30–8:30 p.m. Crow Peak Brewing Co., outdoor stage. All ages, free show. $5 Cañon Tajo Mexican Lager for Cinco de Mayo.

Night One:

The Yawpers

Monday, May 4 | 5–7 p.m. | Crow Peak Brewing Co., Spearfish Star Wars Day.
Costumes encouraged. Free will donations benefit the Ridge Riders Trail Foundation.

The Yawpers are a Denver three-piece built around two acoustic guitars and a drum kit, and if that sounds like it should be quiet, it isn’t. Nate Cook, Jesse Parmet, and Alex Koshak have spent fifteen years playing punk-volume rock out of an Americana frame, pulling from blues, rockabilly, and outlaw country in ways that Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times have all tried to describe and mostly come back to variations of the same word: raw. Their four albums include a WWI France concept record produced by Tommy Stinson of The Replacements and a live-tracked record cut at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio in Chicago. They’ve toured with Lucero, Nashville Pussy, and the Reverend Horton Heat, and they’ve had songs land on Showtime. Monday they’re at Crow Peak, and the door is free will.

Night Two:

Wayfarer + Dylan Lewis

Tuesday, May 5 | 6:30–8:30 p.m. | Crow Peak Brewing Co.,
Spearfish All ages. Free show.

Wayfarer are also a Denver band, also with a KEXP session to their name, and almost nothing else about them resembles the Yawpers. The four-piece has spent over a decade building what they call “black metal of the American West,” drawing from blast beats and tremolo guitar on one end and Ennio Morricone and the gothic country of Sixteen Horsepower on the other. Their 2020 album A Romance of Violence told a chapter-by-chapter story of life in the Rocky Mountain West in the late 1800s. Their most recent, American Gothic, released in 2023 on Profound Lore and Century Media, was described in their own words as a funeral for the American dream, produced by Arthur Rizk, who has worked with Kreator and Eternal Champion. They have played Roadburn. They have toured Europe. Tuesday night they are on an outdoor stage in Spearfish, and it is free to walk in.

Susan Drey has spent the last ten years making painting the center of her work. This Saturday, she’s inviting the public to her studio.

The space is on the second floor at 625½ St. Joseph, above the sidewalk downtown, and it will be open for three hours on Saturday afternoon. Inside, the work centers on watercolor. Drey builds compositions through layered washes and loose, expressive lines, landscapes from around the Hills, florals, smaller studies. The medium rewards speed, and the work shows it. Originals will be on the walls alongside prints, notecards, and maps, with most pieces marked down for the afternoon.

Before settling into painting full-time, Drey spent sixteen years in architecture, then more than a decade running a wedding and portrait photography business, then several years in landscape design. Art ran alongside all of it. The last ten years are when it moved to the front.

Saturday is three milestones landing at once: ten years focused on painting, ten years in Rapid City, and a studio that’s usually private opening up for an afternoon with wine poured, food on the table, and people moving through a second-floor space most walk past without looking up.

Susan Drey (2)

Susan Drey (1)

Susan Drey (4)

Susan Drey (3)

Susan Drey Art – OPEN STUDIO

Apr 25 • 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Susan Drey Studio in Rapid City

Help me celebrate 10 years of making art and 10 years in Rapid City. Susan Drey Art • OPEN STUDIO625 1/2 St….

Add to Calendar

Visit Susan’s Online Gallery

Friday,  May 1 at 7:30 pm at Performing Arts Center in Rapid City

CeCe Teneal’s Divas of Soul is coming to the Performing Arts Center in Rapid City on Thursday, May 1, bringing a full-scale celebration of fifty years of soul, R&B, and pop built around the voices that defined it. The show pulls from Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, and Whitney Houston, moving across Motown, disco, and pop without treating any of it as background music.

At the center of it is CeCe Teneal, an award-winning vocalist who has performed the show to audiences worldwide. In 2019 she was selected as the halftime headliner for the Citrus Bowl, and in 2022 both Orlando and Orange County proclaimed September 17th as annual CeCe Teneal Day in recognition of twenty years of arts and entertainment contributions. The show she brings to Rapid City is built around her ability to move between these artists without losing the thread of any of them.

Divas of Soul performs Thursday, May 1 at the Performing Arts Center of Rapid City. Individual tickets start at $40.

Friday,  May 1 at 7:30 pm at Performing Arts Center in Rapid City

Listen before you go:

CeCe Teneal's Divas of Soul

Fri, May 1 • 7:00 pm

@ Performing Arts Center of Rapid City – Historic Theater in Rapid City

Get Tickets

Add to Calendar

Friday, April 17th at the Matthews in Spearfish, a handful of filmmakers who usually work in their own corners will see their work run back-to-back on the same screen inside the Matthews Opera House.

