A band with strong St. Croix River roots will return to its waters on June 19 for a concert on the Grand Duchess out of Hudson for a three-hour cruise presented by the St. Croix River Association.
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades plays what it calls “progressive high-energy Old-Time folk music". The five-piece group hails from Stevens Point Wisconsin, but has long enjoyed the St. Croix River. Banjo player Russell Pedersen spent several summers as a seasonal National Park Service ranger on the river.
“My seasonal work on the river opened my mind to past and present of the river and people living near it,” says Pedersen. “And it shifted my thoughts to what I could do for the river in the future in all honesty. It made me aware that is something that is not easy to come by. It stirred me up inside and made me proud of where I grew up. Working on the river made me want to help protect it and keep it as beautiful and useful as it is now, forever.”
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The river also factors into several songs by Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. Pedersen says he wrote “River Rat” over the course of a few years while working on the St. Croix. 5 Foot Sturgeon is an instrumental number about a sturgeon he almost caught on the St. Croix and St. Croix Hills is “not so much about the river but thoughts, feelings, and memories I've made in the river valley".
https://www.stcroixriverassociation.org/event/rockin-the-river/
