Jon Lewis of Minneapolis:

1 Gaelynn Lea's Tiny Desk Concert. NPR's Tiny Desk program ran a contest, and the winner was Minnesota's own Gaelynn Lea. Her music is beautiful, haunting and completely original. Another musical treasure from Duluth.

2 Poliça, "United Crushers." Channy Leaneagh has backed away from electronically altering her gorgeous voice, but her songwriting is as tough as ever. A very powerful recording.

3 Lucius, First Avenue. A very fun night of gorgeous harmonies, great hooks, passionate singing and lots of drumming. This kickoff of Lucius' tour supporting its terrific new album, "Good Grief," went from really good to transcendent when, for one of the encores, the band brought on the wonderful Gaelynn Lea, all the way from Duluth, on violin.

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Jon Bream of the Star Tribune:

1 The Mavericks, the State. Never have you seen a theater full of AARP-eligible Minnesotans dance so much for two hours. But it was the ballads by America's best dance band that stood out: a gorgeous rendition of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" and Raul Malo's solo acoustic reading of Willie Nelson's "Crazy."

2 Greazy Meal benefit for Brian Gallagher, Cabooze. It was an emotional night as the late sax man was honored by the Twin Cities hard-funk band that he co-founded in the '90s. Singer Julius Collins was impassioned all night, and there were memorable guest turns by Sonny Thompson and especially Jody Hanks on "Good Times, Bad Times."

3 Macklemore, Rolling Stone interview. Whether or not you admire his hip-hop, you have to appreciate his openness and frankness. Few stars, especially controversial ones, are as unguarded as he is here, talking about his addictions, relapses, family life and white privilege, the topic of one of his new songs.