Cris Williamson
2025-10-05 19:30 - 23:00 (America/Detroit) | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Cris Williamson returns to the Ark for a celebration and special 50th Anniversary solo presentation of the beloved Changer and the Changed, the album that became the soundtrack of a movement.
“The Changer” as it is often called, is a seminal album in feminist music history. Released in 1975 on Olivia Records, an all-women recording company, the album is considered a cornerstone of women’s music. NPR’s Music Critic Ann Powers has praised the album as a work that explores themes of loss, grief, and renewal, suggesting it’s a portal that allows listeners to travel through time and return refreshed. The album’s impact is significant, with Powers and others highlighting its enduring influence on the folk, pop, and feminist music movements.
“Even though it’s over 50 years old, The Changer and the Changed seems to still hold water, and continue to refresh those who find it. I’m honored to claim it, and thrilled to perform it. What a joy to play these old songs. It feels new every time!” – Cris
Come join Cris in celebration, and bring your memories.

JFDR
2025-10-06 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Due to unforeseen circumstances this show has been cancelled. Refunds have been processed from point of purchase.
JFDR is Jófríður Ákadóttir, a musician and film score composer from Iceland. As a 14 year old in Reykjavik, Ákadóttir began her musical career exploring the vast universe of experimental music while retaining a massive heart at her core. Over the past 12 years, Ákadóttir has released 12 records, including as a member of Pascal Pinon & Samaris, collaborated with renowned artists Ólafur Arnalds and Damien Rice, scored the award winning Icelandic film Backyard Village and garnered fans across the world – including Björk who cites Ákadóttir as an inspiration.

In 2024, she won the Icelandic Music Award for album of the year in the category Pop, Rock, Rap, and Electronica for her album Museum.

The Ark's Open Stage
2025-10-07 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-10-22 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.

Lori McKenna
2025-10-08 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
From her home base in Boston, Lori McKenna has carved out an enviable niche for herself as one of Nashville’s most in-demand songwriters, all while maintaining a prolific and remarkably consistent career as a solo artist. The release of her anticipated album, 1988, adds to a series of landmark years for McKenna and follows three widely acclaimed albums: 2016’s The Bird & The Rifle, 2018’s The Tree and 2020’s The Balladeer, of which the Associated Press praised, “McKenna has by now long established herself as one of the best songwriters working in any genre. And she does it again and again,” while The Tennessean asserted, “one of the sharpest pens in modern country and folk songwriting.”
In addition to her career as a solo artist, McKenna continues to enjoy success as one of the music industry’s most in-demand songwriters. In 2023, she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song for co-writing “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” performed by Taylor Swift. In 2017, McKenna became the first woman to win the Academy of Country Music’s Songwriter of the Year award and the first woman to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year award two years in a row. She also won back-to-back Grammys for Best Country Song: for “Girl Crush,” performed by Little Big Town, in 2016 and “Humble and Kind,” performed by Tim McGraw, in 2017. In 2021, McKenna won her third Best Country Song Grammy for co-writing “Crowded Table,” performed by the Highwomen, with Brandi Carlile and Natalie Hemby. In addition to writing songs for a multitude of award-winning artists — including Hunter Hayes, Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood — McKenna also co-wrote “Always Remember Us This Way,” which was featured in the Oscar-winning 2018 film “A Star Is Born.”

