Picking Banjos at The Cabin

The Lowest Pair draws large crowd to The Cabin

More stories from Sam Martinez

Picking+Banjos+at+The+Cabin

Photo by Sam Martinez

Cabin co-chair Nick Doherty knows there is a point when a musician or a band has too much recognition or carries too big a price tag to play at The Cabin.

However, when he contacted The Lowest Pair, Doherty said he was pleased to discover this wasn’t the case.

“I definitely feel like (The Lowest Pair) were almost out of our price range,” Doherty said. “But it just happened to work out.”

Doherty said he first saw The Lowest Pair for Trampled by Turtles at the State Theater a few years ago, and they were one of the first groups he reached out to for this semester’s Cabin series.

All the seats at The Cabin were filled with a mix of students and community members for the Friday night performance, with several people standing to watch the show.

Doherty said in terms of age, this may have been the most diverse crowd he has ever seen at a Cabin show.

Liz Mansour and Michaela Smith were two students who showed up early to get a seat in the front. Mansour said The Cabin was a relaxing, but fun place to spend an evening.

“We always like to come and investigate new artists,” Smith said. “It’s a nice de-stressor on a Friday.”

The Lowest Pair is a banjo-picking duo that consists of Kendl Winter, from Olympia, Wash. and Palmer T. Lee from Minneapolis. The band released their second album “The Sacred Heart Sessions” last February.

The album was recorded in an old church in Duluth, and Paul Whyte of the Duluth Reader said in an album review that the choice of recording in a church added some sort of spiritual element to the recording.

“The thick natural reverb tone of the church turned music venue and studio compliments their tone perfectly,” Whyte said.

Apart from opening for Trampled by Turtles at the State Theater in 2013, The Lowest Pair was in Eau Claire this summer at the Blue Ox Music festival.

The band went on to play Festival Palomino in Shakopee, Minn. the following day, a festival organized by Trampled by Turtles.

Having played a lot of larger venues and festivals this summer, Winter said she enjoys playing at a more intimate venue like The Cabin because she gets to see people’s expressions and talk to them after the show.

“Everyone’s got a story,” Winter said. “And it’s kind of neat to hear why people relate to our music.”

Next weekend The Cabin will continue to offer free on-campus entertainment with a Friday show from Clearwater Comedy and back to music on Saturday with a show from John Mark Nelson with Len Voy.