Duluth musical mainstays Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles team up to perform new songs in St. Paul
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A pair of Duluth music scene mainstays will perform new songs Thursday night to a sold-out crowd at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Alan Sparhawk of slowcore band Low and the progressive bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles put out a self-titled record together this summer.
Sparhawk formed Low in the early 1990s with his late wife Mimi Parker. They continued to perform as a band until she died from ovarian cancer at the age of 55 in 2022.
The band members from Trampled by Turtles asked Sparhawk to go out on the road with them after Parker died.
“How can you say no when your friends are asking to sing with them?” Sparhawk told MPR News this summer. “It gets you away from grinding at yourself and overthinking things.”
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Sparhawk said the new album came together in just a couple of afternoons.
The bands have a long history of collaborating dating back to the early 2000s when Trampled lead singer and guitarist Dave Simonett was new to Duluth. Simonett told NPR back in 2018 that Sparhawk learned Trampled By Turtles was going to be touring the west coast and invited them to join Low.
“He asked me, ‘Why don't you guys just just hop on a couple shows with us?’” Simonett said. “I was floored.”
Sparhawk also produced Trampled by Turtle’s 2014 album “Wild Animals.”
