Boiled in lead

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OAK CENTER — Two concerts, one featuring a blend of acoustic musicians and the other spotlighting a folk musician who comes back every year, are scheduled this weekend at the Oak Center General Store, rural Lake City.

Boiled in Lead will present a special acoustic quartet concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, and Bill Staines will make a solo appearance at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Boiled in Lead musicians have brought folk music into contemporary times for 25 years. The group’s many instrumental dance tunes incorporate global influences, rhythms, and melodies that keep people’s feet moving.

“Original songs stick in the mind long after the music is over.” spokesmen said. “The players improvise freely yet stay in sync, playing a simmering stew of original and traditional material that sounds fresh and highly identifiable.”

Boiled in Lead and its individual musicians have won more than 20 Minnesota Music Awards, and toured throughout the U.S. and in Europe.

Performing will be Drew Miller on bass, Dean Magraw on guitars, Todd Menton on vocals, guitar, mandolin and bodhran, and David Stenshoel on fiddle.

Staines will present music described as “a slice of Americana, reflecting with the same ease his feelings about the prairie people of the Midwest or the adventurers of the Yukon.”

His solo concerts weave wit and gentle humor into the performance. As one reviewer wrote, “He has a sense of timing to match the best stand-up comic.” More about Staines can be found at www.acousticmusic.com/staines.

Tickets are $5 to $15, based on ability to pay.

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