The Cactus Blossoms bring brother harmonies to the Stoughton Opera House

Minneapolis brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum play the restored 1901 opera house on Thursday, December 17.

Some rooms are built for loud. The Stoughton Opera House was built in 1901 for voices, and on a December Thursday it gets two of them that were made to be heard together.

The Cactus Blossoms play the Stoughton Opera House on Thursday, December 17, at 7 p.m. Tickets are sold through the Stoughton Opera House. The date was announced Oct. 28. The hall holds 475.

The Cactus Blossoms are brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, a Minneapolis duo whose sound sits where alternative country meets indie folk. They had been making music since their late teens and early twenties but didn't start the band until they were both in their thirties. It came together in Minneapolis around 2010 and 2011, as the brothers started playing local venues. Close-harmony singing is the center of everything they do.

Their national debut, *You're Dreaming*, came out in 2016 on Red House Records. Since then they've released *One Day* in 2022 and *Every Time I Think About You*, which came out Aug. 30, 2024, on their own Walkie Talkie Records. They recorded that album at Creation Audio in Minneapolis, and an AP review singled out the harmonies as the heart of the record. It has kept them on the road. This year alone took them to the Minnesota State Fair and back to Kansas for a Bartlett Arboretum show and a night at Lawrence's Bottleneck.

The Stoughton Opera House was built in 1901 for voices.

The Stoughton Opera House is part of the reason to make the drive down from Madison. It opened on Feb. 22, 1901, inside the city hall building, which also housed the library, fire station and police station. Its first show was Ullie Akerstrom's comedy *The Doctor's Warm Reception*. It never became a movie house, as many theatres of its era did. It closed in the 1950s for lack of city money and sat dark for decades.

Locals brought it back. A City Hall Restoration Committee formed in 1983, the clock tower was finished in 1988, and the theatre reopened in 2001, on the 100th anniversary of its first performance, with its oak and mahogany seats restored. The city still owns it, and in March local news marked its 125th anniversary as a community effort.

A duo whose whole act depends on two voices blending is a natural fit for a room like that. A Thursday-night show a week before Christmas makes a good excuse for a weeknight out: dinner in downtown Stoughton, then two brothers singing under a century-old ceiling.

Sources: The Cactus Blossoms — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); The Cactus Blossoms new album Every Time I Think About You — Shore Fire Media (shorefire.com); The Cactus Blossoms Return With New Album 'Every Time I Think About You' — Glide Magazine (glidemagazine.com); Music Review: The Cactus Blossoms offer sweet harmonies — ABC News/AP (abcnews.go.com); The Cactus Blossoms Sign to Red House Records — Saving Country Music (savingcountrymusic.com); Minnesota's Cactus Blossoms return to Bartlett Arboretum — KMUW (kmuw.org); History — Stoughton Opera House (stoughtonoperahouse.com); Stoughton Opera House — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Opera House History — Friends of the Stoughton Opera House (stoughtonoperahousefriends.org); Stoughton Opera House celebrates 125 years — WMTV (wmtv15news.com); The Cactus Blossoms at Stoughton Opera House — JamBase (jambase.com)