For several years I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Minneapolis supermusician Shawn Neary, whom I first met when his old band, Boy With Stick, played with my old band, Nolan. He’s from Iowa too, and when I moved up to Minneapolis he’d already been here a few years, playing with Boy With Stick but also with a little band called Tapes ‘n Tapes (whatever happened to those guys?), the delightful pop trio Seymore Saves The World, and finally taking on bass duties for beloved local juggernaut Cloud Cult. Shawn is the best evidence I’ve seen that a person can have a successful career in music while remaining a genuinely nice guy.

He’s also been quietly carving out a (side? solo?) project called The Wapsipinicon, named for a river in Iowa. The other day, Shawn walked straight into my workplace and handed me the band’s first album, San Geronimo, hot off the presses, and I was abundantly grateful. The Wapsipinicon is playing a CD release show at the Kitty Kat Club on March 6. Here is my favorite track from San Geronimo (so far), called “Get Out of My Town.”