Paul Metsa in the Press

TWIN CITIES – January 30, 2020 – The Minnesota artist from Virginia, Minnesota, that the Huffington Post once called “Minnesota’s other great Iron Range songwriter,” Paul Metsa, realized yet another Bob Dylan benchmark recently. On January 24, 2020, he helped celebrate “Gerde’s Folk City at 60” — the 60-year anniversary of the opening of Gerdes Folk City club in New York, the famous and intimate Greenwich Village spot where Dylan made his New York City debut in 1961, opening for bluesman John Lee Hooker. The club subsequently supported an array of artists, from folk to blues to rock including Sonic Youth.

Gerde’s Folk City - 60th Anniversary Concert Friday, Jan. 24th 8:00 PM- 9:30 PM (Doors 7:00 PM) Info: http://www.theiridium.com/ 1650 Broadway NYC, $30.00. Featuring folksinger, author, activist Paul Metsa from Minneapolis, hosted by Richard Barone of the Bongos and Bob Porco, grandson of Folk City’s founder and a lineup of great artists who made their mark at Folk City in Greenwich Village. Folk City officially opened January, 1960. Rolling Stone’s “Book of Lists” called Folk City one of the three top music venues in the world. Artists: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel, Bette Midler, the Mamas and the Papas, Patti Smith, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Suzanne Vega, The Byrds and many others.

What’s the Buzz NY musical guest Paul Metsa

BlogTalkRadio | 01/11/20

On Monday night, Minneapolis singer-songwriter Paul Metsa seemed almost as discombobulated at the Parkway Theater as the Vikings’ offense did at U.S. Bank Stadium. The difference is that while the Vikes had a playbook that went nowhere, Metsa worked without a setlist yet still managed to triumph. That’s because he’s a captivating storyteller, whether in song or in conversation, and an adept audible caller, especially when he gets help from his highly skilled musical friends.

Jacob Frey, Mayor of the City of Minneapolis, proclaims Monday, December 23, 2019, as Paul Metsa Day in the City of Minneapolis!

Paul Metsa Day proclaimed in the City of Minneapolis!

Jacob Frey, Mayor of the City of Minneapolis

Monday at the Parkway: Paul Metsa “Holiday on Ice Cubes” 40th Anniversary Concert. HuffPost called him “the other great folksinger from Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range.” A fixture on Minnesota’s music scene for decades, eight-time Minnesota Music Awards winner, radio and TV host, author of “Blue Guitar Highway,” writer of the great American folk song “Jack Ruby in a Cavanagh Hat,” devoted dog lover and newly minted poet (he’ll release his first collection, “Alphabet Jazz,” at this show), Metsa will share the stage with guests including Cats Under the Stars, Sonny Earl and Master of Ceremonies Bobby Vandell. Expect some tender memories of Willie Walker, Metsa’s Thursday-night musical partner at Shaw’s neighborhood bar for eight years, who died on Nov. 19. This event will also be a benefit for a Northeast food shelf. 7-9 p.m.

A dramatic new video will premier online this week underscoring the hateful legacy of gun and racial violence in America to accompany the new Civil Rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Whistle Dixie anymore,” which will be one of the featured live performances September 30 during the annual Actions for Change Concert in Parkland, Fla., site of the February 2018 tragic school shooting in which 14 students and 3 staff members died.

Today Rock the Cause Records released a new single from Minnesota artists Paul Metsa, Wee Willie Walker and Sounds of Blackness, titled “Ain’t Gonna Whistle Dixie Anymore.” The new release comes around the same time in August as the anniversary of last year’s march in Charlottesville, Va. and the four-year anniversary of the uprising in Ferguson, Mo.

A cross-section of Twin Cities music vets have banded together to record a new anti-racism anthem, which they released today ahead of a white supremacist rally planned this weekend in Washington, D.C. Memphis-reared blues belter Willie Walker takes the lead in “Ain’t Gonna Whistle Dixie Anymore,” a song written by and recorded with Minneapolis troubadour Paul Metsa. Local gospel/soul choir Sounds of Blackness also lent their giant voices to put an exclamation point on the song.

Paul Metsa was there. The Iron Range-bred bluesman still occasionally pops up on the bluesfest schedule, though not this year. His invitation to the first fest has a touch of lore.

Odenkirk made a 48­-hour stop in the Twin Cities to soak up stories, sights and atmospherics for a planned six­-part adaptation of Carr’s 2007 memoir, "The Night of the Gun." He and his team are hoping to film it a year from now for AMC, the venue for both "Breaking Bad" and "Saul." 

The long, strange trip of Paul Metsa

By Jon Bream, Star Tribune | 10/17/11

In his compelling new memoir, the Minneapolis music vet rubs shoulders with everyone from Jerry Garcia to Karl Rove.

Neighborhood Notes | Paul Metsa

By Mary Treacy, Twin Cities Daily Planet | 12/04/11

Reading the words of Paul Metsa as recorded in his memoir, Blue Guitar Highways, is a walk through the several decades of the local music scene with all of his and its connections with the ages and stages of American music writ large.

If you've been anywhere in Minnesota live music is heard, chances are you've bumped into Paul Metsa on the stand or at the bar. Guitar slinger, bluesman, folkie, singer, songwriter, bandleader, recording artist, radio host, activist, schmoozer, hustler, poet, storyteller and author, the hard-working, affable Metsa is a true Minnesota original, born on the Iron Range and based in Minneapolis since 1978. He has won seven Minnesota Music Awards and played more than 5,000 gigs. He has a rescue dog named Blackie he adores.

Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann

By William Ruhlmann, AllMusic

Singer/songwriter Paul Metsa is a native of the same Minnesota Iron Range that produced Bob Dylan. His mother was a jazz singer; his father, a tavern owner, also played accordion professionally. In grade school, he had his own folk duo and later a rock band. In 1979, he moved from his home in Virginia, MN, to Minneapolis to pursue his musical career.