The Kentucky Gentlemen
2025-10-09 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.
The Kentucky Gentlemen are reshaping country and soul music with their bold, genre-blending mix of country, R&B, and pop. Twin brothers Derek and Brandon Campbell captivate audiences with a sound rooted in their Kentucky upbringing and elevated by high-energy performances. Fresh off tour with Grammy nominated group The War & Treaty and shows with Global Superstar Estelle, the duo continues to rise as dynamic voices shaping the future of country music. They have earned over a million streams on hits like “To Leave Right Now,” “Neon Cowboy,” and “Made For Movin’ On” with recognition from EBONY, GLAAD, NPR, BET, and Rolling Stone.
Their debut album, Rhinestone Revolution, dropped this year, showcasing empowering anthems like “To Kill Me”, sultry ballads like “To the Moon” with vocals from Brittney Spencer and bangers like “Whiskey Does” continue to put them in the conversations with industry heavyweights.
From interviews with the Recording Academy and having been selected for the Academy of Country Music’s OnRamp program spotlighting them as the future of music and Nashville. The momentum continues to build and The Kentucky Gentlemen are proving they’re here to stay, solidifying their place as artists-to-watch in both the commercial and cultural evolution of country music.

Lucy Kaplansky
2025-10-10 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
This show has been postponed to Sunday, December 14 at 7:30pm. Tickets are valid for the new date. If unable to attend on the new date, ticket buyers have until July 7 to request a refund.
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.
Lucy Kaplansky is an acclaimed singer songwriter of rare talent, “a truly gifted performer with a bag full of enchanting songs” (The New Yorker). She has released nine critically acclaimed CDs, two of which were awarded Best Pop Album of the year by the Association for Independent Music. National Public Radio described her 2012 album Reunion as “a master class in making the personal universal,” and National Public Radio’s Scott Simon called her new album Last Days of Summer, released in June 2022, “Absolutely wonderful….utterly beautiful and affecting… Lucy sings songs from her life with resonance in ours.” Lucy was part of folk supergroup Cry Cry Cry with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell (which The New Yorker dubbed “a collection of lovely harmonizing and pure emotion”). Their album was an astonishing success in stores and on radio resulting in a national tour of sold-out concerts, as well as a national sold-out reunion tour in 2018.
Lucy’s new album, The Lucy Story, is a retrospective/history of her musical life.

The RFD Boys
2025-10-10 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.

Vienna Teng
2025-10-11 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.
Songwriter Vienna Teng re-emerges this fall with her mashup song pair We’ve Got You – her first new music in over a decade – but her fans have been here the whole time. They’ve packed concert venues even in years between releases, crowdfunded an ambitious music video in hours, and joined by the hundreds when she launched her “music x climate action” Patreon in 2022.
That kind of devotion has poured forth since 2002’s Waking Hour, which landed her on NPR’s Weekend Edition, The Late Show with David Letterman, and the top of Amazon’s music charts. Across four more studio albums that followed – the chamber folk of Warm Strangers, the jazz-inflected Dreaming Through the Noise, the indie epic Inland Territory, the bright electro-pop in Aims – Vienna has paid homage to her genre-bending heroes like Paul Simon and Tori Amos, while carving a path all her own. Together with her captivating live performances and thoughtful online presence, her work has built a loyal following across generations and continents.
Vienna’s new mini-EP We’ve Got You reflects the complexity of her life over the past decade: climate change work, community building, parenthood. Two songs, each titled “We’ve Got You,” act like fraternal twins: one an indie-pop tribute to inspiring leaders, the other a chamber-folk paean to unsung caregivers. Played simultaneously, they reveal a new intricate whole: a mashup by design, and a love letter to social movements.
Appropriately, Vienna now also hosts climate action workshops on tour and online, which participants have described as “rocket fuel” and “the perfect antidote to despair.” It’s an exciting new chapter in the ever-evolving love story between an artist and her audience.

Shawn Phillips
2025-10-12 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.
The man who taught Joni Mitchell her first guitar techniques, who also taught George Harrison of the Beatles his first lessons on Sitar, the man who wrote the music to Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch” and has played with many of the finest musicians in the world including Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. He’s produced 27 albums and is known around the world for his refusal to bow down to commercialism in the music industry.
He has done what many singer/songwriters don’t do, which is to continue to evolve his creative skills in his concerts. When he comes into a venue, he brings the sounds of an entire Symphony Orchestra in real time and plays the songs so many love as close as possible to what was recorded on the albums. All in real time! All solo!

