Not long after Katy Vernon met her future husband, Randy, on a train ride from Amsterdam to Berlin in 1992, she realized she would have to move to his homeland and not the other way around if they were going to commit long-term.

"His name was never going to work in England," said Vernon, a London native, recounting how her friends would snicker anytime she mentioned him.

"Randy," you see, carries the "lustful" connotation much more strongly there than here.

Twenty-two years later, Vernon has now lived in Minnesota longer than she did in England, and in recent years her roots have been firmly planted as one of the Twin Cities' most beloved folky singer/songwriters.

Her newest album, "Present," at once shows off her blooming relationship with her local band — with whom she will promote the album Sunday at Icehouse in south Minneapolis — as well as it touts her happy home life in White Bear Lake. One of the standout songs, "Lily," jubilantly compares her eldest of two daughters to her favorite Crayola colors, while the ballad "Heart Is in Your Hands" celebrates motherhood. And the romantic gem "Loud" — well, let's just say it sounds a bit randy.

"I'm mostly a writer of sad songs, but got away with a few happy ones here," quipped Vernon, who is well-known for singing her melancholy tunes accompanied by an instrument more associated with warm, happy vibes: the ukulele, which she only picked up five years ago. She got her start in local clubs fronting a rockier early-'00s band, the Camdens.

Vernon played her uke throughout the "Present" recording sessions with producer Kevin Bowe, but she is quick to point out, "There's more than one way of playing it. It's like any other instrument: It can reflect the mood of what you're feeling."

She certainly has reason to feel sad about her youth in England.

First her mom died of lymphoma when Katy was only 12, then her father died suddenly of a heart attack when she was 17. One of her older brothers was left in her charge, while the other was permanently hospitalized with severe cerebral palsy. (Katy has been a strong supporter of Arc Greater Twin Cities as a result.)

"It hit me this year that I'm the same age my mom was when she was diagnosed," Vernon said, also noting that her daughters Lily and Daisy, 13 and 11, are close in age to how old she was then.

Those time markers help underline the reason she titled her record "Present."

"Sometimes the present is still really hard and challenging, and grief is still part of my life," she said. "But that's just life and everyone has to deal with things. I'm finally embracing that."

Vernon's Icehouse release party Sunday is an early show, 5 p.m., with Bowe opening ($8-$10, all ages).

Random mix

"Jug Band Hokum," a documentary on the 33rd annual Battle of the Jug Bands by Emmy-winning filmmaker and musician Jack Norton, will premiere Friday at 9:30 p.m. at the ShowPlace Icon Theater at West End in St. Louis Park. See the fun trailer and get ticket info at JugBandHokum.com. …

As if their tour dates with the Blind Shake didn't keep them busy enough, Jim and Mike Blaha have a new band called Shadow in the Cracks, which is less thrashy and more heavily steeped in '60s psyche-rock brand guitar whir. They perform Friday at the Turf Club on a bill with Fargo-reared Am/Rep vets Hammerhead (10 p.m., $10). … With Nye's still tentatively scheduled to close at year's end, the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band is stepping out elsewhere for a new monthly brunch performance at the Turf Club on Sunday (11 a.m.-3 p.m., free). …

Self-Evident is the latest band to make up its own brand of beer — a Scottish-style ale — in the Bands That Brew series at Day Block Brewing, the end result of which is a tapping party with a performance Friday (9 p.m., $10, 1105 Washington Av. S., Mpls.). … With one of the sweetest, floweriest male folk-pop singer voices since the late Jeff Hanson was still with us, Ben Cook-Feltz sings about growing older, falling in love and other near-death experiences on "She Doesn't Believe Me," a new collection of ornately arranged Americana strummers and gorgeous piano ballads. His release party is Friday at the 331 Club (9 p.m., free). …

My report last week on Hüsker Dü's new merchandise website was ridiculously inflated by national music blogs such as Stereogum and Diffuser, who linked to our story but irresponsibly added the R word ("reunion") in headlines solely for the purpose of driving Web traffic. "Whoa, slow down everybody," bassist Greg Norton wrote in response on Facebook. "We're just trying to sell a few T-shirts."

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658