The Spine Stealers

The Spine Stealers make spooky folk inspired by dark lakes, brain-burned nostalgia and a melancholic hue. The band grew from the duo of Kate Ruland and Emma O'Shea, who learned guitar together during the height of the pandemic.

Their first year in 2023 they opened for Dead Horses at the Majestic Theater Folk Fest in Madison, WI, won the Blue Ox Music Festival Virtual Band Competition and played the festival that June. They released their first EP, River Teeth Tapes, in July of 2023. In 2024, they hit the highways, concretizing their place in the folk scene of the Midwest. The duo were featured on the lineups of Madison, WI Waterfront Festival and Atwood Fest, Rhinelander, WI Project North Music Festival, Grand Rapid, MN Festival Rialto. They played the Lounge at Stoughton Opera house for Haley Heyndrickx, and opened for Arcadian Wild at Stoughton Opera House. They released their debut album, If the Sky Falls, Beyond the Sidewalks, in October of 2024. The band was featured on Gems on VHS playlist in October.

This year the band began with opening Basia Bulat at the Majestic Theater in Madison, WI as well as their first tour to Nashville, TN in April. The band is working in the studio recording their second EP and several features coming out this year. They will be traveling outside of the Midwest, eager to take on their first national tour with Ross Thorn in August taking them out to the Pacific Northwest and rugged Western United States.

Ross Thorn

With a pastoral upbringing in northern Wisconsin, Ross Thorn's music emanates as a warm and soulful hymn, waking up optimistically beside a snow-covered window. His sharply crafted and often humorous lyrics-distinctly reminiscent of great folk artists like John Prine-reveal internal struggles of empathy, questions of human character and virtue, and a search for hope, often finding solace in some unanticipated truth. In 2023, Thorn released his debut album, Hugo, a thoughtful exploration into mortality, loss, and identity. The 9-track record leans heavily into his folk and country roots, showcasing introspective and melancholic songwriting along with political fervor and compassion for others-an album for anyone that appreciates an old sound with a forward-looking message. These songs caught the attention of Trampled By Turtles, who selected Thorn to open for them and Jenny Lewis at their annual sold-out show in Duluth. His second album, Fitting In, is set to release in August of 2025. The album showcases fine-tuned songwriting through traditional and contemporary folk tunes that explore the humorous and somber sides of the human condition.