The Ark

Ebird & Friends Holiday Show
2025-12-11 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-12-12 20:00 - 2025-12-13 23:00, 2025-12-13 14:00 - 23:00 (America/Detroit) | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Ticket prices on our website reflect all-in pricing for purchases made online or by phone. This means the price you see includes the ticket price plus MUTO’s ticket processing fee. Tickets may be purchased with no included fees in person at The Ark during box office hours.
For 18 years Erin Zindle has been curating an epic annual musical celebration inspired by the themes of the holiday season. Each December, this event is a warm hearted lift-off to the holidays that has become an indispensable tradition for families in the greater Ann Arbor area and far beyond. Zindle, The Ragbirds’ songwriter, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist, produces this gala event with the intention of joyfully interconnecting the performers and audiences of the Michigan music community. A star-studded “house band” along with a horn section, string section and backup singers, lays the foundation for guest vocalists to shine.
This year’s featured artists include avant-garde, folk-soul cellist Jordan Hamilton, gutsy garage-rock singer-songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, beloved Ann Arbor folk-bender Billy King, looper, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ki-5, indie folk-rock singer-songwriter Dylan Charles and incendiary Outlaw-Americana duo Ember & Ash (Erin Zindle and Alex Holycross, of The Native Howl)
The show’s strength is its diversity, with a wide range of song styles highlighting the incredibly talented instrumentalists and vocalists within the group. Creative arrangements of original songs, new modern hits, and traditional carols make this show unlike any other – it’s truly “not your mama’s Christmas show”. Master of Ceremonies comedienne Shelly Smith guides listeners through the experience with laughter and good cheer.

Ebird & Friends Holiday Show
2025-12-13 20:00 - 23:00
Ticket prices on our website reflect all-in pricing for purchases made online or by phone. This means the price you see includes the ticket price plus MUTO’s ticket processing fee. Tickets may be purchased with no included fees in person at The Ark during box office hours.
For 18 years Erin Zindle has been curating an epic annual musical celebration inspired by the themes of the holiday season. Each December, this event is a warm hearted lift-off to the holidays that has become an indispensable tradition for families in the greater Ann Arbor area and far beyond. Zindle, The Ragbirds’ songwriter, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist, produces this gala event with the intention of joyfully interconnecting the performers and audiences of the Michigan music community. A star-studded “house band” along with a horn section, string section and backup singers, lays the foundation for guest vocalists to shine.
This year’s featured artists include avant-garde, folk-soul cellist Jordan Hamilton, gutsy garage-rock singer-songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, beloved Ann Arbor folk-bender Billy King, looper, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ki-5, indie folk-rock singer-songwriter Dylan Charles and incendiary Outlaw-Americana duo Ember & Ash (Erin Zindle and Alex Holycross, of The Native Howl)
The show’s strength is its diversity, with a wide range of song styles highlighting the incredibly talented instrumentalists and vocalists within the group. Creative arrangements of original songs, new modern hits, and traditional carols make this show unlike any other – it’s truly “not your mama’s Christmas show”. Master of Ceremonies comedienne Shelly Smith guides listeners through the experience with laughter and good cheer.
Tonight’s event will be live-streamed on YouTube for those who cannot attend in-person, but there’s nothing quite like catching the spark of holiday whimsy and deep-hearted Christmas spirit in the room.

My Folky Valentine
2026-02-13 20:00 - 23:00
Ticket prices on our website reflect all-in pricing for purchases made online or by phone. This means the price you see includes the ticket price plus MUTO’s ticket processing fee. Tickets may be purchased with no included fees in person at The Ark during box office hours.
The 21st Annual celebration of love and music features Annie & Rod Capps, Shari Kane & Dave Steele, and Whit & Al Hill. Three acclaimed musical duos who also happen to be partners in life share the stage, swapping songs and stories. You can expect some collaborating both planned and spontaneous. Not just for lovebirds, and not just love songs. Just a whole lotta great music.
Annie & Rod Capps
Poignant and playful, effortless and endearing, Annie & Rod Capps’ sound meets at the intersection of Americana & Folk. Like many singer/songwriters whose instrumentation is primarily acoustic the word “folk” covers a broad sonic range of genres and influences – what comes out is a rootsy vibe, touch of twang and soulful groove.
Whit & Al Hill
Longtime Ann Arbor singer/songwriters Whit and Al Hill now live in Nashville but cherish every trip back to the town they call home. Whit’s song topics include: traffic, animals, old cars, family physicians, chicken recipes, metal detecting, and love. Al is an award-winning blues keyboardist, guitarist, singer, and producer who has toured the country and the world; his band the Love Butlers was a Michigan favorite. Whit and Al love nothing more than singing together and with old friends for the good people of Ann Arbor and the Detroit area.
Shari Kane & Dave Steele
Shari and Dave throw a four handed acoustic party – street swing, stomp blues, mountain twang – music from the holler and swamp. Blues and gospel shouting, stellar fingerpicking, deep slide, banjo, dobro, mandolin, and Appalachian harmony singing. Gary Davis meets Dock Boggs and Muddy Waters and they share a jug. Shari and Dave shows are steeped in folk and blues roots, blended with Appalachian grind – serving up an intoxicating acoustic brew. Dave’s smoky vocals, percussive rhythm and innovative lead, and Shari’s crisp picking style, rootsy leads, and stinging slidework are a testament to sounds once heard on the streets of Harlem, juke joints of Mississippi, the Carolina hills or the jug bands of Memphis.

Rachel Baiman & Philip Bowen
2026-06-03 20:00 - 23:00
Ticket prices on our website reflect all-in pricing for purchases made online or by phone. This means the price you see includes the ticket price plus MUTO’s ticket processing fee. Tickets may be purchased with no included fees in person at The Ark during box office hours.
Common Nation of Sorrow, Rachel Baiman’s 2023 LP, was called one of “The Best Albums of the Year (So Far)” by The Boston Globe, awarded 4 stars from American Songwriter, and deemed a “Tremendously and remarkable record” by The Amp.
Raised in Chicago, Baiman made her way to Nashville at 18 with the dream of being a professional fiddle player and has since released two solo records and an EP, alongside session and side-person work with Kacey Musgraves, Kevin Morby, and Molly Tuttle among many others. As a songwriter, she has garnered a reputation for her specific brand of political and personal lyricism, which Vice’s Noisey described as ‘Flipping off Authority one note at a time”.
Philip Bowen is an Appalachian born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music is rooted in folk tradition, regional storytelling, and lived experience. Raised in West Virginia, Bowen began playing fiddle at age four and developed a distinctive sound that blends Appalachian textures with modern Americana songwriting.
He has built a substantial and engaged audience through touring and online performance, reaching over 1.5 million followers across platforms. His early momentum included a win at TikTok’s Greatest Talent competition and appearances at key rooms and stages including The Bluebird Cafe, 3rd and Lindsley, NPR’s Mountain Stage, Americanafest, and an official showcase at Folk Alliance International.
