Enter this story with caution: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has made a meatloaf-themed jingle so deft, unctuous, and maddeningly catchy it will probably ruin your weekend. True to his folk locavore bona fides—though not his penchant for the ponderous and arcane—Vernon recorded the chirpy number to promote the Minnesota bar and grill Howard’s Bar, opened in 2023 by local musician Caroline Smith and her chef husband. The song soundtracks a charming ad for meatloaf dippers—set to an animation from the illustrator Nick Stokes—that you can watch below.
The dish itself entails a dense meatloaf slathered in sauce getting baked, sliced, breaded, and deep-fried in a process that gets the dippers as juicy and sticky as Vernon’s moreish tune. The lyrics, for those at the back: “Meatloaf dippers at Howard’s in Stillwater/Meatloaf dippers can be a whole meal or starter/Meatloaf dippers, oh so light and yummy/Go on and warm your tummy, with dippers.” Pitchfork has emailed the bar owners for more information about all this, obviously.