Album Review: Paul Metsa — Songs of Resistance & Resolve 1984–2025

Somewhere between Bob Dylan, T‑Bone Burnett, and Greg Brown stands Paul Metsa. A legendary Minnesota singer‑songwriter, he’s been making music since the late ’70s, and his latest collection, Songs of Resistance & Resolve, cherry‑picks favorites that span more than four decades.

Though often labeled Folk, Metsa has never stayed inside the lines. The opening track, “Slow Justice,” rails against inequity, beginning as a spare jeremiad before gathering steam and lifting off with celestial backing vocals that lend Gospel Gospel heft. “Wall of Power” starts tentatively, then unfurls into a driving Heartland rocker. “Ferris Wheels on the Farm” pairs a homespun tale of losing the family farm with a sleek ’70s groove that nearly tips into Yacht Rock.

Some of the strongest cuts lean into Country comfort. “59 Coal Mines” is anchored by keening pedal steel, meandering banjo, and willowy piano. “Floretta’s Junkyard” delivers a sharply drawn narrative with the specificity of John Fante. “Jack Ruby” turns a pocket history of the small‑time hoodlum who killed Lee Harvey Oswald into a rollicking arrangement full of burnished banjo runs, dusty pedal steel, swooping violin, and a walloping backbeat.

The newest track, “No Kings (No Crown),” is the album’s magnum opus — a straight‑up protest song chronicling these divisive times. Metsa sketches a nation of “alligator prisons” and “jackboot police,” before offering a final‑verse reminder that “there’s way more of us than there are of them.” It’s a rare protest anthem that indicts and uplifts in equal measure.

Rounding out the set are a pair of live tracks — “Like Father, Like Son” and “Walkin’ in a Woman’s World” — along with guest appearances from Alan Sparhawk, The Sounds of Blackness (a legendary, Grammy Award-winning group from the Twin Cities), and Willie Walker.

Songs of Resistance & Resolve