Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo'
2025-06-15 20:00 - 23:00 (America/Detroit) | Masonic Jack White Theatre, 500 Temple Street, Detroit, MI, 48201, United States
Blues legends Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ have each expanded and extended American blues traditions into astonishing new territory. The musicians first teamed up on the Grammy-winning album TajMo (2017), and this year brings another collaborative album from the blues giants. Experience a historic night of music that merges the distinctive voices, guitar styles, and personalities of the two, taking you on a soulful journey through some of the world’s greatest musical styles.

Augustana
2025-06-16 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Dan Layus, the creative force behind Augustana, is a Platinum-selling American pop-rock artist celebrated for chart-topping hits like “Boston,” “Sweet and Low,” “Fire,” and “Steal Your Heart.” As a seasoned touring musician, Layus has shared the stage with iconic acts such as OneRepublic, Maroon 5, Owl City, and Counting Crows, among many others. In addition to his pop-rock success, Layus recently collaborated with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, composing original classical pieces and arranging Augustana’s songs for a string quartet. For his highly anticipated 2025 Midwest summer tour, Layus has assembled his world-class band again to perform a host of Augustana classics.

Skerryvore
2025-06-17 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The elevator at The Ark is out of service while technicians make repairs. Attendees for this show will need to be able to walk up and down the stairs to the second floor of The Ark where the show takes place.
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.
What are Skerryvore? They’re like no one else. Epic of melody, intimate of feeling and plugged into the roots of Scotland but blasting out to the world. Three time winners of Scotland’s ‘Live Act of the Year’ award, Skerryvore have evolved from their humble beginnings to become one of the country’s leading forces in a thriving live music scene. At the forefront of a movement that has reinvented and reignited a traditional Scottish scene for a modern, multicultural audience, the band have brought their high energy performances to audiences across the globe.
With a mix of bagpipes, fiddles, accordions, and whistles, alongside guitar and vocals, underpinned by driving bass, drums and keys, Skerryvore represent the best in contemporary Scottish traditional music. Their now 7 studio albums demonstrate the wide range of influences the individual musicians bring to the mix – a unique fusion of folk, trad, pop and rock.

California Guitar Trio // Kaki King
2025-06-18 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The elevator at The Ark is out of service while technicians make repairs. Attendees for this show will need to be able to walk up and down the stairs to the second floor of The Ark where the show takes place.
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 universe of guitar knows no boundaries for The California Guitar Trio. Since 1991, the group has enthralled listeners with a singular sound that fearlessly crisscrosses genres. The trio’s questing spirit drives it to explore the intersections between rock, jazz, classical, and world music. It even throws in the occasional surf or spaghetti Western tune for good measure. Comprised of Bert Lams, Tom Griesgraber and Paul Richards, the group has established a unique, personal connection with audiences. In addition to dazzling musicianship and interplay, The California Guitar Trio’s shows are full of captivating stories and humor that enable concertgoers to feel like they’re part of the music, not just spectators.
Dubbed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Brooklyn, NY-based Kaki King has proven to be just that. Her career has taken her all over the world, sharing stages with Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, contributing music to award-winning films (Sean Penn’s Into The Wild), and performing at the Kennedy Center, the London Jazz Festival, and the Paris Les Femmes s’en Melent. Her explorations into the guitar and multimedia have led to the creation of groundbreaking work such as The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body, Modern Yesterdays, SEI, and her newest show for audiences of all ages, BUGS. Kaki continues to create, perform, and lend her musical voice to the forefront of contemporary music.

Jon Muq
2025-06-19 20:00 - 23:00 | 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 Jon Muq, a singer-songwriter born in Uganda and now living in Austin, Texas, music is part of a larger conversation he’s having with the world and everybody in it. Drawing from African as well as western musical trends and traditions, he devises songs as small gifts, designed to settle into everyday life and provoke reflection and resilience. “These days the world is sad,” he explains, “so I wanted to make happy songs. I wanted to write songs that connected with the listener in a very personal way. When someone listens to my music, it’s not just about me and what I’m singing. It’s about how they understand the songs individually. I think these songs can speak many languages, depending on what you want from them.
Muq’s experiences as a child in Uganda and as a man in America give him a unique perspective on the world he’s addressing. “I grew up in a very different life, where so many people pass through hard times just because they don’t have much. Our biggest issue was food scarcity. Then I came to a different world, which gave me a picture of how to write a song that can find balance with everyone wherever they are, whether they have a lot or not much.”

