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Here's something new for concerts at the Minnesota Zoo: a current country star and beloved Brooklyn rockers with Minnesota connections.
Deep-voiced Nashville crooner Josh Turner, known for "Your Man" and "Why Don't We Just Dance," will become the first high-profile contemporary country star to headline at the zoo on Aug. 23, while always popular The Hold Steady, Minnesota-reared Brooklyn rockers who just released their first album in four years, "Teeth Dreams," are booked July 5.
The Twin Cities bluegrass/folk-flavored Okee Dokee Brothers, who won a Grammy for children's music in 2013, will be featured in a Father's Day concert June 15 at the zoo's Weesner Family Amphitheater.
Otherwise, it sounds like a summer of reruns for the Music in the Zoo series. At least that's the case with most of the 16 shows — more than half of the zoo's slate — that were announced Monday. More concerts are expected to be announced this month.
Such zoo regulars as Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Trombone Shorty, Ziggy Marley, Rufus Wainwright and Robert Cray are returning.
Aaron Neville, who has performed at the zoo with the Neville Brothers, will serenade solo on "Tell It Like It Is" and "Don't Know Much" on June 19.
The Monkees, the Prefab Four from the 1960s, are now three after the death of singer Davy Jones, who played the zoo with the group the summer before his death in 2012. Michael Nesmith, who was not a part of that show, will be in the fold this time.
Banjo god Béla Fleck will return to the zoo, this time with Brooklyn Rider, a string quartet that, like the Hold Steady, is New York-based but Twin Cities-rooted.