Gretchen Pleuss // Annie Bacon and her OSHEN
2025-10-14 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.
Fans of folk luminary Joni Mitchell and folk contemporary Madison Cunningham will appreciate Gretchen Pleuss’s “gorgeous arrangements and thought-provoking songwriting” – Dan Jarvis, Midwest Action. Having opened for acts like Glen Phillips, Steve Poltz, and Lisa Loeb, Pleuss is no stranger to the stage and never shies away from wearing her heart on her sleeve.
In addition to recording and performing, Gretchen is passionate about writing songs with others to assist in their healing journeys. She serves on the Board of Directors for Lost Voices, an organization that facilitates songwriting programs with youth who have experienced trauma. She also writes songs with combat veterans in workshops for Project D.R.E.W. (Delivering Restorative Energy to our Warriors)
“Fleetwood Mac would be fortunate to have such endearing well-written songs as these.” – Americana Highways – Annie Bacon is a writer and songwriter living in Ann Arbor, Michigan (via Maine and San Francisco). With her OSHEN she merges a literary writing style and folk-rock Americana sound to create rich and emotionally complex music. Bacon emerged from a loss-filled five years with 2024’s Storm, praised as “a landmark release” (Glide), “mature and sophisticated songwriting” (AmericanaUK), and “brilliant nostalgic elegance” (The Wild Is Calling). Her songs have been placed in films, nominated for awards, and covered by other artists. She also composed a folk opera, co-created a full-length musical, and writes fiction, most recently winning the Springfed Arts Prose Contest. She’ll be performing with her OSHEN harmony singer Cat Crocetto.

Cole Chaney
2025-10-15 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
When it comes to his latest album, In the Shadow of the Mountain, 25-year-old singer-songwriter Cole Chaney is pretty candid and blunt about who he is and what kind of music he wants to make — the result of which, this stunning offering from an artist wise beyond his age. “I’m not concerned with being labeled as ‘country,’ whatever that means. And I’m kind of fed up with the scene, it’s not what I’m into right now,” Chaney says. Pointing to his lifelong admiration for 1990s rock as a vital influence on the sonic landscape of the album, Chaney aimed to find a melodic balance between that raw and real rock sound and the bluegrass and folk music of his native Kentucky.

“I wanted to make something that sounded like Ralph Stanley went in and got backed up by Soundgarden,” Chaney notes. “I write what I listen to. And whatever I listen to is going to come out in my music.”

For Chaney, even though he’s only in his mid-twenties, his journey has been long and bountiful already. From growing up in rural Appalachia to going to welding school, only to leave it behind and take a leap of faith when an opportunity to pursue music emerged. That life-changing decision led to Chaney hitting the road and finding work at The Burl, a storied Lexington music venue. Chaney has come full circle with The Burl, by selling out the space on multiple occasions to fervent crowds, including the large outdoor stage.
With In the Shadow of the Mountain being the latest milestone for Chaney, what remains is this driven musician in search of not only himself and his sound, but also an audience just as hungry — for something new, something different, and yet something so familiar.

Lindsay Lou
2025-10-16 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Lindsay Lou is a siren songbird who made her way into the world of music with groups like The Flatbellys and The Sweet Water Warblers. Adopted by the jamgrass scene, frequently sitting in with bands like Greensky Bluegrass and writing and performing with Billy Strings, she has toured all the world with her sweet and powerful sound.
Hot off over a year of touring with a folk-rock-quartet to deliver her newest album, Queen of Time, Lindsay Lou has returned to a more intimate sound with what she’s calling her Honey Moon Trio. Featuring Wila Frank on guitar, fiddle and harmonies, Emma Rose on upright bass and harmonies, and Lou herself on lead vocals, guitar and banjo. The trio will be wrapping up a summer of playing music festivals around the country and making Lou’s annual autumn loop around Lake Michigan. They’ll be performing songs from Lou’s extensive discography as well as new arrangements of covers and trad songs. Expect three part harmony fit to sooth the soul, soulful lead singing, and flavors of bluegrass and americana.

