Andrea Swensson is a host and writer at Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current, where she helms The Local Show, a weekly show dedicated to exploring the Minnesota music scene, and the O.K. Show podcast, which investigates the intersection between music and wellness.
Andrea has been covering Minnesota music actively since 2005. Prior to joining MPR she was the music editor of City Pages, where she founded the AAN AltWeekly Award-winning Gimme Noise music blog, and edited and contributed to online music sites Reveille Magazine and HowWasTheShow.com.
You can hear Andrea when she hosts The Current’s Local Show every Sunday night from 6 to 8 p.m.
1995 was a pivotal year for Prince, as he was in the midst of a years-long battle with his label, Warner Bros. Records, and released his first album, The Gold Experience, under his unpronounceable symbol. Although he was still writing and recording at a fast pace, some of the songs he created during this year wouldn't be released until later in the decade, making it a fascinating time to revisit in our Purple Current Time Machine.
The same day that he released his debut album, 'Tales of America,' J.S. Ondara visited The Current's studio to perform a few songs and talk with 'Local Show' host Andrea Swensson.
Amid surging local and worldwide attention, Minnesota's Dua Saleh performs at The Current and shares conversation with Local Show host Andrea Swensson.
In high school, he was known as Doughty. In adulthood, he went by Hollywood. And from now until eternity, he will be known as an underappreciated architect of the Minneapolis Sound and one of the members of the legendary Grand Central band, who ruled the North Side of Minneapolis in the mid-1970s with members that…
Kerry Alexander of Bad Bad Hats 'steals' the Local Show from Andrea Swensson for a Theft of the Dial. Bad Bad Hats are playing The Current's 14th Birthday Party on Friday, Jan. 18 at First Avenue
Local Show host Andrea Swensson shares her favorite local songs, local albums, and global albums of 2018.
This month, Dessa is preparing to release her new memoir, My Own Devices, in which she shares the very personal stories behind many of her best-known songs and offers poignant reflections on love, heartbreak, and her life on the road. In the first portion of this interview, Dessa and I discussed her long on-and-off relationship with the…
Have you ever been so hung up on an old flame that you’ve contemplated using experimental brainwave technology to extract your love for them from your thoughts, Eternal Sunshine-style? Or wondered what it would be like to tour, perform, and make art alongside someone who you know you can no longer be with but who nevertheless…
Musicians, writers, and hosts from the Current are taking over the Local Show this fall for a special run of 12 guest-hosted episodes, beginning Sunday, September 16.
To mark the release of their sophomore album 'Lightning Round,' Bad Bad Hats played their first headlining show at First Avenue - and stopped by The Current to record a session for the Local Show.
Bad Bad Hats return with their sophomore record 'Lightning Round,' out now on Afternoon Records.
Your Smith has been cocooned in the studio for a while now, writing music and metamorphosing from Caroline Smith to her new persona. She visited The Current in the midst of it all, performing a Caroline Smith favorite and some of her best new music as Your Smith.
Laura and Dave Hoenack could not have picked a more precarious time to buy a record store. The year was 2009, at the height of the real estate crisis and recession. Dave, a special ed teacher, and Laura, who worked in school administration, didn’t have any retail or business experience to speak of, and their…
Now, Now returns after six years with 'Saved' out now on Trans- Records.
Funky outfit Static Panic visit the Local Show to talk with host Andrea Swensson and perform songs from their EP 'Chrome.'
Thomas Abban, the beguiling guitar prodigy and boundary pushing songwriter who has been turning heads in the Twin Cities for the past year, has been signed to the iconic and nearly century-old RCA Records. The label announced the signing today with the national release of two of Abban’s songs, “Death Song” and “Sinner,” on all…
Over the past decade, she’s played to half-full rooms and slogged her way through opening sets in front of distracted crowds. She’s dreamed up ambitious, larger-than-life stage presentations and crammed them into the wings of tiny clubs. After years of paying her dues — and taking a hiatus from performing music to become a full-fledged…
Anyone who had the opportunity to see Maurice McKinnies perform back in the 1960s seems to get the same starry-eyed look in their eyes when they remember back to seeing him live. “Maurice was the one,” Wanda Davis told me once, reflecting on her days singing back-up vocals in his band. “As they say, he’s…
To quote the ever-quotable Toki Wright: when a door closes, a window opens. Just six months after finding out that he would lose his long-running position as Department Head of the Hip Hop Studies program at the now-shuttered McNally College of Music, Toki has announced that he’s relocating to Boston to take an Assistant Chair…
Sandwiched between the release of her new album, Chime, this spring and her first full-length book, My Own Devices, this fall, Dessa spent much of last month taking an eye-opening trip across China and Hong Kong with her bandmates Aby Wolf and Matthew Santos. Orchestrated by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Arts Midwest, which provides tour funding and cultural exchange…