Award-Winning Songwriter Set to Visit STMA Library

Award-winning western songwriter Kerry Grombacher will present his “Songs & Stories of the American West” concert for the Saint Michael Public Library at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2026

Written in the spirit of the troubadours of old, Kerry Grombacher’s contemporary folk and western songs paint vivid portraits and tell fascinating stories that are set in the
landscape he travels, from the bayous of Louisiana, through the desert Southwest, to the Hi-Line of Montana and the forests of the Pacific Northwest. “Range of the Buffalo,” the title track of his 2021 CD, was named Song of the Year by the International Western Music Association. Kerry, who is sponsored by Elixir Guitar & Mandolin Strings, logs as many as 40,000 miles each year driving from show to show.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Grombacher said recently. “I really enjoy seeing new places and talking with folks I haven’t met before. I’m doing seven programs for the Great River Regional Library system, and I am honored that the concerts are supported by Minnesota’s unique
Historical and Cultural Heritage Legacy grants.”

In the course of his nationwide tours, Kerry has sung his songs on stages as varied as the Newport Folk Festival, the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage. In addition to appearing at Cowboy Gatherings and Folk Festivals, he performs regularly at concert halls and other music venues. He was featured on “Born to Explore,” the ABC Television adventure travel program, and there’s a room named for him at the Sands Motel on Historic Route 66 in Grants, New Mexico.

A native of Kansas, Grombacher makes his home in New Orleans now, but he lived in Austin, Texas for many years. A self-taught musician who plays guitar and mandolin,

Grombacher has fought forest fires in Oregon, worked as a field archaeologist in New Mexico, done day work on ranches in New Mexico, Colorado and California, and worked with an outfitter in Yellowstone National Park and in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Grombacher’s recordings include “Range of the Buffalo,” “It Sings in the Hi-Line,” “Sands Motel,” “Riding for the Brand,” “Dreams of New Orleans,” and “Home to the West.” Kerry’s songs have been recorded by other artists, including Belinda Gail, Jim Jones, Aspen Black, Ed Stabler, The Texas Trailhands, Duke Davis, Gary Prescott, Trails & Rails, and Earl Gleason.

Nalini Jones, of the Newport Folk Festival, says “Kerry Grombacher is the best kind of songwriter, with lyrics that take us on journeys to places we’ve never visited before, and melodies so pure and true that they seem to rise up from the plains…” Cowboys & Indians Magazine said songwriter Kerry Grombacher “…is one of the
West’s new breed, who builds on, embellishes, expands, and updates traditional Western themes.”

The 1:30 p.m. concert on Thursday, February 5, 2026, is free to the public, and all ages are welcome. The Saint Michael Public Library is located at 11800 Town Center Drive NE in Saint Michael. For more information, please phone the library at 763-497-1988.

This concert is supported by Minnesota’s Historical and Cultural Heritage Legacy Grant program.