Carrie Newcomer
2025-10-17 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.
Carrie Newcomer weaves her life and her art together, with music, community activism, and personal concerns all playing a role. She’s one of those people who exudes a spirituality that’s all her own, and she has to be seen in concert to be truly appreciated. Says novelist Barbara Kingsolver: “She’s a poet, storyteller, snake-charmer, good neighbor, friend and lover, minister of the wide-eyed gospel of hope and grace.” And you can forget all that and just luxuriate in her incredibly rich alto voice! Carrie has traveled to India and performed as a U.S. cultural ambassador, and local religion journalist David Crumm, writing on the ReadTheSpirit website, named her to his list of “10 Spiritual Sages to Watch.”

Carbon Leaf
2025-10-18 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.
Carbon Leaf’s fifteenth studio album, Time is the Playground, is both a call to action and an embrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling to nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, the Richmond, Virginia band embroiders heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a 12-song rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation.
Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused live shows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that they ultimately outgrew and outlasted. They first earned national recognition with “The Boxer,” a song that won the American Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned band to perform before millions on the AMAs.
After a trio of charting albums for Vanguard Records, multiple songwriting awards and headlining shows, Carbon Leaf opted to return to the complete creative control of their indie roots. Guitarist Terry Clark, who co-founded the band with Privett and multi-instrumentalist Carter Gravatt, converted his garage into the band’s Two-Car Studio, where they’ve recorded releases for their own Constant Ivy imprint ever since. Carbon Leaf’s DIY spirit even extended to re-recording their three Vanguard albums in order to regain the rights.

Tommy Emmanuel CGP - Living In The Light Tour
2025-10-19 19:00 - 23:00 | Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W 4th St, Royal Oak, MI, 48067, United States
Hailed as “one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world” by NPR’s World Cafe, Tommy Emmanuel got his start at the age of six, when he first began touring his native Australia with his family’s band. As a teenager, he earned a reputation as a highly sought after sideman and session player, and by his early twenties, Emmanuel was playing on chart-topping hits and performing with acts like Air Supply and Men at Work. Inspired in part by his hero, Chet Atkins (who would later become a friend, mentor, and collaborator), Emmanuel stepped out on his own as a solo artist in 1979, releasing the first in a string of acclaimed instrumental albums that would make him an unlikely celebrity in his home country and beyond. In the decades that followed, he would go on to headline everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall; tour with luminaries like Eric Clapton and John Denver; win a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement; perform for a televised audience of more than two billion at the Sydney Olympics; and collaborate with a who’s who of fellow guitar greats, including Les Paul, Mark Knopfler, Joe Walsh, Richard Thompson, Jason Isbell, and Billy Strings.
Recorded in just four days, Emmanuel’s latest album, Living In The Light, stands as the most daring—and most rewarding—collection in the globetrotting fingerpicker’s remarkable catalog, fusing his pop, jazz, classical, and roots influences into a virtuosic masterwork as exhilarating as it is intimate.

David Nail
2025-10-19 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.
Hailing from Kennett, Missouri, David Nail is well-respected up and down Music Row. Some might even call him a “tour de force” as his songs pull no punches in evoking the demons with which he has wrestled through much of his life. The GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum singer/songwriter’s early releases, I’m About To Come Alive, The Sound Of A Million Dreams, I’m A Fire and Fighter, ignited his reputation as an innovator and creative risk-taker yet left Nail feeling restless. This led to the departure of the only record company home he’d ever known, MCA Nashville, where he’d formed friendships that endure even now.
Through dealing with his own journey of mental health and the feeling of needing to “rebel against what people expect you to be,” Nail began making his most organic work to date, David Nail & The Well Ravens, with Jason Hall and Andrew Petroff. That project liberated Nail and propelled him into his next adventure. Writing solo for the next few months led to his debut solo independent EP Oh, Mother, a reflective piece of work. Of the title track, Rolling Stone noted that “the song creeps in like a sunrise — quiet, restrained cello and keys are the only underpinning for Nail’s powerful vocals at first. But then it slowly builds to something more massive and majestic.” That release was followed by Bootheel 2020 and Bootheel 2021, projects dedicated to the singer/songwriter’s hometown in the “bootheel” of Missouri. Nail released an EP titled Best of Me in 2023 and the title track has seen heavy press support and country radio airplay.
2024 brought more touring than ever, two great single releases “If I Could Call” and “Why” featuring Aubrie Sellers. Nail plans on releasing the start of an excitingly different and elevated album project this year leaving behind any self-imposed restrictions. In Nail’s own words, “My philosophy has always been, I just hope to have a good enough year that I can have a next year while staying as true to myself as I possibly can.”

