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Description
Night one of a two-night residency on the North Shore, the weekend opens with a full-band honky-tonk show led by Erik Koskinen at UpYonder, joined by very special guests including Martha Scanlan, Jon Neufeld, and more. It’s a chance to move, gather, and shake off the winter—music that swings, stretches out, and brings the room together.
Erik Koskinen is a lights-out guitarist and bandleader, and his band is as good and locked-in as you’ll hear anywhere—tight without being stiff, loose without losing the thread. Raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and shaped by northern landscapes and Finnish roots, Koskinen brings a plainspoken, sharply observed voice to American country and folk music. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has called him “the best country songwriter in Minnesota,” which feels less like praise and more like the truth you arrive at by listening.
Songwriter Jeffrey Foucault describes Koskinen’s songs as having “the diamond-hard clarity and simplicity of Tom Petty,” noting his ability to sing a literal statement and “make it move like poetry.” He writes about an America that doesn’t get much play anymore—where working people live hard lives and hard loves, with wit, dignity, and grit. With a cracking live band and familiar collaborators onstage, the focus stays on feel and connection—songs played live, stretched just enough, and shared in real time.
Date & Time
Sat, Feb 7, 2026 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Venue Details
Up Yonder
1615 West Highway 61Grand Marais, Minnesota 55604
