Bucket Brigade Theater present Shanty Boys of Pine County at the Hinckley Fire Museum

New Shanty Boys musical comes to the Hinckley Fire Museum to celebrate Pine County history through local lumberjack tunes
 

Written and conceived by Hinckley native Jeremiah Gamble, Shanty Boys of Pine County is a new musical celebrating Minnesota lumber camp songs and relishing in tall-but-true tales— particularly that of Michael Cassius Dean, a larger-than-life Irishman who came to Hinckley as an itinerant lumberjack in 1885, and who compiled a book of lumber camp songs called The Flying Cloud. 
 

Shanty Boys is a rollicking musical honoring Minnesota history through stories and songs uniquely connected to the Pine County area—songs such as Kettle River, and Pokegama Bear.  Searching for authenticity in the source material, Jeremiah worked closely with Minnesota-music-historian Brian Miller (host of the radio show Shamrock Shore, and Library Director at Celtic Junction Arts Center) who’s a resident expert in “woods music” and M.C. Dean history. 
 

”These songs are brimming with history as lived by regular people, many of them immigrants, who set new Minnesota stories to tunes carried from homes left behind," says Miller. "By weaving these songs together into this rollicking new play, Jeremiah gives us a colorful glimpse of where our fascination with the 'north woods' began."
 

This is Gamble’s second theater piece celebrating Pine County history. In 2024 he premiered his play-with-music, Survivors of the Fire, at the Hinckley Fire Museum to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the fire. The turnout and response was tremendous, so for the last two years the show has returned to the Museum and will return for its third consecutive year this Labor Day weekend. 
 

“I was really inspired to create Shanty Boys because of our incredible experience performing Survivors at the Museum. The venue has so much character— so much history. What a uniquely rich experience to honor stories and songs that have so much connection with a community, a community I grew up in,” says Gamble. 
 

And, it just so happens that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Hinckley Fire Museum, which opened its doors in 1976. The free Shanty Boys and Survivors performances are a special way for the community to celebrate this important milestone. 
 

Shanty Boys of Pine County features two storytellers, Jeremiah Gamble and Nathan Cousins; two musicians, Jeff Zupfer and Eric Thurstin on a bevy of traditional instruments; a stack of songs, a heap of stories, a generous helping of beans, and a pile of timber that creatively transforms as the adventure unfolds. It’s toe-tapping fun for lumberjacks-and-jills of all ages! 
 

45 minute performances at the Hinckley Fire Museum, 106 Old Hwy 61 S, Hinckley, MN, Saturday, May 23rd  and Sunday, May 24th at 10:30am, 12:00pm, and 2:30pm. Admission for the show and the Museum are FREE. More info at www.bucketbrigadetheater.com. 
 

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

 

The creative team features Jeremiah Gamble (Writer), Jeff Miller (Director), Michael Pearce Donley (Music Director), Lauren Volkart (Stage Manager), and Dalen O’Connell (Carpenter).