Seth Walker
2025-10-20 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Among the most prolific artists on the Americana scene today, Seth Walker is a multi-dimensional talent who combines a gift for melody and lyric alongside a rich, Gospel-drenched, Southern-inflected voice with a true blue knack for getting around on the guitar. With his 12th studio album Why The Worry, Walker further builds upon this reputation.
Set straight by the title’s mantra, Why The Worry finds the veteran singer-songwriter letting go of the worry about perception, the worry of over-preparation, and the worry that seeps in constantly from the news and noise of everyday life. Taking a page from Willie Nelson, Walker embraced the country music legend’s sage wisdom, “I’ve never seen worry accomplish anything, so I decided not to do it.” Indeed, the album was just about finished when Hurricane Helene hit Walker where he lives in the mountains around Asheville, and as a result, the record almost didn’t see light. As catastrophe took shape, the album’s importance wavered in his mind until the central theme came back into view. The worry wouldn’t undo any damage, and there was still service in song.
Growing up on a commune in rural North Carolina, the son of classically trained musicians, Walker played cello long before discovering the guitar in his 20s. When his introduction to the blues came via his Uncle Landon Walker, who was both a musician and disc jockey, his fate was forever sealed. Instantaneously, Seth was looking to artists like T-Bone Walker, Snooks Eaglin, and B.B. King as a wellspring of endless inspiration. The rest is history. He’s released twelve albums, broken into the Top 20 of the Americana Radio Charts, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart and received praise from NPR, American Songwriter, No Depression and Relix, among others.
Alongside his extensive songwriting and recording pursuits, Walker is consistently touring and performing at venues and festivals around the world. Along with headline shows, he’s been invited to open for The Mavericks, Marc Broussard, The Wood Brothers, Raul Malo, Paul Thorn and Ruthie Foster, among others.
Prior to relocating to Asheville in 2020, Walker did stints residing in Austin, New Orleans and Nashville. He’s used those experiences wisely, soaking up the sounds and absorbing the musical lineage of these varied places. With a bluesman’s respect for roots and tradition, coupled with an appreciation for—and successful melding of—contemporary songwriting, Walker sublimely incorporates a range of styles with warmth and grace. Perhaps Country Standard Time said it best: “If you subscribe to the Big Tent theory of Americana, then Seth Walker—with his blend of blues, gospel, pop, R&B, rock, and a dash country—just might be your poster boy.”
Attendance to this show is free for Ark members at the Solo ($50) level and above.

