They all come from very different corners of the Americana music realm, and they all happen to have album release parties happening over the next week. Here's a rundown of four rootsy Twin Cities acts with new offerings, and a sample cut off each record.
ROE FAMILY SINGERS
Release party: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Hook & Ladder Theatre, 3010 Minnehaha Av., Mpls., with openers Dustin Arbuckle and the Haymakers, $7 via Ticketfly or $10 at door.
Album: Married bandmates Quillan and Kim Roe and their large, old-timey, front-porch-style bluegrass/folk ensemble have been holding down Mondays at the 331 Club for a decade and played an untold number of fairs, farmers markets and picking fests in between. Their hard work paid off in 2016 when they won as entertainers of the year at the Bluegrass Music Association of Iowa Awards and then attracted the attention of long-standing roots music imprint South Carolina imprint Pinecastle Records, which is putting out their new collection, "Songs of the Mountains, Songs of the Plains." The record features six original tunes, including this sweetly bright-eyed track "O Young Lovers," alongside a grab-bag of old standards such as "Ida Red" and "This Land Is Your Land."
ROMA DI LUNA
Release party: 8 p.m. Friday, Cedar Cultural Center, sold out, with DoubleDragon (featuring RDL's Alexei Casselle and his daughter, Pelagia).
Album: A band that speaks to these disparate times on multiple levels, the folky, familial Minneapolis rock group abruptly ended in 2011 along with its leaders' marriage. But they left a lot of warm memories behind – and a lot of excellent unreleased songs, too, it turns out. Channy Leaneagh of Poliça fame, Alexei Casselle of Kill the Vultures, Mixed Blood Majority, etc., and their all-star crew gathered up their leftovers and used them as inspiration for some hopeful new tunes for their warm, moving reunion album, aptly titled "We Were Made to Forgive."
ROMANTICA
