A rare treat from the northwoods of Minnesota is coming to Eau Claire for a one-night-only concert with some of the richest folk music ever to tingle your heartstrings. Classically trained violinist and songwriter extraordinaire Gaelynn Lea – who’s based in Duluth – will stop by The Oxbow Hotel gallery on Jan. 12 bringing her signature brand of haunting folk tunes. Lea has been bewitching scores of fans with her experimental original songs and fresh renditions of folk standards. Her work most recently won NPR Music’s 2016 Tiny Desk Contest, a competition drawing submissions of original songs from more than 6,000 musicians around the nation. Lea is truly a special talent, her voice is starkly beautiful, and you’d be remiss to pass up the opportunity to see her perform.

Eau Claire folk-punk troubadours Them Coulee Boys are hitting the studio again in 2018 to record their third full length album, only this time they’ve got some added expertise in the mix. The Boys will be working out their new material with production help from Dave Simonett of Dead Man Winter and Trampled By Turtles fame. The band and Simonett plan to tuck themselves away at Pacyderm Studios, joining a star-studded list of bands that have recorded there including Nirvana, The Jayhawks, Son Volt, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, as well Simonett’s aforementioned bands. Pretty cool stuff for one of Eau Claire’s most prolific music acts.

Blugold Radio 99.9FM is taking steps to put some awesome live music out into the world in a local spot that’s seldom used for music, but makes for a killer venue anyway. Riverside Theater, an in-the-round theater space in Haas Fine Arts Center on the UWEC campus, will play home to what is perhaps the first rock show to take place there with Har-di-Har (Minneapolis) and Orchid Eaton (Eau Claire). Normally used to student theater productions, the space has a intimate, unique vibe – and the best part is that the seat that’s furthest away from the stage is still only like 25 feet from the band. Get ready for some up-close-and-personal rock, and here’s to scoping out these out-of-the-ordinary venues and making more places to play in 2018.