Cris Jacobs
2025-06-20 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
This show was rescheduled from November. Tickets purchased for the original date will be honored on the new date. If unable to attend on the new date, ticket holders have until January 10 to request a refund.
From Baltimore comes Cris Jacobs—an unexpectedly gritty soul-blues singer and guitarist with outlaw country ethos. Blending a variety of musical traditions, Jacobs creates a distinctive voice and sound of his own punctuated by emotive songwriting and explosive guitar playing. Equally at home playing heartfelt Americana ballads or funky blues rockers, Jacobs is known for his mesmerizing live shows, where his improvisational guitar playing, powerhouse band, and deep reservoir of songs make each night a unique experience.
Named one of Rolling Stone’s “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know” in 2017, Jacobs has collaborated with the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh and Dumpstaphunk’s Ivan Neville, and earned opening slots on tours with Sturgill Simpson and Steve Winwood.
With three solo albums to his name, a collaborative record with Ivan Neville aptly titled “Neville Jacobs”, songwriting credits that include bluegrass artists Audie Blaylock and Frank Solivan, New Orleans funksters Dumpstaphunk, and gospel legends Blind Boys of Alabama, Jacobs continues to evolve and display his wide range of writing and performing prowess. “No matter the song”, he says, “I just like to keep it soulful and let the music speak for itself”
Opening is Lost Mary, the songwriting project of Luke Martin and David Johnson III. Hailing from the small, rural town of Hillsdale, Michigan, Lost Mary is committed to the essence of Folk music: storytelling. Pulling from both traditional and modern Folk and Americana influences, Luke and David bring together their unique musical backgrounds to create songs and stories that are as personal as they are universal. Lost Mary is the soundtrack of front porches, late nights, and smokey basements.

Out Loud Chorus
2025-06-21 13:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Make Music Ann Arbor is a live, free musical celebration taking place June 21 every year—the longest day of the year. Cities across the world celebrate with concerts by professional and amateur musicians.
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.
OLC is fun and flexible, open to many levels of ability and committed to embodying the diversity of our community. In addition, the chorus seeks to educate the general public about choral music and, through performances, to reduce bigotry and discrimination against our community.

Darlingside
2025-06-21 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Everything 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. Grappling with change both personal and universal, with quandaries domestic and existential, Everything Is Alive is an album about loss and the struggle for a semblance of redemption.
Comprised of Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner and David Senft, four likeminded multi-instrumentalists who first met at Williams College in 2009, Darlingside’s career has been defined by the elegance of their compositions and the unity of their four voices. Their talent for harmony and melodic world-building is part of what garnered praise from outlets like NPR, Rolling Stone and The New Yorker, and what has created demand worldwide for their extraordinary live performances.
It’s a rare thing and becoming rarer by the day: a group of musicians with that emulsifying magic to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. And to see Darlingside perform live is to confirm this special chemistry. With the release of Everything Is Alive the band will, for the first time, take to the road without Dave Senft. Instead of filling his spot directly, the band has wisely chosen to honor the special chemistry of the foursome by letting those arrangements live on the recordings without obligation to faithfully recreate them onstage. While Dave remains a contributing member of the band, on tour Darlingside will perform in a completely different configuration altogether—a configuration that will, at times, include the album’s drummer Ben Burns, singer Molly Parden, and others—proving again how the group can adroitly rearrange themselves for the breaking of a new and different day.

Birdtalker
2025-06-22 19:30 - 23:00 | 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.
Fronted 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.
They followed that up in 2021 with their anticipated sophomore album Birdtalker, which was met with further critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, Paste, Relix, PopMatters, The Boot, The Bluegrass Situation, Americana Highways, American Songwriter, Under The Radar, and more. John Mayer featured one of their latest songs, Season Of Charade, on his SiriusXM Show, stating “the whole thing is fantastic.”
Their third full-length effort, All Means, No End finds the Nashville-based quartet teaming up with a new collaborator, Louis Johnson (LONAS), who produced, engineered, and helped co-write the album.

