Artist


Pert Near Sandstone returns as host band of the 2025 Blue Ox Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Pert Near Sandstone

Pert Near Sandstone has had the privilege of co-curating and hosting the Blue Ox Music Festival since the first 2015 festival.

Crossing Old-time instrumentation with contemporary sensibilities, Pert Near Sandstone emerged twenty years ago from the Minnesota acoustic music scene. With infectious energy and collaborative spirit, they have established themselves as standard-bearers for the vitality of the Midwestern roots music scene and alongside Minnesota brethren Trampled By Turtles and Charlie Parr. They have toured extensively and performed onstage with the likes of Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas, earning dates along the way with everyone from Yonder Mountain String Band to Steve Martin. NPR’s Mountain Stage praised the band for putting a “Midwestern stamp on Appalachian [sounds],” while A Prairie Home Companion described Pert Near Sandstone as “a force on the Minnesota roots music scene and beyond,” and 89.3 The Current praised their live performances as “a frenzied string shredding spree that takes audiences under its spell.”

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