The Ark

Joe Pernice
2026-05-14 20:00 - 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.
Tonight’s show is free for Ark members at the Solo ($50) level and up! Show your membership card at the door for admission.
Joe Pernice is a songwriter celebrated for his rare ability to pair luminous melodies with quietly devastating emotional depth. Over the course of a career spanning more than three decades, Pernice has built a body of work that is literate, melodic, and enduring—music that reveals new layers with each listen.
First gaining attention in the early 1990s with alt-country band Scud Mountain Boys, Pernice later founded the Pernice Brothers, a project that would firmly establish his reputation as one of the most refined songwriters of his generation. From the initial Overcome by Happiness and across numerous albums, his songs have been marked by elegant arrangements, strong pop instincts, and lyrics that balance wit, melancholy, and narrative precision. Drawing from folk, power pop, and chamber pop traditions, Pernice’s music feels both timeless and unmistakably personal. His collaborations with a range of musicians include Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Joshua Karp, Neko Case, Aimee Mann, and the iconic Jimmy Webb.
Critics have consistently praised his work for its craftsmanship and emotional intelligence. Major publications including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Magnet, The Guardian, and Mojo have highlighted his gift for melody and his ability to cloak dark, complex themes in deceptively beautiful songs.
Beyond music, Joe has written one of the first books in the original 33 1/3 book series. His novella explores the Smiths’ Meat is Murder and Catholic high school life in Boston in 1985. Joe’s novel, It Feels So Good When I Stop, is a dark, irreverent story of a young man trying to sort through love, life and commitment.
With his latest album, Sunny, I Was Wrong, Joe continues his signature style of rich storytelling melded with inspired arrangements, each song a world unto its own.

Raynes
2026-08-13 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.
British-American trio Raynes formed when Mat Charley and Joe Berger, both born and raised in North Dakota, came across a video of UK native Mark Race on Instagram and fell in love—first with his face, then with his voice. After a few messages and phone calls, Mark was on a plane to the US to start a band (a few months later, he had the flight number tattooed on his arm).
Since then, Raynes has signed with Sony Music Publishing and released six singles and four EPs, drawing hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners and tens of millions of streams and earning press in Billboard and People. They’ve performed at BottleRock Festival and in clubs, concert halls, and amphitheaters across the US and the UK, developing a reputation as a high-energy live act.
In 2025, Raynes’ rendition of “I Want You to Want Me” was featured in an episode of Love Is Blind on Netflix.
Known for their intricate vocal harmonies and unique instrumentation as well as their poetic lyrics, Raynes has yet to come up with a good answer as to what genre their music falls under. With all three members coming from different musical backgrounds, the boys combine their diverse influences to form a group that draws inspiration from around the globe, incorporating elements of folk, rock, and chamber pop with Celtic and world music to create a wholly original—and difficult to categorize—sound.