Jesse Cook
2025-10-21 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Beyond his prolific accomplishments as a beloved Nuevo Flamenco guitarist over the past 25 years, Jesse Cook has honed his skills as a composer, producer, arranger, performer and, more recently, filmmaker and content creator. By the numbers, Jesse Cook has ten platinum and gold studio albums with combined sales exceeding two million copies, 700 million streams online, five concert DVDs and live discs, five PBS specials, a library of over 300 YouTube videos, a JUNO Award win and 11 nominations, three Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, a Gemini Award, and an Acoustic Guitar Magazine Player’s Choice Silver Award to his credit.
Jesse started down many of those diverse paths before he started school. Born in Paris to photographer John Cook and TV producer-director Heather Cook, young Jesse also lived in Barcelona, where he picked up an interest in flamenco as a toddler. At six, after his parents divorced and he moved to Toronto with his mother, the prodigy attended the prestigious Eli Kassner Guitar Academy. During summers with his father in Arles in France, he soaked up more flamenco from neighbour Nicolas Reyes, leader of the world-renowned Gipsy Kings.
After attending the Royal Conservatory, York University and Berklee College, a comfortable career as a composer seemed in the cards — until an Ontario cable TV company aired his music on the listings channel. “Their switchboard got flooded with calls,” he recalls. “People even got my number somehow and started phoning me at home and asking for a CD. And I was saying, ‘I don’t have a CD, I’m a background composer guy. I don’t make records.’ But he soon changed that tune.
Seeing opportunity, Cook self-produced Tempest at home using an eight-track recorder and one microphone. Then he delivered the initial run of 1,000 CDs from the plant to the distributor in his car. Those humble beginnings quickly sparked a mighty international career, including an extensive discography of 14albums, and another two on the way. “It turns out I did the thing I said I’d never do, and somehow it worked out. In the U.S., it was a breakthrough gig at the Catalina Jazz Festival, where his playing earned a 10-minute standing ovation, sparked mob scenes — “It was like being The Beatles,” he marvels — and prompted one store to order enough copies of Tempest to land it at No.14 in Billboard.
In Poland, his 2004 live album Montreal took the country by storm. In India, he gained fame after one of his songs was plagiarized for a major Bollywood movie. (“In India, that’s allowed,” he explains. “They call it cultural appropriation — it obviously doesn’t mean the same thing there.”) In Iraq, his instrumentals scored the nightly news. Elsewhere, they’ve accompanied gymnastics and skating routines at the Olympics. “In Nagano, the Japanese skater and the Russian skater both competed using the same song. One of them won. I think I should have got bronze,” he jokes. So no wonder Cook also quips that his music “has had a way more interesting life” than he’s had.
But lately, that international appeal — reflected in a compositional style that mixes flamenco with everything from classical and jazz to Zydeco, blues and Brazilian samba — has become something he takes more seriously. “I’ve just always made the music that I love. But if music can come from around the world and interconnect so beautifully to create this beautiful tapestry, maybe there’s something that music can teach us.”

Madi Diaz
2025-10-23 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Madi Diaz is an artist who cuts to the emotional core of her own experiences with startling precision. Her last two albums, 2021’s History of a Feeling and 2024’s two-time Grammy-nominated Weird Faith, set off a breakthrough for the professional songwriter. These records won over critics, audiences, and other collaborators with well-crafted songs and a compelling arc: first there’s the difficult breakup, then a mourning period and slowly, a sense of reinvention; when love comes around again, Weird Faith seemed to say, it’s worth fighting through the fear and uncertainty. Fatal Optimist, the Nashville singer-songwriter’s forthcoming LP, could be considered the final chapter in this heartache trilogy, and also its rawest entry. This time Diaz is asking audiences to lean closer in to hear what she has to say.
In Diaz’s words, “Fatal Optimism is the innate hope for something magical. It’s the weird faith that kicks in while knowing that there is just plain risk that comes with wanting someone or something. It’s when you have no control over the outcome, but still choose to experience every moment that happens, and put your whole heart in it.”

