This Sunday, December 14 we will celebrate the release of Liz Draper’s debut solo album “Meno” at the Ivy Arts Building in Minneapolis! It will be an evening full of creativity in a studio space that has been newly transformed by a collective of artists and musicians and will be open to the public for the first time for this event. It will be wonderful to hear Liz perform live and to spread the word about the ways that Liatris is growing. 

“Perihelion Day” was the first album released on the Liatris Records label in 2024 by upup/OVER, the moniker used by Mike Munson for his acoustic, instrumental project. Liatris Records will host a celebration of the actual Perihelion Day (the day the Earth is closest to the sun) on January 3, 2026 at THIS Gallery in Winona (953 W. 5th St.) at 4pm with a live performance by upup/OVER. Space will be limited for this space-themed afternoon, put it on your calendar now! 

The Mike Munson Trio finished their work at Carpet Booth recording studio in September and Liatris is now deep in the process of coaxing their music into vinyl, cd and streaming formats. The number of decisions to make at each step along the way can feel simultaneously daunting and thrilling. The packaging design phase is a favorite and involves poring over art, talking about colors and fonts and how to best complement and represent the music in the visual realm. The new tracks are played and replayed throughout this process, a constant reminder that music is at the center of the tasks at hand. We are still aiming for a Spring 2026 release date, you’ll be the first to know when it’s ready!

Lastly, in this work it is both helpful and necessary to be focused on the coming 6-12 months; balancing festival applications and performance invitations with routing decisions, developing new merch and hypothesizing about production timelines, thinking incessantly about next August in the middle of this December. I do nearly all of this computer-based gymnastics while looking out over my backyard garden which is in a deep sleep for now. But poking up through the snow are remnants of grapes and blueberries, green beans and tomatoes, big bluestem and echinacea. For each task that tempts me to live only in the dream world of the future, there is more than enough to keep me planted right here. I wish you all the best in the new year and hope that in the midst of it all you feel grounded, steady, clear.  

~diane