There will be two amazing opportunities to experience Minnesota musicians at the Historic Paramount Theatre this fall.

The first will be the Caravan du Nord tour coming to Austin this Friday, Sept. 26. The show starts at 7 p.m. with Bracken and Stowell, two Austin natives who play both well known and original Americana/folk rock.

They will be followed by two Twin Cities-based bands: the bluesy, funk stylings of Alex Rossi & the Root City Band and the folk-pop headliner John Mark Nelson.

The Caravan du Nord tour will be followed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, with The Cedar Cultural Center’s MN Express, a one bus, five musician, five city 10-day tour around the state of Minnesota.

The Cedar Cultural Center (also known as the Cedar) is a highly eclectic music venue located in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, whose mission is to promote inter-cultural appreciation and understanding through the presentation of global music and dance.

Touring artists of the MN Express’s inaugural year were chosen by Cedar staff and are all former participants of The Cedar’s 416 Club Commissions Program.

This year’s tour features Nicholas Gaudette, Nathan Hanson, Sara Pajunen, Kyle Sobcazk and Aby Wolf. These artists will create a unique collaborative performance, featuring elements from each of the individual performer’s 416 Club commissioned works, as well as new material created for the tour.

Both the Caravan du Nord and MN Express tours were made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and culture heritage fund.

Tickets for both events are $10 each and can be purchased online at austinareaarts.org or at the Austin ArtWorks Center, located at 300 N. Main St. Regular business hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday