Singer, songwriter, guitar player and grey-bearded stranger Misisipi Mike Wolf teams with the High Plains Drifters to ramble through some good-ole dime-a-dance, beer-drinkin’ music. Wolf hails from the warm end of the big river and set sail for Duluth after a stint in the San Francisco underground. His guitar case is loaded with award-winning original songs and lined with flawless collaboration skills. Expect to hear John Prine, Willie Nelson, 1980s punk, pass-the-tip-jar folk and a little New Orleans ya-ya. The High Plains Drifters are Rick Bruner, Gordon Lewis, Clancy Ward, Lee Martin and Kyle O’Brien.

It’s Oktoberfest 365 days a year for polka punk band Winzige Hosen. Hailing from Duluth’s Bavarian Hills neighborhood, the group packs a Volkswagen bus with guitars, a horn section and one big-ass accordion to deliver a raucous, dance-until-your-lederhosen-split party wherever the doppelbock flows. A New Year’s Eve gig in Cleveland, Ohio, led to at least one stage diving injury, as reported on the group’s Facebook page. Winzige Hosen is Kala Moria on tuba, Eric Bong on bass, Leon Rohrbaugh on drums, Patrick Sunderland on trumpet, Luke Nyen and Abe Curran on guitars and Brian Schanzenbach on vocals and accordion.

Alternative slowcore three-piece Willem Dafoe Fan Club performs hypnotic and haunting music that wouldn’t sound out of place in the latest project of the band’s namesake — the supernatural gothic horror film Nosferatu. The band features Hollis Sparhawk on drums, vocals and Omnichord; Noah Ruona on guitar and vocals; and recently added Jon Marshall on bass. Their music has been compared to lo-fi indie rockers Duster and dream pop band Beach House but it also takes on dark, dramatic elements centered around Sparhawk’s beautiful voice and Ruona’s spare guitar work.

They might wind up on double-secret probation, but the fearless students in the University of Minnesota Duluth Techno Club have traded their laptops, books and homework for turntables, mixers and late-night dance parties. The club’s core includes president and founder Reece C. Wickland and original member Austin Hill, who perform as Wickie B2B SHVDOW. They spin all sorts of electronic dance music such as house, bass, drum and bass, dubstep, UK garage and more. “Our goals are to curate unique events with a special atmosphere to get people to dance,” reads their manifesto.