Article Contributed by Joshua Dulas
Published on 2026-06-17
Rippin & Pickin : Camp Snap Photos By Joshua Dulas
On a windswept yet gorgeous evening on the prairie, cars and trucks parked around Lost Saint Brewing in Blue Earth, MN. People streamed in with lawn chairs, curiously stepping around the old white van that was still being emptied of its equipment. Southern Minnesota’s first true heatwave of the year broke just in time for the show…the previous several days had pushed the mercury close to ninety, but we sat, delighted, at a very refreshing sixty-seven degrees with low humidity as we approached showtime. Some early day storms had threatened to push everything inside the brewery, but the clouds cleared off just in time, so celebrate outside we would!
A night rife with driving songs, shoutouts to highways and interstates, and jokes about Green giants… Part informal class reunion, part folk-jam show: Four Blue Earth Area class of ‘06 graduates plus one honorary Blue Earthling had assembled for a night of boogying provided by Minnesota roots music mainstays Pert Near Sandstone. There were several more classmates in attendance outside of our tight-knit little tribe, including one who even provided some impromptu tech support to help an ailing PA system. Even before the first notes were played, everything about this little happening felt incredibly communal and real. At times raw but definitely always authentic.
Beer poured, wine flowed & I enjoyed my Lil’ Devil Rootbeer immensely as I watched the band complete sound check with Brewmaster Mike Lahti working on some last minute fine tuning. The sun was hot on my back, and I was grateful it wasn't in my face. The band stood, sun-drenched, on the simple uncovered stage built from a flat-bed trailer with latticing on the front of it. An entirely appropriate old duotone metal-clad shop provided the backdrop for the evening's festivities. The gravel parking lot serving as the dance space kept any would-be spinners at bay and safely seated in a menagerie of lawn chairs, foldables, and picnic tables spread across the space.
Pert Near Sandstone personnel on stage included: J Lenz, guitar; Kevin Kniebel, Banjo; the multi-talented “Nasty” Nate Sipe on Mandolin, Fiddle & lap steel & Justin Bruhn, with a broken toe courtesy of a stove kick the night before, on upright bass.
An extended fiddle intro signaled our official start at 6:39 PM, and we were off to the races. Bass, banjo, and guitar joined in to form a raucous cacophony of acoustic sounds. Lyrics referencing drinking wine and singing songs felt entirely appropriate given the evening's setting. After a callout by Lenz to nearby Interstate 90, Siep switched over to the Mandolin, and we were treated to an extended breakdown on the new track "Pipedream." Jolly Green Giant shoutouts and the fiddle set us up for "Twenty Cups of Coffee in the Morning," the cure all for whatever ails you. New song, "Last Call Man" featured the ever versatile Nasty Nate jumping on to the pedal steel and providing a very surfy little lick that floated just over the chorus as Lenz sang: “I keep falling for them happy hour girls. She's a top shelf gal, but tonight she just might settle for the rail.”
Drinking songs morphed into traveling songs: "I've been travelin’ down this road I barely know, I think this road might become my home” was harmonized beautifully before some technical difficulties with the mics threatened to derail the energy, but a banger of a banjo solo came just in time to save the moment, and everybody on stage eventually took their turn rippin’ & pickin’ in this song. Gorgeous harmonies kept flowing between J & Justin on "Solid Gone" and then it was announced that we had moved into the animal portion of the set with the band kicking into "Snake Charmer." As the song ended, almost as if on cue, a flock of circling Vultures was noted by Lenz: “They must know Pert Nears playin’”, he quipped with a smile. The first set concluded with "Rattlesnake," featuring heavy interplay between all the band's members.
After a short break, the lap steel made another appearance for "Rise & Shine" and the mighty Mississippi River was given a shout out for "Water’s Rising." With Nate Sipe on lead vocals and his mando driving the bus, J Lenz took us all for a ride with an extra tasty guitar solo. After a small tuning break: "Because we care!” they led into "His Island," with a chugging rhythm and mando overlays that eventually evolved into an incredibly spaced out and heady jam. With the sun sinking low in the western sky and shadows taking over, things slowed down a bit on "Bloom Again." And because we can't have a bluegrass set that doesn't contain at least one song about a train, we then hopped the rails for "End of the Line." A big ole jam brought the second set to a close, and the crowd was begging for more. The band happily obliged by busting out Eddie Rabbit’s 1980 smash hit, "Drivin’ My Life Away," which got all in attendance singing along for the first time that evening. "Paradise "sent us all off into the night, deliriously happy, bellies full of drink and souls filled with positive vibrations.
Post show, our little group retreated to a machine shed in an undisclosed location outside of town to finish the night off in a celebration of brotherhood and remembrance of the good old days, and all the while aware and grateful that there are still glory days yet to come.
Those who are in the know already know: The jam community has roots that run deeper than the crops growing in the fertile Southern Minnesota soil. I learned in a discussion with J Lenz around the merch box post-show that he and Mike Lahti go way back, and this show has indeed been brewing for a good long time. It is really pretty mindblowing to me to witness bands of the caliber of Pert Near playing shows in the little town I grew up in. What is being cultivated down in Blue Earth at the former farm & fleet store on old highway 169, mere steps away from the old home place, is the product of a dream and a vision to bring an injection of art and culture to the community. It's a labor of love, amidst the suds, and this former Blue Earthling is, for one, seriously thrilled to see it.
