shugE
Check out the latest installment of North Country Song Sessions, where Eli hung out with shugE at his residence in Minneapolis, drank some coffee and recorded his song “Concrete & Steel”!
shugE. Photos by Eli Gardiner, 2026.
shugE is a prolific songwriter and performer from Minneapolis, who toured the country often from 2004-2012 as a solo artist and as the songwriter/front-person for the bands SORRY OK and Hayduke Lives. During that period, shugE released numerous albums, received support from independent and college radio stations across North America, built a loyal fan-base, and has always been a musicians’ musician, touring and sharing stages with the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Screaming Females, Kimya Dawson, Pat the Bunny, Brook Pridemore, the Taxpayers, David Rovics, O’ Haste Annihilation,” and many others.
In the video below, shugE shares a song titled “Concrete & Steel,” which he explains “is an old song of mine. Before my decade-long hiatus, it was one of my most popular songs, along with ‘Alone When I Die’ and ‘Long Long Time,’ which got some much-appreciated attention from college radio stations around the country. Since coming out of hiatus, my bandmates and I have basically rewritten and reinvented this song, and we’re about to record it at Minnehaha Recording Studio in Minneapolis to be included on a new release very soon.” Watch and listen below!
shugE (with full band) will be performing in Minneapolis with on the following dates:
Saturday, March 14 at 3PM as part of an 18-band folk-punk, Irish folk, and adjacent music genres for the 10th annual Donnybrook mini-festival, hosted by St. George's Folly
Wednesday, May 6 at Hook & Ladder Theater supporting Pat the Bunny's new band Friends in Real Life, who are currently on tour. NOTE: This show will sell out soon, if it hasn't already.
To purchase tickets to both those shows and information on additional tour dates throughout the Midwest scheduled in June and July, please visit shugE’s website below:
About the filmmaker / series creator
Eli Gardiner (Gardiner Productions) is a songwriter, photojournalist, and video creator. You can catch him playing shows all over the Midwest with his band or as a solo performer, and he also captures video and photography for local musicians and nonprofits. His passion is Storytelling through music and pictures.