Half Gringa
2025-06-24 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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.”
True as that may be, her third and latest album Cosmovisión represents a shift. Recorded in Chicago by veteran Califone and Iron & Wine producer Brian Deck, Cosmovisión captures Olive at her most self-possessed, addressing “mythology, mortality, and everything in between,” ideas that Olive says are “too hot to touch, too huge to hold.” Indeed, Half Gringa seems to revel in addressing what cannot be grasped or expressed so easily. Olive commonly switches between English and Spanish in her songs. It’s a tribute –– as is the band name –– to her upbringing by a Venezuelan mother and an American father in a Midwestern town.
The Ark’s Artist Spotlight Series is made possible with support from Ford Philanthropy. It is presented live, and also livestreamed on The Ark’s Facebook page.
Tonight’s show is FREE (nonperishables accepted for Food Gatherers).

The Ark's Open Stage
2025-06-25 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-07-01 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-07-09 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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.
Why play Open Stage at the Ark? Do it to be heard. Do it so you know you can. Do it to take your music to the masses. If you’re not interested in getting on stage tonight, get your practice in at being a great audience member and observer of new music.

Melissa Ferrick
2025-06-26 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
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.
To commemorate its 25th anniversary, Ferrick has re-recorded her critically acclaimed album Everything I Need. “Just me and the guitar using live takes and no overdubs,” Ferrick captures the emotional intensity that has become a signature of her live performances.
Ferrick’s impact reaches far beyond her music. As one of the few openly queer artists in the 1990s, she navigated and challenged the sexism, homophobia, and rigid gender expectations of the music industry. Her trailblazing journey not only paved the way for future generations of artists but also created a space where they could express their identities and be celebrated on their own terms. Most recently, Melissa launched Drive Music Agency (DMA), a booking agency and consulting company designed to help launch new acts in the indie scene. She is also a Professor of Practice at Northeastern University, teaching courses in music business, songwriting, creative entrepreneurship, demo recording and production, and the psychology of creativity. Melissa was an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music from 2013 to 2019 and holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University.
As she continues to challenge conventions, Melissa Ferrick continues to reinforce her genre-defying legacy with each new project.

Joe Reilly and The Community Gardeners
2025-06-27 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
“Exalting 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.
As the world becomes more complex and darker, with rising rates of violence, intolerance, and racism, as well as anxiety and suicide, human beings seek new alternatives to convey positive and encouraging messages to their fellow human beings. This is why an artist like Joe Reilly seeks to combine his ordinary work activities with music, as an activist who, through his music, seeks to uplift the spirits of all who listen.” ~Cosmonauta Radio
Learn to Love Again is Joe Reilly’s first non-children’s album in over a decade. Appropriate for all ages, the album shares the depths of Joe’s spiritual journey of healing and transformation. The first two singles, Day of Peace (released 1-1-25) and Infinite Hearts – Decolonization Mix (released 2-17-25) are two examples that show the musical and lyrical diversity of the album.
Recorded on the Frog Holler Farm in Brooklyn, Michigan underneath the summer solstice full moon, the album features Joe’s band, The Community Gardeners: Billy King (guitars and piano), John Driscoll (drums and vocals), Jenny Jones (vocals), Lesley-Anne Stone (vocals), Chris Good (bass), Mark Stone (percussion), Chris DiMeglio (trumpet), Glen Michael Blair (keyboard), as well as guest artists Born I (vocals), and Peace Be Free (vocals).
Learn to Love Again will be released on all streaming platforms on the Summer Solstice, June 20th, 2025. This special, singular album release concert will include a guided meditation from Dharma teacher Barbara Newell, who has been a spiritual mentor of Joe’s for many years and who led Joe and The Community Gardeners in guided meditations during the recording process. Also featured will be singer songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, who recently celebrated her most recent release Heartskin.
Come ready to sing, breathe, and celebrate our deep interconnections!
Photo credit Silver Thumb Photography

Shawn Mullins
2025-06-30 20:00 - 22:30 | 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.
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.
For the 20th anniversary of his breakthrough album, Shawn revisited the music of Soul’s Core by recording two new versions of the album. He calls this Soul’s Core Revival. This is not a remix or a remaster of the original, but rather brand new recordings with new arrangements of the songs – one album is stripped down solo performances, some on guitar, some on piano and maybe one a cappella and the second is a new studio recording with his full band, Soul Carnival.

Matt the Electrician
2025-07-02 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Matt 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.

Bandits on the Run
2025-07-03 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Bandits 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.”
After recording their 2021 EP, Now Is The Time, with producer Ryan Hadlock (Brandi Carlile, The Lumineers), the Bandits took to the screen, devising a short musical film, Band At The End Of The World, commissioned by Prospect Musicals. Since then, they have continued to explore the nexus of indie-folk music and theatrical storytelling, composing music for the Netflix animated series, Storybots, scoring the movie, The Same Storm, adapting several songs from texts by William Shakespeare for a production of As You Like It, and receiving an NEA grant for a new musical with Prospect Musicals, all the while touring the globe with appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Floydfest, Summerfest Milwaukee, Americanafest, F1 Singapore Grand Prix, Mile of Music, and the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival.
Bandits on the Run are currently working on the stage musical adaptation of the novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in association with MCC Theater, alongside actor-musician Christopher Sears and Academy Award Nominee Peter Hedges, who wrote the original book and screenplay.

Smithsonian Folkways artist Jerron Paxton
2025-07-06 19:30 - 23:00 | 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.
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.” Jerron returns to The Ark for a special benefit for River Raisin Ragtime Revue, a local professional 13-piece ragtime orchestra.

Langhorne Slim
2025-07-07 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Langhorne Slim, a beloved and acclaimed American singer, songwriter and performer. Over the last 2 decades he has merged a stew of styles to create a sound that is unique, powerful and raw. From campfires to dive bars, and theatres to arenas, Slim brings an intimacy and edge through his innate ability to connect with his audiences. Though he’s been at this for the better part of his days, it somehow feels like he’s just getting started.

Kasey Chambers
2025-07-08 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
Kasey Chambers is an Australian country music artist whose distinctive voice, heart-felt lyrics and world-class performances have earned her the rightful position of one of the most popular and acclaimed artists of her generation at home, whilst winning a devoted cult following around the rest of the world.
Hailed as bringing Australian country music into the mainstream, Kasey has won 14 ARIA’s, 24 CMAA Golden Guitars, 10 APRA songwriting awards; her 12 albums have sold more than 14 x platinum and include 5 x No.1 albums and her No.1 single ‘Not Pretty Enough’.
In 2018 Kasey’s exceptional career was honored by being the youngest female ever to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. With a career spanning over 25 years Kasey continues to inspire with her trademark authenticity and unwavering commitment to her craft.
Most recently, Kasey has released a new book ‘Just Don’t Be A Dickhead’ (Hardie Grant Publishing) and a new album Backbone which debuted at #1 on the ARIA Australian Album Chart and Country Albums Chart. Its title track currently is nominated for 4 x CMAA Golden Guitar Awards, and Kasey has announced a huge 30-date Australian tour for 2025.

Dustbowl Revival
2025-07-10 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
How do you describe genre-defying roots music adventurers Dustbowl Revival? Even tireless founder and lead songwriter Z. Lupetin would agree you have to come to a show to find out. Going strong into their second decade after starting from a humble Craigslist ad posted in bohemian Venice Beach, some would say Dustbowl’s ever-evolving collective (there have been nearly thirty members!) plays a spicy cocktail of folky-funk or booty-shaking jangly rock n’ soul: expertly mixing their New Orleans-tinted brass section with their signature Laurel Canyon harmonies and fearless lyrics.
In 2019 the group completed a successful run of performing art centers paying homage to their heroes in The Band and in 2025 Dustbowl is embarking on a new run of theaters and festivals showcasing the music of LA’s Laurel Canyon. A brassy Beatles cover will come this fall followed by a new record of originals slated for early 2025 – recorded in a cabin studio in Wisconsin with noted engineer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens).
However you sip their sound, Dustbowl Revival has become a beloved fixture of the Americana community – from playing tiny speakeasies and pubs around their southern California base, to headlining thousands of shows in ten countries and counting. Indeed, founder Z. Lupetin’s quixotic Craigslist ad hoping to find like-minded music-makers to play songs inspired equally by Wilco, Bob Dylan and Springsteen as Nina Simone, Fleetwood Mac and Bill Withers may seem confusing, but somehow it worked.
“Maybe we don’t know where this journey will take us or how long it will last,” acknowledges Lupetin, “That’s my take on the importance of what we try to do. Music elevates us, lifts us up, makes us change our minds, takes us out of our comfort zones. If just one person can be moved by just one song, that’s enough.”

