Star Tribune
Video (06:11) Click above to hear our mini-concert by Page Burkum (left) and Jack Torrey.

It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was just this past winter when the Twin Cities' love affair with the Cactus Blossoms reached a feverish pitch again.

This performance by the harmonious country-rockers is one of the first chances for hometown fans to see them in action since their winter-blues-fighting four-week residency at the Turf Club. Those loose, playful shows at the band's old haunt were as warm as St. Paul gets in January.

Seven months later, the Turf faces massive reconstruction following damage in the George Floyd riots, while the Blossoms themselves are up against something they've never seen before: a year without touring.

The singing brothers who lead the band, Page Burkum and Jack Torrey, have been road hounds for much of the last decade. They especially toured hard around the release of their richly twangy 2016 debut "You're Dreaming" and last year's moodier and lusher "Easy Way." Those records and the latest news on the group are available via thecactusblossoms.com.

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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