When Duluth was Country
Duluth was once a Midwestern center for country-western music. I’m going to share some fragments of it, and I want readers to help me with three things: 1. Are any PDDers alive who remember these things? 2. Are they still rolling and just not on my radar? These come from a book I bought at Gabriel’s back in the day.
So for example, does anyone remember North Country Shindig?
When I first moved here, the Chmielewski Fun Time Band played at UMD. I didn’t realize they had a TV show!
All of these materials are from a book by Dottie Lou. Her music label was in Minneapolis.
I can’t imagine country music labels in Minneapolis anymore.
There were, at one time, multiple country western shows, live, each week in Duluth and the surrounding area.
… including the Gopher?
The Venture Supper Club no longer exists, yeah? It started as the Hollywood Club, then the Venture Club, then it burned down, I think.
The auditorium would be filled with country at times. Wait. Auditorium?
And the Duchess of Duluth was inflected with a country vibe. All of the above was taken from books by country western musician Dottie Lou.
Dottie Lou maintains a website. And, there is a lot of Dottie on Social Media:
- Facebook on great concerts in Duluth.
- Facebook on Minnesota Music History.
- A Johnny Cash blog.
- A country music archive (Upper Midwest Country & Western News-Scene vol. 1, no. 7),
Dottie Lou’s “A Bunch of Love” is available on YouTube.
The album North Country Shindig is for sale on eBay.
But what I really want are your memories.