The Big Screen Film Showcase pulls together seven short films from local and regional makers. The lineup leans dark. Horror, drama, and heavier themes show up across multiple entries, alongside a few documentaries and a sci-fi narrative.

For Anna Robins, who has a film in the program, the shift isn’t just about what’s on screen. It’s about where it’s happening.

“As a participating filmmaker, it’s really great to see a dedicated space to the craft in our town,” she said. “It’s misunderstood that the big screen is only for big budgets, but on Friday, we’re proving that filmmaking can be accessible to any community with some creativity and dedication.”

That access hasn’t always had a clear place to land locally. Filmmakers in the region tend to work separately, occasionally crossing paths on projects, but without a central hub.

“I suspect the audience will primarily be comprised of those who participated in the making of the films, family and friends, but we’ll also see some film enthusiasts,” Robins said. “And I hope some folks who are curious about what it’s like to go to a film festival.”

The screenings run first, followed by a cocktail hour in the same space, giving filmmakers and audience a chance to meet off-screen.

“I’m looking forward to meeting other filmmakers,” she said. “I’ve connected with some in the area online, but I think there’s a general desire to form a more formal community, and I believe this showcase could help us move tow

The showcase is designed as a community gathering for filmmakers, artists, and audiences to come together in a shared appreciation of visual storytelling.

“If you’re on the fence about coming, think about the excitement you feel when you go to the theaters to see a big blockbuster movie,” Robins said. “You can feel that excitement in the air at these kinds of gatherings, plus you might recognize some places or names on the screen!”

The films start at 6:00 pm Friday at the Matthews Opera House in Spearfish.

The Big Screen Film Showcase

Apr 17 • 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

The Matthews in Spearfish

The Big Screen Film Showcase is an evening dedicated to celebrating the art of cinema through a curated selection of short films…

Get Tickets

Add to Calendar

$10 General Admission
Viewer discretion advised (18+), some films contain mature themes such as horror content, Brothel/Prostitute imagery, and use of profanity.

Featured Films & Filmmakers

• “The Hands of Another”
  (25 min – Horror/Thriller)
  Filmmaker: Steven Cady
• “Finding Lucy”
  (12:26 min – Documentary)
  Filmmaker: Ginger Johnston
• “Perchance to Dream”
  (7:33 min – Sci-Fi Narrative)
  Filmmaker: Ted Jacobson
• “Fighter”
  (5 min – Documentary)
  Filmmaker: Destyn Humann
• “Rosha”
  (1:30 min – Documentary)
  Filmmaker: Benjamin Chew
• “Fly”
  (8:11 min – Drama)
  Filmmaker: Anna Robins
• “We Can”
  (4:47min – Horror/Music Video)
  Filmmaker: Derek Olson

Twine, out of Minneapolis plays Friday, April 17 at 9:00 pm at Murphy’s Pub & Grill in Rapid City

The group includes Will Effertz (electric guitar, vocals), Jon Miller (acoustic guitar, vocals), Brian “Snowman” Powers (saxophone), Scott Yonke (bass), and John Hanson (drums). They build their sets in real time, listening closely to each other and letting the room influence where things go.

Their sound sits in that familiar lane. Allman Brothers, Phish, Grateful Dead, with a mix of funk, folk, and blues worked in. They’ve been building a following around the Twin Cities playing late sets and after-shows, the kind of slots where the crowd is already in it and the band can push things a little further than a standard set.

The live show mixes original material with covers that span a few generations, depending on where the night ends up. Word is Johnny Hastings might swing by after Guitar Masters and sit in for a few songs. The pieces are there for one of those unforgettable nights. A band that builds in real time, and a player like Johnny stepping in. You’re either there for it or you hear about it later.

Give them a listen:

A night with Twine

Apr 17 • 9:00 pm

Murphy's Pub & Grill in Rapid CIty

Thats right folks. It’s TWINE time! A soul captivating 5 piece band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Best described as Americana JamFunk with a…

Add to Calendar

Catch TWINE: Friday, April 17 at 9:00 pm at Murphy’s Pub & Grill in Rapid City

Friday, April 24 at 7:30 pm at Performing Arts Center in Rapid City

Jennifer Lyn & The Groove Revival are bringing their Electric Eden set to a theater stage, building the night around blues-rock originals and a lineup of reworked classics. The set pulls from artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, but it is not built as a nostalgia run. The focus is on performance, pacing, and keeping the audience locked in from the first note.

