Minnventory Take a snow day, Mrs. Braintree: Minnesota songs celebrating winter

Trip Shakespeare, "Snow Days" (from 1990's Across The Universe)
Every kid knows that there's at least one great thing about any winter storm, no matter how fierce: You can skip school, and you have the perfect excuse. Trip Shakespeare's charming "Snow Days" celebrates that, as songwriter Matt Wilson, sharing vocal duties here with booming-voiced bassist John Munson, reassures a beleaguered, winter-whipped teacher shivering at a bus stop that it's okay to go home. After all, maybe there's a reason insurance companies refer to severe weather as "acts of God": "There's a blessing on your town on a lucky Monday, Mrs. Braintree." If the roads are closed, maybe it's best to just relax and take it as a sign that today's a mulligan. (By the way: Mrs. Braintree's unforgettably odd name was probably inspired by the Massachusetts city of Braintree; the Shakespearians went to college at Harvard.)

Here's Trip Shakespeare spinoff band The New Standards performing "Snow Days" in 2008:

Jeremy Messersmith, "Snow Day" (from 2006's The Alcatraz Kid)
The singer-songwriter's wounded choir-boy tenor possesses a mesmerizing melancholic pull regardless of what he's singing about—day jobs, cheating spouses, suburban malaise —but rarely has his Beatles-esque folk-pop attack been as tear-jerkingly effective as on "Snow Day," one of the high points of his debut album and another great ode to school-cancellation hopes and dreams. As the song's pint-sized protagonist is placed on the school bus by clearly overbearing parents with hang-ups about fidgeting ("Act your age / Don't squirm around") and pre-set career goals for their progeny ("Get on the bus and someday / You'll be a scientist"), he can't help but long for the kind of fun-filled day that only a serious winter storm can bring ("I want a snow day / Hope for snow to run in and play") while acknowledging that Old Man Winter is likely ignoring his pleas in the next verse ("Too much to ask for happiness / In little white packages"). Elementary-school ennui at its finest.

The Autumn Leaves, "Wintertyme Joy" (from 2008's Long Lost Friend)
Summer has its lush pleasures, but winter has an icy elegance that's perfectly captured in this song from pop quartet The Autumn Leaves. Throwing an idiosyncratic "y" into the spelling of "Wintertyme" is the first indication of songwriter David Beckey's love for The Byrds, but the baroque quality of Beckey's harpsichord-like 12-string guitar is a dead giveaway. That McGuinnian touch is perfect for a song about sledding at night in Powderhorn Park just after a heavy snowfall—it's easy for any Minnesotan to imagine the cathedral-like beauty of fresh icicles hanging from the tree branches, glimpsed from a speeding toboggan in that eerie but peaceful stillness that only happens on a dark, very cold midwinter night. Even the night sky adds to the feeling of being in an open-air museum, with wispy clouds that look "like Edgar Allan Poe, Brigitte Bardot, Vincent Van Gogh." And then there's the chorus' quietly chilling observation that this entrancing landscape is only temporary: "Wintertime laughter and wintertime joy brings on the springtime that summer destroys." (Beckey credits that line to bandmate Keith Patterson.) Enjoy winter while it lasts: It'll be warm soon.

Brother Ali, "Blizzard Rap '09" (released online)
One of the prevailing theories about why Minnesota has such a vibrant music scene is that our artists are cooped up inside for several months with nothing to do but create. Case in point: The blizzard that hit during Christmas found Brother Ali "stuck in the crib" with a sudden urge to drop a verse for the hip-hop blogs. Recorded at his home over a chopped-up beat from Kanye West's "I'm So Appalled," the track proves that Ali's trademark braggadocio and energy come out even when he's cozied up with his family. The quick one-off showcases the positive effects of winter, treating it as a blessing instead of a curse. Rather than whine and complain about the 15 inches of snow, the Rhymesayers stalwart took the opportunity to put out something for the fans, simply because he felt like it.

(If you're not in the mood for seasonal joy, check out our previous list: Teardrops in the snow: 6 Minnesota songs about the cruelty of winter.)