[Cover photo credit to Tony Nelson]

Soul Asylum has released MPLS Unplugged today via Blue Élan Records, a new live album recorded at Minneapolis’ State Theatre on April 20, 2023, nearly 30 years to the day after the band’s landmark 1993 MTV Unplugged performance. The single “Stand Up and Be Strong” is out now, alongside a live video, taking its place alongside new versions of songs spanning more than four decades of the band’s career. “Stand Up and Be Strong” was originally released on 2006’s The Silver Lining.

The connection to 1993 runs throughout MPLS Unplugged. Three decades later, MPLS Unplugged revisits songs heard during the original session alongside the music that followed, including “Misery,” “Freak Accident” and “If I Told You.” It also brings two live favorites, “What Will Become of Me” and “Farmer John,” to an album release for the first time.

Frontman Dave Pirner is joined by guitarist Ryan Smith, bassist Jeremy Tapparo and drummer Michael Bland, along with Ivan Neville on keyboards. Neville was part of the band’s original 1993 MTV Unplugged session, providing a direct link between the two performances. This time around, the arrangements are expanded by the STRINGenius string quartet and the Robert Robinson Gospel Singers.

More than 30 years separate Soul Asylum’s two Unplugged performances, and much has happened in between. The 1993 appearance came on the heels of Grave Dancers Union and the band’s breakthrough into the mainstream. MPLS Unplugged comes from a band with decades more songs, shows and history behind it. The setting relates to Soul Asylum’s past, but the album reflects who they are as a band today.