Katy Tessman

Katy Tessman plays The Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown on Thursday, October 22, as part of the Folk Alliance Regional Midwest 2026. It's a local one: Tessman is a Minnesota native, and this is a singer-songwriter set coming to her home turf.

If you're not familiar with her work, it's built on songwriting that doesn't shy away from the personal. Her 2023 album Fly drew praise from RnR Magazine, and the songs there lean on her own experiences with cancer survival, heartbreak, and motherhood. More recently, her May 2025 album Turnbuckles was described by Mostly Minnesota as the work of "a great storyteller" whose songs feel like warm encouragement. Between the two, you get a good sense of where she's coming from—the heavier stuff from Fly and the more encouraging tone of Turnbuckles.

There's a bit more to her than just the music, too. Outside of songwriting, she's an award-winning children's book author and was named a celebrated CHANGEMAKER by Minnesota Women's Press. It's a good detail to keep in mind because it fits with how her songs are described—story-driven and written with a certain kind of openness.

Since this is part of Folk Alliance Regional Midwest, it's one of many showcases happening across the city that week, but this one is a Minnesota artist playing in her own backyard. The show is on Thursday, October 22, at The Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown.