See the Cactus Blossoms’ Wistful Live Take on ‘Powder Blue’
Feeling blue is a classic source of artistic inspiration, but leave it to The Cactus Blossoms, a pair of brothers whose harmonies could soften stone, to take the emotion and add a dusty, sweet gloss. “Powder Blue,” off their recently-released LP You’re Dreaming, is an ode to wistful romance harkening back to an era where courtship was set to the slow strum of acoustics and not just swiping right. The exclusive live performance video of the song was filmed at Minneapolis’ Summer/Winter studios.
“‘Powder Blue’ is all about longing for your girl,” says Page Burkum, who formed The Cactus Blossoms with his brother Jack Torrey in 2010. “It’s less about a specific story and more about the feeling itself and there’s something about the color that just seemed to fit … soft and sweet and, at the same time, mysterious and endless like the sky.”
One of Rolling Stone Country’s Artists You Need to Know, The Cactus Blossoms have a decidedly vintage tone (they’re often compared to fellow harmonious siblings The Everly Brothers and “Powder Blue” has the lanky licks of Buddy Holly), but they keep their sound rooted in the present from how they approach their inspirations — as new and exiting, despite the age. “We have such a strong love for it, but we didn’t grow up listening to old country or blues or folk,” says Torrey about stumbling upon the likes of Woody Guthrie and Jimmy Rodgers in their late teens. “A lot of people think [those influences] might be old, but they were new to us and really fun.”
Though their roots are undoubtedly traditional, Burkum and Torrey also find inspiration in many other, somewhat unexpected places like Brian Eno and French electronica band Air. “We don’t just sit around and listen to old music all day,” says Torrey. “We don’t even listen to the Everly Brothers much at all.”
The Cactus Blossoms kick off their tour with a release party in their hometown of Minneapolis, and will open for Kacey Musgraves on select dates in addition to headlining shows.