Jennifer Lyn & The Groove Revival have been building momentum since their 2021 EP Nothing Holding Me Down, which reached #4 on the Billboard Blues chart. Since then, their releases have consistently landed in the top 20 on blues radio, and the band has picked up multiple Independent Blues Music Award nominations along the way. At the center of it is Jennifer Lyn’s guitar work and vocals, backed by a full band that leans into dual-guitar interplay and a heavier blues-rock sound.

Catch this show Friday, April 24 at 7:30 pm at the Performing Arts Center of Rapid City.

Tickets are available now: https://bit.ly/ElectricEden-RapidCity

Give them a listen:

Jennifer Lyn & The Groove Revival: Electric Eden

Fri, Apr 24 • 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm

@ Performing Arts Center of Rapid City – Historic Theater in Rapid City

Get Tickets

Add to Calendar

The Minnesota band has been moving through the Midwest bluegrass circuit for years, building a following the slow way, one room at a time. They show up regularly in the Hills, and each pass through tends to pull a mix of people who’ve been tracking them for a while and others who caught one set and came back for more.

They don’t play bluegrass like it’s background music. The tempo stays up, the transitions come quick, and the sets lean more toward momentum than space. Fiddle, banjo, and mandolin all stay in motion, trading leads without much downtime. It lands closer to a festival set than a quiet seated show, even in smaller rooms.

The Beacon is set up more like a living room than a traditional venue. Garage doors let fresh air drift in, and there are comfortable places to tuck in alongside an often packed dance floor. People settle in where they want, but as the music ramps up, the room easily flips from a relaxed hang to a fully engaged crowd.

Pert Near Sandstone tends to pull that kind of attention. If you’ve seen them before, you know what their sets feel like. If you haven’t, expect a fast, driving bluegrass show with a lot of movement between instruments and a steady pace from start to finish.

Most of what you hear about Pert Near Sandstone comes back to the live show. On the drive home, people talk about how the whole set moves and how locked in the band feels from start to finish. There’s a lot happening around the Hills this weekend, but this is the kind of show that makes the drive to Custer make sense. Spring’s finally here, and it’s a great time to head that direction.

Pert Near Sandstone

Fri, Apr 17 • 7:00 pm

@ Custer Beacon in Custer

Get Tickets

Add to Calendar

Give them a listen:

photo credit Tony Nelson

The Sheridan, Wyoming Americana band brings two nights to the Black Hills this weekend, with a new album not far behind.

Ten years of long weekends on the road adds up. The Two Tracks out of Sheridan, Wyoming have been doing the math on that for a while now, and they are not close to done. They have full-time jobs and families back home, they tour in whatever windows they can find, and they have never really chased anything beyond making music that holds up. Led by husband-and-wife Dave and Julie Huebner, the quartet is rounded out by bassist Taylor Phillips and drummer Fernando Serna. Dave plays both guitar and cello, and it is the cello that sits at the center of the band’s sound, not as texture or accent, but as the thing the music is built around.

“We’ve never had illusions of some sort of fame,” says Dave Huebner. “More we just wanted to create good music that people cared about.”

That framing sounds modest until you think about how hard it is to hold onto. They tour in long weekends and the occasional week-long stretch, working their way through the West and back again. Their previous record, Cheers to Solitude, landed in the top 40 on Americana radio. They did not make a big thing of it. They just kept going.

Their next studio album, Seasons Unknown, comes out June 5. The lead single, Mexico By Friday, drops April 24. They recorded it in Nashville with Grammy-nominated producer Will Kimbrough, five-time Grammy-winning engineer Sean Sullivan, and four-time Grammy-winning mixer Trina Shoemaker.

Before any of that, they have two shows in the Black Hills this weekend. Friday, April 3, they play The Matthews Opera House in Spearfish at 7 p.m., with tickets available in advance. Saturday, April 4, they are at The Custer Beacon at 7 p.m., donation at the door.

The two venues this weekend are genuinely different spaces, and the band pays attention to that. The Matthews gives the band room to pull the sound down, let the cello carry more of the weight. The Beacon is looser, more casual, the kind of room where the band and the crowd end up a lot closer together.

“What’s fun about our music is that it’s always appropriate for any venue we play.”

That is less a boast than an observation about what Americana can do when the writing is solid enough to carry different configurations.

The Two Tracks have been coming to the Black Hills for years and have friends here. They are also playing some new material, so the setlists will have some things people have not heard yet alongside songs from a catalog they have been building since the beginning.

When asked what sticks with them from the road, the answer is specific:
Walking the Blue Ridge Parkway, catching a super bloom in the Nevada desert, a bad night of sleep in a humid Midwestern hotel room before an early departure. The songs come from the adventure along the way. Ten years of that, and they are still telling people the same thing: “Take a chance on bands you don’t know. Give it a try.”

