Forge North

Genre.Folk Genres.Rock N Blues

Forge North is a five-piece, Americana folk-rock ensemble who forged their creative energy creating music in the potato shack of a blueberry farm in Longville. Their music and vocal harmonies form layers-on -layers, rings on a tree, circling and strengthening the core, bringing life to their songs. Known for their distinctive, full-bodied harmonies and textured, soulful sound, Forge North invites you to dance like no one is watching every show they do. Helmed by Charley Wagner, who soaks his hearty, rough-sawn mantras in warm, soulful grit, the band finds itself exploring peace and personal growth atop a sound best described as ‘what happened when Neko Case met Eddie Vedder.’ Tristan Schultz plants rows of bass lines atop Grant Raddatz’s anchoring groove. Matt Gutzmann tends to the fading art of the pedal steel while Garret Raddatz marinates with ambience and light from his keys. As Charley Wagner puts it, they are, “Thankful to do. Thankful to have done. Thankful for the chance, to sit, stand, or run.”

photo credit @thefervidmind

About...

On any given weekend in glades and glens carved into stands of pines, upon a nearby shore, someone is singing. Often from the heart. Usually accompanied by some virtuosic twizzle of a bandmate's guitar, fiddle, keyboard, or loop station. Many times, people are listening, singing along, shimmying their shoulders and letting their hips declaratively wiggle while their feet can't help but tap.

A few years ago, I learned music as we know it is only possible here on Earth. Music, as it soundtracks our moments of days, like water, is a sign of planetary life. It only happens here, on this Pale Blue Dot. What we hear each weekend in our bars, restaurants, and concert halls isn't possible in The Big Quiet beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Since knowing this fact, I haven't been able to unknow it.

This website is an attempt to link the Signal Fires of live music, of life, that buzz, hum, and wiggle the strings weaving us together in community in these Northwoods. If you need a place to listen to music, or an artist to listen to, hopefully you'll find something here to celebrate what it means being Earthlings with your neighbors.

Take care,

Mary O.

P.S. If you are one of these venues or artists and want to update your info, drop me a line. If you want to be added, also drop me a line.

Why not just stay informed via Instagram or Facebook?

Those systems are designed to monetize our personal connections. I’m hoping you’ll join me, in a quiet act of resistance, in the email space to preserve a more authentic, intentional connection that compose our community of music lovers. The connections we share when we melt our faces, close our eyes, or raise our hands high as grateful listeners.