The Lowland Lakers are a Midwest folk trio based out of Minneapolis with roots in bluegrass, rock & roll, and country. They serve up their own take on acoustic Americana through a minimal use of guitar, banjo, fiddle, double bass, and distinct vocal harmonies. Songs in their catalog tend to differ in theme and feel giving the group a wide dynamic range and balanced emotional charge. Having played a wild variety of venues around the upper Midwest, the Lowland Lakers are as comfortable at a rowdy dive bar as they are at an intimate listening session. The band invites you to explore their place under the sun, wherever it might be. They invite you to take off your shoes and stay a while.
Haley Rydell and Nate Case met through a mutual friend in October of 2004 at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Lake Superior Hall. Case's dorm complex was home to the infant jam sessions among their freshman year jam band, Noble Haze. The band saw minor success opening UMD's big spring concert for national giants, Guster, and the group soon let their newly found rock stardom go completely to their heads.
As Noble Haze was dis-banding, and Rydell re-locating to Fargo/Moorhead, new musical endeavors were on the horizon. Case began playing off and on with a funk group known as Heavy J and the Fantastics as well as the indie rock quartet Dirty Horse, while Rydell met up with local Fargo friends and helped form the rowdy bluegrass pickin' Johnson Family band.
Not too soon after, the travel bug came itching and Rydell moved out to Denver and formed the power folk duo, I'm With Her, with local songstress Angie Stevens, while Case remained in Duluth rocking out wildly. It was in this Duluth lull period where Case met fellow country rocker Matt Donoghue, who would later become the Lowland Lakers bassist and most educated member. The attraction of being closer to home and yet not at the same time took hold for both Case and Rydell, who soon moved to the big city of Minneapolis and sparked the idea of a new band over some strong coffee and turkey sandwiches. Never forgetting that Donoghue had moved to town just months before, Case set out on a mission to lure him into the band, which ultimately proved successful.
In the spring of 2017 Donoghue graduated from the University of Minnesota with a PHD and is now a resident physician at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Stepping in to pick up where Matt left off is Taylor Donskey, a photographer and bassist from the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Taylor adds a very natural 3rd harmony to the trio and has brought along a list of his own original music to fold into the mix.
Haley, Nate, and Taylor are diving in and exploring parts of their stories that aren't always the easiest to talk or sing about. As these stories come into focus you are able to get a good sense of where these 3 have been, and even a little bit about where they would like to end up. The band is gearing up to record their second long playing record, excited and a little nervous to share with you all the continuation of their history.