Chatham Rabbits
2025-07-11 20:00 - 23:00 | 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.
There is something warm and instantly familiar about the beloved roots duo Chatham Rabbits. Partners in music and life, Chatham Rabbits’ Austin and Sarah McCombie blend their personal histories through deft songwriting and a history that comes from building a life together. Leaning into each other’s strengths, their songs present a congenial, collaborative spirit that has captured the pure adoration of fans along the way and earned them praise from Garden & Gun Magazine, American Songwriter, and No Depression.
Their artistry hinges on a fervent desire to connect with others through the music that first brought the pair together. Steeped in the regional traditions of their North Carolina home, Chatham Rabbits’ musical pursuits represent a new age of roots music.
The duo recorded and released their beloved debut album, “All I Want From You in 2019,” and this set the standard for their sophomore release, “The Yoke is Easy, The Burden is Full,” the centerpiece song from which, “Oxen,” was named “Top Folk Song of 2020” by Paste Magazine.
Nurtured by central North Carolina’s fertile, influential music scene, Chatham Rabbits’ sound continued to evolve on their expansive third album, “If You See Me Riding By” (2022), which was simultaneously released with a television series, “On the Road with Chatham Rabbits,” on PBS-NC. The McCombies’ ingenuity during the Covid-19 crisis led to the creation of their mobile concert experience, “The Stay at Home Tour,” which took the duo to 194 neighborhoods in 2020-21. The pair comes to The Ark with their latest album, “Be Real With Me.”

The RFD Boys
2025-07-12 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
It’s hard to believe, because each show is fresh and new, but the RFD Boys have been delighting Michigan audiences since 1969 with their fabulous musicianship and sly, exquisitely timed between-song humor. They’re legends of Michigan bluegrass, but they’re more than that too. With an appearance on the cover of Bluegrass Unlimited, with songs recorded by the likes of the Country Gentlemen, and with performances alongside bluegrass greats like Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley, the RFD Boys are a part of America’s bluegrass tradition. The RFD Boys are one of southeastern Michigan’s most durable musical ensembles, and their shows capture a deep slice of musical Ann Arbor. Their 50th-anniversary appearance at the Folk Festival was a special moment and introduced many listeners to Dan Roehrig, who joined the band on guitar, mandolin, and bass in mid-2018. Dan grew up listening to Doc Watson, Clarence White, and Tony Rice, and you can hear it in both his singing and guitar playing.
Tickets available at the door (there are no advance tickets sold for RFD Boys shows!)

Tommy Prine
2025-07-13 19:30 - 23:00 | 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.
Tommy Prine’s debut album This Far South was not only a long-awaited introduction but a testimony to Prine’s 20s and the loss, love, and growth that has defined them. Co-produced by a close friend and kindred musical spirit, Ruston Kelly, and beloved Nashville engineer and producer, Gena Johnson, the album is rich and dynamic from cathartic jams to nostalgic storytelling.
Tommy learned to play guitar by watching his father, mimicking the ways his fingers moved, he inadvertently developed his own singular style. Prine sonically brings together a colorful patchwork of musical influences spanning Gillian Welch, Outkast, Bon Iver, the Strokes and more. Lyrically, Tommy explores existential questions and emotional experiences in his music.
West Virginia native, Olivia Ellen Lloyd, opens. Heavily influenced by country, folk, and indie rock, Lloyd’s sound combines the traditional, rooted sounds of her West Virginia upbringing with the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants exhilaration of her current life. She is inspired by the electric heartbeat of New York City, the peaceful quiet of her small hometown and the rich moments of life on the road in between.

Summer Sounds at The Ann Arbor Art Fair
2025-07-17 18:00 - 23:00 | The Stage on Main, 353 S. Main St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
We are excited to once again partner with the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair to bring live music each evening of the art fairs to the Stage on Main at the corner of Main and William in the Palio lot. Stop by and join one of our favorite street parties of the year!

DuPont Phillips
6pm
Southeast Michigan favorites Chris DuPont and Kylee Phillips met a decade ago at a Tree Town Sound radio appearance for Ann Arbor’s 107.1 and have been fans of each other’s writing ever since. In the summer of 2021, after countless path crossings, Chris and Kylee finally learned each other’s material and discovered an incredible vocal blend and stage synergy. They each released solo EPs in the fall of 2023 and their first duo EP – “Big Sky Sessions” – in April 2024.
Nathan Graham
7:30pm
Born and raised in Chicago, Nathan Graham meshes South Side Blues with Nashville Americana, beginning his career backing blues singers at famous haunts like Buddy Guy’s Legends and Kingston Mines. He spent a decade as a guitar-for-hire before picking up a mic to tell his own stories on the stage.
Soulful and steady, Graham’s music offers a raw introspective of the human condition that’s both painful and comforting. His guitar conveys heartbreak, lyrics tell stories of regret, but his rich vocal delivery offers the remedy.
Having brought his songs on international tours with both major label and indie acts, Graham is challenging the notion of what it means to be a singer-songwriter. He’s driving inclusivity within the genre, and he hopes to evoke a sense of understanding in the process.
“I’m writing about universal experiences,” he says. “I’m writing music to connect my story to yours, show you all that we have in common, and maybe help both of us feel less alone.”

Summer Sounds at The Ann Arbor Art Fair
2025-07-18 18:00 - 23:00 | The Stage on Main, 353 S. Main St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
We are excited to once again partner with the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair to bring live music each evening of the art fairs to the Stage on Main at the corner of Main and William in the Palio lot. Stop by and join one of our favorite street parties of the year!
Rabbitology
6pm
Rabbitology is the project of Nat Timmerman—a world that was pulled from her odd-running mind. A little land of the harebrained and burrowing. Simply follow the three-legged rabbit prints until you’re knee deep in this world’s eclectic soundscapes, and here you will discover a collection of memoirs turned into fantastical sonic short stories. Stay as long as you like. Make this world your home too. It’s a little unusual in here, but that’s life!
Joe & The Ruckus
7:30pm
The Ruckus is a collective with the goal of recontextualizing classic funk and soul music within our 21st century world. They formed during the pandemic and emerged from lock-down as changed people in search of new live music experiences from those typically seen pre-pandemic. The Ruckus rose to and surpassed that expectation, providing electrifying live concerts with repertoire ranging from the father of funk, James Brown, to the king of soul, Stevie Wonder, and beyond into more modern artists and have now expanded from their hometown to NYC, Chicago and Detroit.

Summer Sounds at The Ann Arbor Art Fair
2025-07-19 18:00 - 23:00 | The Stage on Main, 353 S. Main St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
We are excited to once again partner with the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair to bring live music each evening of the art fairs to the Stage on Main at the corner of Main and William in the Palio lot. Stop by and join one of our favorite street parties of the year!
6:00 Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective and BLUESHOUSE!
Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective is an open community of musicians playing at all levels and abilities. Ukes? Well, it’s more like 30 different instruments. Plasticity? Yes! The Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective believes that by sharing music and learning how to play a new instrument, you can: “Drop a brain bomb. Fire up the synapses. Rewire some neural pathways.” And BLUESHOUSE!, led by veteran English bluesman Mike Brooks, has enlivened countless stages and street parties around southeast Michigan over the last decade. Join us for a combination that will stretch your brain!
Mike Brooks, veteran blues guitar player/singer/songwriter from the UK has been playing guitar since the age of 10, and professionally since the age of 16. His musical career and accolades are many and varied, but include hitting the UK charts in 1979 (#28 on “the New Wave of British Heavy Metal” despite being a blues band), getting a cease and desist order from Walt Disney Corp for using a band name too close to that of a cartoon mouse, opening for bands such as the Yardbirds, the Animals, Wishbone Ash and Nine Below Zero, and playing in some of the most famous venues anywhere such as London’s Marquee, and, well, The Ark! In addition to leading BLUESHOUSE and fronting the Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective, he also works with Ann Arbor’s youth at the Neutral Zone, a continuation of a youth music project begun in the UK called Electric896, which taught disengaged youth how to rock the blues.

Katie Geddes
2025-07-20 19:30 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Katie Geddes sings traditional and contemporary folk, country-folk, and folk-pop tunes. A deft interpreter of beloved songs, her captivating voice and velvety-smooth delivery bring new life to the compositions of writers such as John Prine, Michael Nesmith and Lennon and McCartney. When not doing her own gigs, Katie has been known to “moonlight” singing harmony for folk-rock legend Melanie and local favorite Matt Watroba, and is part of the female vocal trio All About Eve.

McKinley James
2025-07-22 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
McKinley James is equal parts old soul and modern man. Armed with an electric guitar and sharp songwriting chops, he breathes new life into classic sounds with Working Class Blues, a debut album that introduces his mix of American rock & roll, amplified soul, and raw rhythm & blues.
The Ark’s Artist Spotlight Series is made possible with support from Ford Philanthropy. It is presented live, and also livestreamed on The Ark’s Facebook page.
Tonight’s show is FREE (nonperishables accepted for Food Gatherers).
