Dr. Dog, Father John Misty to join Trampled by Turtles at Palomino 2015

The second annual festival at Canterbury Park lands Sept. 19 with other rootsy/Americana favorites such as Benjamin Booker and Calexico.

May 12, 2015 at 2:13PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Trampled by Turtles played to about 10,000 fans during last year's inaugural Festival Palomino at Canterbury Park. / Kyndell Harkenss, Star Tribune
Trampled by Turtles played to about 10,000 fans during last year's inaugural Festival Palomino at Canterbury Park. / Kyndell Harkenss, Star Tribune (DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

If last year's Festival Palomino at Canterbury Park was the maiden race, this year's is looking a lot more like a classic. Among the acts joining hosts Trampled by Turtles for the second annual Americana-breed music run on Sept. 19 are locally beloved indie-rock favorites Dr. Dog and Father John Misty, British folk hero Laura Marling, buzzing Southerners Benjamin Booker and Shakey Graves, rootsy critics' darlings Calexico and alt-country star Lydia Loveless.

Father John Misty. / Star Tribune file
Father John Misty. / Star Tribune file (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Tickets for the fest go on sale Friday through First Avenue outlets and TBT's site at $50 for general admission or $140 for VIP. Click here for full ticket info.

Once again, the festival will be held on the grounds inside the horse track in Shakopee. The site earned favorable response from fans last year, laid out around two alternately running stages with a large span of cushy grass turf between them and plenty of bathrooms and concessions indoors -- and shelter, should a thunderstorm kick up like last year (when Spirit Family Reunion memorably played an impromptu set inside).

You can really tell with this year's lineup that the festival is co-promoted and booked by First Avenue, since Dr. Dog, Father John Misty and Booker have put on some of the most ecstatically received shows the club has seen over the past half-year. FJM is also playing the instantly sold-out May 30 show with Alabama Shakes on Hall's Island in Minneapolis, also a First Ave Inc. product.

You can tell the fellas in Trampled had a say in the booking, too: Austin busker Shakey Graves is also opening their Red Rocks Amphitheater show a few weeks before Palomino, and the strings-heavy Mexi-Zona rockers Calexico and songwriting giant Marling are favorites of the band members. The fest's opening act will be the Lowest Pair, the bluegrassy duo earning a national buzz after issuing a debut EP last year produced by TBT frontman Dave Simonett.

Trampled will have stored up quite a bit of fan demand for the festival, having only played one Twin Cities so far this year (a quickly sold-out gig two weekends ago at First Ave) amid another busy spring and summer tour schedule. The sextet's only other Minnesota gig on the books for now is their July 11 show at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth.

Festival goers headed back to the stages after a short but powerful rain storm hit Palomino last year.
Festival goers headed back to the stages after a short but powerful rain storm hit Palomino last year. (DML - Star Tribune Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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