Erik Brandt & the Urban Hillbilly Quartet w / Noah Riemer

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
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Saturday, February 17, 2007

---These concrete jungle hayseeds from the wind-whipped plains of St. Paul are fervent eclectics, liable to wander into funk, Arabic, or Irish music at the drop of a hi-hat. But their true allegiance is to bands like the Flying Burrito Brothers and their descendents, who like to mash together country, bluegrass, and rock n--- roll.---
- Rick Mason. October 2003. City Pages. (Mpls, MN)

What started as a jam session in late fall 1995 in a now burnt-out St. Paul hole-in-the-wall bar has become an international curiosity. Erik Brandt and the Urban Hillbilly Quartet has grown into an award-winning Twin Cities-based ensemble that delivers an eclectic mix of musical styles, blending piano, electric guitar, accordion, bass and drums. On stage, the UHQ performs mainly original material--most of which can be found on their seven albums. Tonight---s show will be a Madison CD release for Erik Brandt---s first solo album: Green Eyed Alone.

Opening the show will be former Ticklepenny Corner ringleader, Noah Riemer.

Music