Jan 30, 2026 Update:

MinnPost.com has created a massive list of songs that have been released lately too, including many local Minnesota artists.

Big Names Speak Out

Bruce Springsteen

Yesterday, the world was given a surprise gift from The Boss, Bruce Springsteen himself, with the release of his song, “The Streets of Minneapolis”—a song directly calling out what has been happening on the streets here since December 1st, but particularly amplified this month.

But, he is not the only musician who is speaking up.

Tom Morello

This Friday, Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, will be hosting a solidarity concert with Rise Against and others at First Avenue. All proceeds from the sales go directly to the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Tickets sold out immediately.

See full post here.

Green Day

Green Day, who have never shied away from stating how they feel, also spoke up. On January 17th, during one of their shows, they dedicated the song “Holiday” to Minnesota, including a direct call out against Stephen Miller.

Swapping out the “I’m not part of the redneck agenda” with “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda,” during “Idiot,” Armstrong moved on to explain during “Holiday” that “this song is anti-fascist. This song is anti-war. We stand up for our brothers and sisters in Minnesota.” The latter appeared to be an explicit show of support in the wake of the chaos and anxiety unleashed in the North Star State over the past few weeks as ICE agents have descended on Minneapolis to enforce the White House’s aggressive immigration agenda.

Local Music Rocks Too

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR); who has been providing incredible news coverage this month, spoke with three Minnesota artists about how they’re using music to cope with the realities of what Minnesota is dealing with. Geoffrey Wilson was one of those artists.

Like many, Wilson initially knew very little of the situation, other than that a woman had been killed during an interaction with ICE.

“When I’m having big thoughts, they sort of lead to having musical output, as sort of a cathartic process for me,” Wilson said.

Those thoughts became “Who was She to you?” a somber ode to Macklin Good that also asks pointedly if the ICE officer who shot her, Jonathan Ross, understands the weight of his actions. But at the time of writing, he still didn’t know Macklin Good’s full name or the name of the officer who had killed her.

“I had moments of wondering… how accurate are the lyrics going to be, or, sort of how, like, you know, relevant to the moment?” Wilson said.

You can view even more recent local songs in this article from the Minnesota Star Tribune, who have also been providing fantastic journalism during this time.

Any other local musicians releasing music to support Minneapolis or Minnesota? Share in the comments and I’ll add them to this post.

This is something new for me, as I’ve been writing/ blogging about many different topics since 2008, or maybe even before. I’ve been writing off and on here on Substack since 2021–mostly about pop-culture topics, as well as sustainability.

But it is late January 2026, I live in Minneapolis, and I need to do something different for my mental health, as you’ll know doubt understand.

My family moved here in 2019 from Denver. We moved before our kids started school because this was a place we wanted to raise our family, a place we knew we could call home that shared our values, our joy of the outdoors, and provide a great education for our children.

All of that holds true to this day.

But, that is not to say that during our time in this wonderful city, that we haven’t witnessed and experienced very real societal challenges.

1. A global pandemic that interrupted our son’s first year of school in kindergarten, and into first grade. (He was in virtual learning for 11 months.)

2. The murder of George Floyd and protests that followed.

3. An MPS teacher’s strike (was supposed to be 3 days, lasted for 18 days).

4. The assassination of Rep. Hortman

5. The school shooting at Annunciation

6. ICE occupation

Any single one of these could crush the resolve of a citizen, or a city. And not one did. If I have learned anything from being a citizen of Minneapolis and Minnesota in nearly seven years, it is this—community is what makes everyone here kind and resilient.

Each of these events was emotionally hard on us, my family, my community—but each one taught something too, and brought us and our neighborhood closer together. These events created real friendships in our community, taught us to communicate openly, taught us how to take care of one another (neighbors, neighborhood, schools, staff, families, parents…), taught us how to rally, how to protest, how to grieve together, and how to stay strong and resilient.

I have never been so proud to call somewhere my home as I have of Minneapolis. The community of families and neighbors at our schools, parks, local festivals, protests, etc. is something I’ll never forget. I hope that it shows my children what hope and resistance looks like. What truth, kindness, love, and empathy means to not just a community, but to themselves.

And so, it is on that note that I have decided to create a new section called The Common Loon. Because in challenging or good times, we need hope, joy, and optimism.

That is what I am hoping The Common Loon will be, a place where I can shine a light on the greatness that happens here. No matter how dark it can feel, there is always something or someone here with the bright light of kindness.

Minnesota Nice used to be a joke of a passive aggressive kindness. I truly think that’s gone. It’s a real thing. Minnesota Nice is becoming Minnesota Strong.

And why name it The Common Loon? Besides it being the state bird, the bird itself is beautiful, strong, resilient, has the coolest bird call, and a badass (Proof, More proof).

That isn’t it either, I was inspired by the Rebel Loon logo that was created by a user on Bluesky:

So, in solidarity of all rebellions built on ‘Ope; I venture ahead to create something that I hope can give others hope and a reason to smile. I hope that you’ll submit ideas to me of stories that deserve to be told too.

This is The Common Loon.

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