A surprise find during our stay in Minneapolis, Addy, lead singer of the lo-fi indie band Adelyn Rose, gave the Locavaux crew a fresh, female perspective on the local music scene. We’ll have you know that this girl is more than capable of carrying her own equipment.

Brought together by “higher education” at Macalester College and kept together by “higher music,” the four founding members of Carroll, a Minneapolis indie rock band with synth-heavy rhythms and pop-perfect lyrics, are living proof of that famous Midwestern charm.

When we look back on time spent with Iowa City pop band The Olympics, three things come to mind: thigh-slapping, the song that would become our road anthem of the summer (“Gypsy Blood”) and basketball. Join the Locavaux crew in singing along and laughing hard with these jokester pop crooners—they’re the perfect mix of quirky and entertaining that gets all types of crowds up on their feet and dancing.

A self-proclaimed “beach blues” indie duo, Iowa City’s own Chasing Shade sat down with The Locavaux Project just days before making the big move from their beloved hometown to the distant West Coast. Now living the dream in sunny LA, Chasing Shade’s Elliot and Griffen remind us that, for local artists trying to make it big, “you can’t forget where you came from.”

Lauren and Andy of Hear Nebraska, a not-for-profit devoted to encouraging a world-renowned respect the local Nebraska music scene deserves, are here to remind us that Omaha is perfectly happy being the country’s underdog city: “People come in with low expectations and we blow them away.”