PORCHFEST Presents: Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire

In plain words, Tommy Stinson is a great American musician. You can needle-drop at any juncture of the Minneapolis native’s four-decade-plus career and find a moment of great significance. Stinson was a founding and lifetime member of The Replacements. He was a key second-generation ingredient in Guns N’ Roses and served a seven-year tenure with Soul Asylum. He also led two essential bands of his own — the aptly named Bash & Pop and Perfect — appeared on recordings by the Old 97’s, MOTH and BT and played bass on the Rock Remix of Puff Daddy’s “It’s All About the Benjamins.”

Stinson’s latest venture is called Cowboys in the Campfire — with good pal Chip Roberts and Michael “Chops” LaConte — and its debut album, WRONGER, is perhaps the most American album the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer has ever made. Stinson, LaConte and Roberts take us from Nashville to Bakersfield on songs such as “Mr. Wrong” and “Fall Apart Together,” while “Schemes,” “Souls” and “Dream” are showcases of an ace pop songwriter.