Cindy Lawson's record release weekend in Minneapolis

If you have not yet caught Cindy Lawson live, this week is the time to do it. The Minneapolis singer-songwriter, musician and feminist activist is playing three shows in the Twin Cities over the next few days, and the centerpiece is a record release party that pulls together a full bill. Before that, there is an in-store appearance and an afternoon set, so there are a couple of ways to catch her depending on how you like your shows.

Lawson describes her style as pop punk or punk pop, and the influences are an odd pairing on paper: Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone. She is open about who she is, identifying as a postmenopausal queer woman over 60, and that honesty carries into the music. Her rock and roll career started right here in Minneapolis back in 1985 with The Clams, an all-female band where she sang and played guitar. After a long break that began in the late 1990s, she came back in full force with a new band in 2021, and she has been releasing material steadily since.

That run includes the 2022 album New Tricks, out on Boston's Rum Bar Records, and the six-song EP Don't Come Crying to Me in 2023. The latest is Long Live the Resistance!, a four-song EP also through Rum Bar Records that does not pull any punches. It is a visceral response to the violent siege of Minnesota in the winter of 2026 and to the viral misogyny of society, and the tracklist makes that clear: it opens with The Reckoning, originally released in September 2025 on Hygh Tension/Virgin Records, then moves into Burn, a benefit song with proceeds going to DHH and Monarca, before closing with Eat the Rich and Howard Zinn Died For Your Sins. Mpls St. Paul Magazine has also pointed to her single Hey Santa.

Here is how the week lines up. On Friday, October 23, at 7:00 PM, she does a record release in-store at Barely Brothers Records in St. Paul. On Saturday, October 24, there are two stops: an afternoon set with Jerry Lefkowitz at Lucky Cat in Minneapolis at 2:00 PM, and then the main event at 8:00 PM, the record release party at Cloudland Theatre with Toilet Rats, Mad Mojo and Jett. Cloudland, at 3533 East Lake Street, doubles as a music venue and art space, and it is the biggest room of the three.

Beyond the music, Lawson is active in the community, supporting the Minnesota Music Resistance Group, the International Institute of Minnesota and the Abortion Access Front. She marked her 60th birthday in October 2021 by donating to the International Institute of Minnesota, and her current band includes Jerry Lefkowitz, Dave Randall and Tweet. If you miss this weekend, she is not disappearing: there is a show with Spit Takes and Shannon Treed at Treedome Records in Rochester on November 7, a gig with special guests at Crumbling Heights in Minneapolis on November 21, and an Island of Misfit Toys toy drive at the Pillar Forum on December 12. But for a record release weekend, the Cloudland show is the one to build your plans around.