Friday July 13 — 6:00pm
The Town Hall Stompers are an old-time string band based in Minneapolis. They started as a group back in 2007 and would meet at the Town Hall Brewery (hence the name) every once in a while to play some of their favorite old-time tunes and songs. Their primary influences include bands like the Skillet Likkers, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, and the Georgia Yellowhammers, all of whom recorded back in the 1920s and were part of a musical tradition that stretched back to the pre-Civil War era.
Since they’re a somewhat loose conglomerate of musicians, the Stompers usually rotate between three and seven members. This particular lineup of the Town Hall Trio consists of Matt Neil on fiddle, Nate Sipe on fiddle, mandolin and voice, and Adam Kiesling on guitar, banjo and voice.
Matt Neil grew up in Winona, MN, in a musical family and started playing the violin in grade school. He gravitated to the sounds of old-time and traditional Cajun music in his early twenties, and spent some time fiddling for the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers (a Twin Cities-based Appalachian clogging group) and old-time string band, the Mill City Grinders. He currently fiddles with the Cajun band, Bayou Grenouille.
Nate Sipe grew up in Brooklyn Park, MN and started playing mandolin in his late teens. He was a founding member of Twin Cities-based string band, Pert Near Sandstone, and started playing the fiddle around five years ago. When he’s not on the road with Pert Near, he often lends his musical abilities to a wide variety of bands around the Twin Cities.
Adam Kiesling grew up in Jefferson, WI, and started playing bass as a teenager. He gradually became enamored with old-time string band music, and ended up playing guitar with the Mill City Grinders and for the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers for a number of years. He currently plays the upright bass for Pert Near Sandstone, and also finds time to play with groups like Pig’s Eye Landing, Corpse Reviver, and the Tune Jerks.
