Transcripts

CATHERINE WINTER: On a recent Saturday night, it was pouring rain in Northern Minnesota, and the thick woods of Carpenter Township were even darker than usual. Tucked in the woods, miles from any town, the Carpenter Township Hall was brightly lit. A motorhome parked outside bore a wet, handmade sign that said "The Splinters Greater Minnesota Town Hall Tour." Inside, the wood floor shook to the thumps of a dozen pairs of dancing feet.

[THE SPLINTERS SONG] Don't believe anyone

Don't read your mail

Make light of every word you hear

Turn up your radio and quit your job

Do something different

Disappear

Do something different

Disappear

CATHERINE WINTER: The four-member band includes accordion, guitar, bass, and drums. Between sets, band members drink cider and hawk T-shirts. Typically, a rock band's tour T-shirt bears a long list of big cities. The Splinters' tour T-shirt lists four venues, Brimson, Carpenter, Toivola, and Hovland. Leah Thomas is The Splinters' accordionist.

LEAH THOMAS: We do Hovland Town Hall, where we're from, and the prototype for this tour started there with a potluck dinner and then the band playing and all ages welcome, to try to recreate and bring back what traditional Saturday night dances and town halls were.

CATHERINE WINTER: Thomas and guitarist Bill Hansen both grew up on the North Shore and remember going to Saturday night dances. Hanson says polka bands played the town halls for weddings and other celebrations.

BILL HANSEN: They're not as far in the past as you might think. I have many, many happy memory of the Tofte and Schroeder town halls before they were torn down. And it still happens. It's not like it's a dead thing, but it's kind of a dying thing. TV and modern life has sort of passed over the town halls. And we're hoping to inject a little new life back into them in our own small way.

CATHERINE WINTER: Hansen says the old time bands were fronted by an accordion, just as The Splinters are. But the similarity ends there. The splinters play zydeco, Tex-Mex, rock and roll, and Celtic music, music that keeps people galloping around the floor. Even their polkas are unusual.

[THE SPLINTERS, "DEEP ECOLOGY POLKA"] I knew the deep ecology polka

The deep ecology polka

Use biodegradable soap-a

And do the deep ecology polka

In Asia and Europa

They do the deep ecology polka

CATHERINE WINTER: The audience at Carpenter Town Hall ranges from children to retired people. During a break, [? Ophelia ?] [? Wanger ?] dries some of the dishes from the potluck. She says she hasn't been to a town hall dance in 50 years.

SPEAKER: When my dad was on the town board in the early 1930s, we used to go to dances at the town hall. And of course, we had a lantern for our lights or gas lamp. And we had a small kitchen with a two-burner kerosene stove to make our coffee. It was a local band, a guitar, a violin, and an accordion. And we had a lot of fun.

CATHERINE WINTER: [? Wanger ?] and the rest of the folks cheer enthusiastically, but the audience is small this rainy evening. A lot more people came to Brimson, the first stop on the town hall tour. But guitarist Bill Hansen says he's not keeping count.

BILL HANSEN: Well, I like to say it's quality, not quantity. And tonight's a good example. I mean, there are probably 20 or 30 people here tonight, but what a fine quality group of people they are. And they're having a good time. We're having a good time. And that's small town. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't have to be big. That's a city thing, big. Up here, we don't care. As long as it's a good group, we're having a great time. That's what makes it.

CATHERINE WINTER: Hansen says he hopes The Splinters' town hall tour will prompt some cross-pollination among Northern Minnesota bands. He hopes other bands will come to his town on town hall tours of their own. I'm Catherine Winter. Mainstreet Radio.

[OLD TIME MUSIC PLAYING]