
LIVE IN MINNEAPOLIS
release date: June 2nd 2023
Eli Gardiner is a songwriter from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, currently located in Minneapolis Minnesota. Coming of the 2020 release of his album, The Fire and The Medicine, he formed his full band comprised of drummer Greg Schutte (Mickey Hart, Ryan Bingham) lap steel/electric guitarist Dan Schwartz, keyboardist Kevin Gamble and bassist Nick Salisbury (Ryan Bingham, Brian Fallon).
The live album, LIVE IN MINNEAPOLIS was recorded on a cold night in February at The Aster Cafe by Alchemy Audio. A few of the songs are live versions from the latest album, “Boat at Sea”, “Mountain”, “Villain”and “The Right And The Wrong”. This album also has a handful of new songs that have never been released. The groovy “Bad Weed”, “I’m like a bad weed, I’m growing all the time” a song about being stubborn and growing through bad circumstances. “Flatlands” written while Eli was living in an old farmhouse in Iowa, paints a picture of midwest poverty and tornadoes. And “Saints Among Us” the most recently written song, “how do you see the world when it turns to dust…Saints among us” lays out an optimistic view in the face of a crumbling world.
Press
“I’m listening to Bad Weed just after the MN House voted to legalize cannabis,” - Ann Treacy
“Live in Minneapolis features Gardiner and his new, full live band captured as a whole for the first time” - Will Moore
— WTIP
““Bad Weed” opens with crunchy guitar and a funky, unhurried rhythm, the perfect sound for the playfully defiant refrain:” - Carol Roth
“ ‘Black Crow’ is a moody piece that grows, emerging slowly and steadily” - Andrew Frolish
“Bad Weed” is about struggling to find your own voice and just being stubborn and plowing ahead” - Spill Magazine