Friday, April 3 / Matthews Opera House
in Spearfish / 7 p.m. / Tickets available in advance

Saturday, April 4 / The Custer Beacon
in Custer / 7 p.m. / Donation at the door

NEW ALBUM:
Seasons Unknown out June 5, 2026.
Single Mexico By Friday available April 24.

The Two Tracks: thetwotracks.com
Facebook: @thetwotracks
Instagram: @thetwotracks

Keb’ Mo’ to Headline with Ruthie Foster and Amani Burnham on
Saturday, July 11, 2026

DEADWOOD, S.D. — Deadwood Blues Festival 2026 is proud to announce the
Saturday night lineup at Outlaw Square for July 11, 2026, featuring Amani Burnham,
Ruthie Foster, and Keb’ Mo’.

The evening will open with Amani Burnham, a young, up-and-coming blues-rock artist
gaining momentum with a fresh sound and a growing profile. Burnham will be followed
by Ruthie Foster, the acclaimed vocalist and songwriter whose powerful blend of blues,
soul, and gospel has earned widespread recognition, including multiple GRAMMY
nominations and a 2025 GRAMMY win for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Mileage.
Headlining the night is Keb’ Mo’, one of the most respected and award-winning artists
in modern blues. With five GRAMMY Awards and a career spanning blues, folk, soul,
and Americana, Keb’ Mo’ brings a level of artistry and stage presence that makes him a
standout headliner for the festival’s 2026 return.

“This lineup reflects what we want Deadwood Blues Festival to be,” said festival organizers. “It brings together an exciting young artist, a powerful and celebrated performer in Ruthie Foster, and a living legend in Keb’ Mo’. It’s a strong Saturday night at Outlaw Square and a great example of the kind of experience we’re building in Deadwood.”

Deadwood Blues Festival 2026 will take place July 10–12, 2026, with Saturday night at
Outlaw Square serving as one of the weekend’s signature events. Additional regional
artists and the full festival schedule will be announced later.

Held in the heart of historic Deadwood, the festival brings together national and regional
blues talent for a city-wide weekend of live music. The event continues to build on its
early momentum by creating a destination experience for blues fans across the region.

Tickets and festival packages will be available at
10 am, Monday, March 30th, at

Website and Tickets: www.deadwoodbluesfest.com

There are moments in The Squirrels where the room will be laughing, and moments where it won’t be.
The show opens March 27 at Catalyst Theater Company’s space on 7th Street. It moves fast between absurd comedy and something sharper, without much warning, and the production doesn’t try to smooth those edges out.

“It’s really funny when it’s funny and really dark when it’s dark,” said director Ryan Puffer.

The story drops a group of squirrels into a tree heading into winter. Food is limited, territory matters, and the tension between them doesn’t stay quiet for long. What starts off strange settles into something more recognizable as the lines between them harden.

On paper, actors playing squirrels could feel like a gimmick. It doesn’t. The cast plays it straight and commits fully to the physical world of the show, which is what makes it land.

“We focused on movement and the physical nature of the squirrels,” Puffer said.

That physical commitment was one of the harder parts of building the production. It takes a certain kind of actor to go all the way into something this strange and still keep it grounded.

“The biggest challenge is finding actors who are game with being silly and inhabiting the world of squirrels… but also still find the heart and sincerity in the story,” he said.

Underneath the surface, the show keeps circling questions about who belongs, who gets pushed out, and what happens when resources get tight. Those ideas are there, but they’re never spelled out for you.

“Even though it’s a semi-serious story about class and race, the characters are still squirrels,” Puffer said.

For audiences walking in without context, the shifts in tone can be abrupt, but there’s something in the characters that starts to feel familiar as it goes.

“The play truly fluctuates between hilarious moments and shocking moments and sad moments… just come in with an open mind and be along for the ride,” Puffer said.

The run also includes pay-what-you-can performances, supported by the Rapid City Arts Council, continuing Catalyst’s effort to keep their work accessible to the community.

“Our entire community should get the opportunity to experience art,” Puffer said.

The Squirrels runs March 27 through April 18 at Catalyst Theater Company, 513 7th Street in Rapid City.

Photos courtesy of Catalyst Theater Company

The Squirrels runs March 27 through April 18
at Catalyst Theater Company,
513 7th Street in Rapid City.

CAST:

Sciurus: Justin Kleiman
Mammalia: Mandy Pheil
Chordata: Lanaya Young
Carolinensis: Kai Dwyer
Rodentia: Angela Miller
Sciuridae/The Scientist: Ryan Bozer
Squirrel Ensemble: Matt Bertrand, Laura Savage