Steve Poltz
2025-10-24 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
It might’ve even been last night, but Steve Poltz just played the greatest show of his life. Guess what?
The next show will be even greater, making that show the greatest show of his life.
Are you starting to notice a trend?
He isn’t shy about it either.
Even after most likely thousands of shows (but who’s counting?), he hits the stage with the same amount of energy and always makes sure to declare, “This is the greatest show of my life.”
It’s why he’s quietly emerged as the kind of live phenomenon celebrated passionately by a diehard fanbase worldwide and renowned as a festival favorite everywhere from Bluesfest in Byron Bay and High Sierra Music Festival in California and Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado to Cayamo Cruise (where he actually got married). It’s why his music has crept into pop culture via collaborations with everyone from Jewel and Billy Strings to Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Nicki Bluhm, Oliver Wood, and even the late Mojo Nixon. It’s why after over a dozen albums, he’s still creatively firing on all cylinders and critically acclaimed by the likes of Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Billboard, and many more.
Nevertheless, the next gig will be the greatest show for him (and maybe for you too)…

Jackopierce
2025-10-25 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Jackopierce formed in 1988 in Dallas as theater students at SMU. They released ten studio albums, toured three continents, nine countries, and 45 states. After a five-year breakup, the guys reunited in 2002 to test out the waters. They were very warm, and Jack & Cary got back out there to play for grateful fans that thought they would never see them again. The two now have a totally renewed creative vigor, mutual respect and deep gratitude for their fans.

Dan Tyminski Band: The Ark's 29th Fall Fundraiser
2025-10-26 18:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
UPDATE: THE SILENT AUCTION IS NOW OPEN! You do not have to attend the show to bid on our online auction.

Celebrating The Ark’s 60th Anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Throughout his 30+ year career, Dan Tyminski has left his mark in every corner of modern music. His voice famously accompanies George Clooney’s performance of the Stanley Brothers’ classic song, “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow,” in the film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and his vocal collaboration with Swedish DJ Avicii on the song “Hey Brother” was a global smash, having been streamed more than a billion times to date. His diverse solo projects and years of work with Alison Krauss and Union Station have yielded troves of award-winning music. In recent years, Tyminski’s live shows with the Dan Tyminski Band have become bluegrass fan favorites and are regularly on the must-see lists among music fans of any genre.

All-in ticket prices range from $60 to $500. Upper tiers of tickets ($500, $260, $160) include reserved seating, a pre-show conversation between Dan Tyminski and our emcee, WEMU’s Jeremy Baldwin, host of The Roots Music Project, as well as a dessert reception. All tickets include a tax-deductible contribution in support of The Ark.
6:00 p.m. | Doors for Platinum, Gold, and Silver ticket holders and dessert reception
6:30 p.m. | Q&A with Dan Tyminski and Jeremy Baldwin
7:15 p.m. | Doors for Bronze ticket holders
7:30 p.m. | Concert

Ticket prices:
Platinum $500 each ($493.50 + $6.50 fees, $448.50 is tax-deductible)
Gold $260 each ($253.50 + $6.50, $208.50 is tax-deductible)
Silver $160 each ($153.50 + $6.50 fees, $108.50 is tax-deductible)
Bronze $60 each ($53.50 + $6.50 fees, $28.50 is tax-deductible)

Fruit Bats (Solo)
2025-10-27 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.
Baby Man, the new album by Fruit Bats, is like nothing else in Grammy-nominated songwriter Eric D. Johnson’s catalog. Little in the arc of his career—including Fruit Bats’ evolution from home recording project to rollicking roadshow, his solo output, and his work with Bonny Light Horseman—points the way to this album, in which his only accompaniment, aside from the occasional blush of synthesizer, is a guitar, banjo, or piano. Save for producer Thom Monahan, reuniting with Johnson for the first time since Fruit Bats’ 2019 breakthrough Gold Past Life, it’s just Johnson in the room, meaning that when the turntable’s needle meets Baby Man’s groove, it’s just him and the listener, mutually in for a reckoning.

