Songwriters Jenna Harting, Rachel Reifenberg, Bryan Wentworth and Lisa Wentworth started jamming in the Wentworth family basement in early 2024. By summer, keyboardist Alex Nelson joined them, soon followed by bassist Matt Prois. With Reifenberg on drums and Bryan Wentworth balancing lead guitar and synthscape, Mid Dream brings together pop and punk with Harting and Lisa Wentworth leading the charge on vocals. Their songs are a mix of upbeat anthems, soul searching ballads, and some things decidedly neither. The band played its first show in January at Wussow’s Concert Cafe.

Rick McLean’s band embodies the essence of garage rock: a guitar/bass/drums three-piece, fuzzed out amps, ironic lyrics and an irreverent sonic attack. With Rick McLean out front on guitar and vocals, Mike McLean on drums, and Pete Biasi on bass, the trio channels 1960s proto-punk, psychedelic surf and spoofy country, all with a Pogues-like sensibility: sloppy, in a good way. Rick McLean’s often humorous lyrics examine the mundane absurdities of post- modern life. The band’s most recent album, From the Junk Drawer, with its sometimes trance-like repetition, explores the dark ludicrousness of living in a media-saturated world. A new record is in the works for later in 2025.

Kaylee Matuszak, perhaps better known as “Duluth’s Famous Kaylee,” is a singer-songwriter born and raised in the Twin Ports. Her sound is an indie-folk flavor with a hint of theatrical flair. According to Matuszak, she “went electric” last Homegrown and hasn’t looked back. “I go so nuts for Homegrown,” she said. “It sometimes seems like I’m in multiple places at once.” She released her album Leading Lady in June. Ordinarily a solo act, Matuszak has plans to bring on additional players to complete a whole band for this year’s Homegrown performance.

Nate J Mattson has been performing solo shows for the past five years, recently becoming a regular performer at the Jade Fountain. He plays electronica music using a modular synthesizer, samplers, sequencers and sometimes guitar and bass. At Homegrown, Mattson will be performing some recent tracks from his YouTube channel, like “The Sun and the Moon Are Not Opposites,” “Song for Plants Number 11” and “Colors and Letters and Water and Sound and Leaves.” He will also showcase some completely new and never-before-heard tunes.