Out Loud Chorus is the largest mixed-voice LGBTQ+ choir in North America, and the only arts organization dedicated to the entire LGBTQ+ community in Washtenaw County. We bring together people of all genders, sexualities, and backgrounds to make beautiful music and connect through this shared joy. But at its core, OLC is about more than just making music–we’re working to create a world where every voice is heard.
Special Guest: Clovers Daughter
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesEverything Is Alive, Darlingside’s fourth LP, marks a subtle but remarkable departure for the Boston-based quartet NPR once described as “exquisitely arranged, literary minded, baroque folk-pop.” While the album retains much of the lushness and sophistication of Extralife (2018) and Fish Pond Fish (2020), the band’s latest work decisively exposes and differentiates the individual voices of the four songwriters—a daring reinvention for a group known for ubiquitous vocal harmonies.
Special Guest: Curtis Ford
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesFronted by Zack and Dani Green along with Brian Seligman and Chris Wilson, Birdtalker made their whirlwind debut in 2018 with One featuring their breakout single "Heavy" (now over 95 million streams worldwide). Rolling Stone hailed it as “infectious and sprightly” and NPR Music called it “such a beautiful record” while earning similar praises from Billboard, World Cafe, and American Songwriter.The release led to non-stop touring, festival appearances, and their debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
Over the course of her first two full-length releases as Half Gringa, Chicago-based singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Isabel Olive has demonstrated stunning emotional intelligence and songwriting elegance. And it has not gone unnoticed. The Chicago Reader named Half Gringa’s debut, Gruñona as among Chicago’s Best Albums of the Decade while VICE named her sophomore full-length, Force to Reckon as one of 22 Essential Albums of 2020, saying that Half Gringa specializes in “empathic and twangy songs about grief and getting stuck in your own thoughts.”
Whether you're looking for your big break, want to perfect your live performance skills, or just want to perform live for the sheer fun of it, Open Stage nights offer supportive audiences and a terrific space. Performers have eight minutes (or two songs) each to do their thing. Doors open at 7:30, and names are drawn at 7:55 and 8:30. If your name isn't chosen, bring your raffle ticket with you next time, and you'll double your chances.
30 years into a prolific career as a genre and gender-defying songwriter, Melissa Ferrick continues to disrupt normative categorization. Indie, Alternative, Folk, Punk….Melissa Ferrick won’t be labeled. With disarming wit and raw vulnerability, every lyric in Ferrick’s immense catalog is an invitation to confession or catharsis.
Special Guest: Barbara Newell and Elisabeth Pixley-Fink
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesExalting love for the planet and its fellow human beings as his main value, the warm and emotional North American artist Joe Reilly captivates us in an atmosphere of blues, folk, and rock where his baritone voice invites us to leave aside prejudice and hatred, preserving the power of love and individuality.
After a series of indie releases and growing buzz in the Atlanta music scene, Shawn Mullins’ critical and commercial breakthrough came when 1998 Soul’s Core shot him to fame on the strength of Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit, “Lullaby” followed by AAA/Americana No. 1 hit “Beautiful Wreck” from 2006’s 9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor. His song, “Shimmer” was used in promotion of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and was included on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. His co-write “All in My Head” from 2008’s Honeydew was featured in episode one of the hit TV sitcom “Scrubs.” Mullins also co-wrote the Zac Brown Band’s No. 1 country tune “Toes.” In early 2002, he formed supergroup The Thorns with Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge. “No Blue Sky” from the resulting album, is a modern day classic.
Whether you're looking for your big break, want to perfect your live performance skills, or just want to perform live for the sheer fun of it, Open Stage nights offer supportive audiences and a terrific space. Performers have eight minutes (or two songs) each to do their thing. Doors open at 7:30, and names are drawn at 7:55 and 8:30. If your name isn't chosen, bring your raffle ticket with you next time, and you'll double your chances.
Special Guest: Dana Falconberry
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesMatt the Electrician is Matthew Sever, a quirky, sincere folk/pop singer songwriter based in Austin, TX. He has self-released 11 studio albums, and 2 live CDs since 1998. Matt moved to Austin, TX from the West Coast in 1996 to pursue music full time. He regularly tours all over the world, specifically The US, Canada, Western Europe and Japan. His songs have been featured on Network TV shows, in feature length movies, and in TV commercials. He regularly plays festivals, theaters, nightclubs, and house concerts, and will continue to do so until he cannot.
Special Guest: Christopher & Sienna Sears
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesBandits on the Run are a musical trio comprised of Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn, known for their distinct combination of cello, guitar, accordion, and found-percussion with sophisticated three-part harmonies and rotating lead vocals. The Brooklyn-based outfit sprang from a chance encounter while busking in NYC's bustling subways and burst onto the national stage in 2019 when their song, "Love in the Underground," was featured on the NPR Tiny Desk Contest's Top Shelf, with the esteemed tastemakers at the station proclaiming, "the band orchestrates a symphony of sound and story through its impressive musicianship and marvelous harmonies."
Jerron Paxton is an American musician from Los Angeles, now living in New York City. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Paxton's style draws from blues and jazz music before World War II and was influenced by Fats Waller and Blind Lemon Jefferson. According to Will Friedwald in The Wall Street Journal, Paxton is "virtually the only music-maker of his generation — playing guitar, banjo, piano and violin, among other implements — to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and '30s, the blues of Bessie Smith and Lonnie Johnson."
