Louisiana born-and-raised singer-songwriter and guitarist Joy Clark is charting her own path with her debut album “Tell it to the Wind.” As the youngest of five children born into a tight knit, deeply religious family just outside of New Orleans, her release is both a declaration of her independence and a love letter to the traditions that shaped her.
Special Guest: Haley Blais
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesTo celebrate the 20th anniversary of her seminal eponymous debut studio album, Martha Wainwright announces the 20th Anniversary Tour. 2005’s ‘Martha Wainwright’ showed an artist of considerable depth and vision and secured herself a place as one of the finest songwriters of her generation.
Special Guest: Scott Terry
Kerrytown Concert House 415 N. 4th Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesWill Hoge has a career whose milestones include Number One hits, Grammy nods, major-label record deals, and hard-won independence. Years before Americana music received its own category at the Grammy Awards, Hoge was on the frontlines, helping to pilot and popularize the genre's blend of American roots music.
May Erlewine has split her heart wide open and hasn’t hidden any of the contents from view. One of the Midwest’s most prolific and passionate songwriters, Erlewine has a gift for writing songs of substance that feel both fresh and soulfully familiar. Her ability to emotionally engage with an audience has earned her a dedicated following far beyond her Michigan roots. She shows us her heartbreak, but she also shows us her empowered and emboldened spirit. In her quest to find her most authentic self, Erlewine gifts each listener with a powerful, emotional experience that immediately connects us.
Special Guest: Wryn
Royal Oak Music Theatre 318 W 4th St, Royal Oak, MI, United StatesAni DiFranco has been known as a feminist icon and pioneer of DIY for nearly 35 years. Since founding her record label Righteous Babe Records in 1990, she has released 22 albums, traversing folk, punk, hip-hop, soul and electronic genres and addressing a range of autobiographical, political and social issues. She is on tour with her newest album, Unprecedented Sh!t.
Special Guest: Chris Forsyth
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesGruff Rhys is a songwriter, producer and award-winning storyteller from Bethesda in Wales who has consistently sought a variety of outlets for the spectrum of muses behind his creative flights. Formerly most well known as the frontman of Super Furry Animals – a band that has been able to achieve that rarest of mixes, artistic adventure with popular devotion – he blended fuzz-filed rock, pure harmonies and cutting edge electronics, while with his other band, Neon Neon, Rhys has documented the lives of maverick car maker John DeLorean and Italian activist and publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in widescreen style.
Special Guest: Evann Mcintosh
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesJohn Splithoff is a songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who splices together throwback soul, modern production, and laid-back pop. A native of Chicago, Splithoff began gaining momentum following the independent release of his breakout single, "Sing to You.” Driven by a hypnotic howl, breezy guitar, and an unbreakable bounce, the track generated over 100 million streams, occupied coveted real estate on noted Spotify playlists and reached the top 8 at AC Radio, paving the way for Splithoff to continue to releasing music to an a growing fanbase.
Kyle Joe, who formerly toured as Chain of Lakes and later made the American songwriter competition rounds under his legal name, Kyle Rasche, won the Kerrville New Folk Songwriter competition in 2022 after a finalist nod the year prior. Kylee Phillips is a Michigan-native vocalist and songwriter of deeply self-exposing pop music. Armed with an arresting, emotive, laser-focused voice, and an unrivaled ear for hooks and melodic contour, Phillips has garnered cult-like acclaim in the midwest and beyond since her explosive debut EP Long Time Coming.
Hayley Reardon is a critically acclaimed folk-pop singer and songwriter, and a storyteller in the truest sense of the word. Reardon dove head first into music at the age of 15, and has dedicated much of her life to writing, recording and performing music around the world.
It has always seemed as if there were two Cheryl Wheelers, with fans of the New England songwriter relishing watching the two tussle for control of the mic. There is poet Cheryl, writer of some of the prettiest, most alluring and intelligent ballads on the modern folk scene. And there is her evil twin, comic Cheryl, a trend defier and savagely funny social critic. The result is a series of delightful contrasts, for really Cheryl Wheeler is a woman of many musical personalities—heart-wrenching romantic balladeer, marvelous observational humorist, poet of ordinary New England scenes and people, committed activist, irascible grump.
Ellis Paul doesn’t just write songs; he’s a guitar-carrying reporter who covers the human condition and details the hopes, loves, losses of those he observes, turning their stories into luminous pieces of music that get under your skin and into your bloodstream.
Special Guest: The Still Tide
The Ark 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesKristian Matsson has never remained in one place for very long. Having spent much of the last decade touring around the world as The Tallest Man on Earth, Matsson has captivated audiences using, as The New York Times describes, “every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away…Mr. Matsson is a guitar-slinger rooted in folk, and his songs are troubadour ballads at heart.”