Alice Wallace
2025-10-28 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Here I Am, Nashvillian songstress Alice Wallace declares on her new album, released summer 2024, via Mule Kick Records. It’s a title that hints at her deeply personal, confessional songwriting style, one that invites the listener to gaze at her beating heart as each intimate secret pours out, propelled by a powerful, expressive delivery that marks her as one of the true vocal talents of her generation.
Alice does not hide behind the microphone but uses it to amplify everything inside her champing to get out. She’s survived the highs and lows of life, love, and the music industry and finally produced the album she feels she was destined to make. Here I Am, she says, the real Alice Wallace.​
This album marks a return to themes of self-examination after several collections that featured predominantly story songs. “I needed to make a record that was really true to myself, both for me and for my fans who have encouraged me in ways I am so grateful for,” Alice explains. “Songs are how I process. And writing this album helped me process so much of what has happened in the last few years.”​
Cuttingly self-exploring, delivered with emotionality, and with just the right pop Americana sensibilities, Here I Am is Alice Wallace’s most expansive album yet. For fans of songwriters who turn personal heartbreak into musical gold and for anyone who loves a powerful, full ranged, expressive voice, Here I Am is not to be missed.
​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).

Kam Patterson
2025-10-29 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Due to a scheduling conflict Kam has had to cancel this show. Tickets have been refunded from point of purchase.
Kam Patterson is a comedian from Orlando who is quickly gaining recognition for his sharp, high-energy sets and effortless crowd work. His comedy career started at just 10 years old when performing his debut set at his grandmother’s 50th birthday. Kam’s natural charisma and unique, upbeat humor most recently landed him a regular slot on the extremely popular KILL TONY show. He’s a rising star in the stand-up world and a frequent performer at the Comedy Mothership club in Austin, along with many other comedy venues in Austin and across the country.

Jared Deck wsg Mike Vial
2025-10-29 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.
Jared Deck has been praised for his “powerful, beautiful voice” by Alejandro Escovedo. Raised on the dusty plains of an Oklahoma family farm, Jared worked in the fields as well as the town grocery, owned by his parents. Later he worked in an oilfield and a factory. During the Great Recession he got by with a job as a pianist in a Black church, where over the next six years, he received an unparalleled musical education. His songs tell stories in an honest voice of Midland America. “The American Dream” won first place in the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Songwriting Competition.
Mike Vial is a singer-songwriter and educator based in Ann Arbor. He won the Ypsilanti Songwriting Festival award in 2010 and the Blue Owl Songwriting award in 2014. He teaches at Community High School.

Chris Buhalis
2025-10-30 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this show has been postponed. Ticket buyers have been refunded from point of purchase. New date TBD!
Chris Buhalis was born and raised on Detroit’s east side, but his songs come from places you can only find if you stick out your thumb and follow fate’s lead. Covering territory from Alaska’s whiskey-soaked bars to the spark- and steel-filled auto plants of Detroit, Chris writes songs that speak of real people in real situations. Chris has appeared on radio’s “Acoustic Cafe” and shared stages with the likes of David Bromberg, Catie Curtis, and Dave Van Ronk.

The Myriad Project
2025-10-30 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.
The Myriad Project is a Michigan-based, emerging electroacoustic chamber music group made of oboe, bassoon, and electric violin with loop station. The ensemble creates a unique sound that mixes together the colorful, more traditionally classical timbres of oboe and bassoon, with the more modern sound of the electric violin, and the immersive textures created by the loop station. Myriad Project performances are characterized by imaginative sound worlds, innovative techniques and fun concert experiences for audiences.

Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective & Blueshouse
2025-10-31 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.
Ann Arbor’s Brain Plasticity Ukulele Collective is a proudly intergenerational group, sharing instruments, knowledge, kindness, and talent across eras. Instruments you might hear in the music of the collective include not only ukuleles but also guitar, flute, percussion, harmonica, accordion, mandolin, mandola, bass, piano, and melodica. The group is inspired by the idea that music cuts across diverse cognitive capabilities and resources, including numeracy, language, and space perception.
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.
Cancer Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor is a local nonprofit affiliate of The International Cancer Support Community (CSC), opening our doors in 2007. The Cancer Support Community is the largest and most comprehensive program in the country devoted solely to providing emotional support and education to people with cancer, their caregivers and children – all free of charge.
