In celebration of the 20th anniversary of their album, You Forgot It In People, Broken Social Scene are playing songs from their seminal sophomore album, among many more hits. At the dawn of the 21st-century, just as the internet began infecting every aspect of our daily lives, Toronto musicians Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning began […]
Dave Boutette's Midwest is full of passion, humor, and a certain shaky grace. Influenced by songwriters from Chuck Berry to John Prine to Elvis Costello, he documents the travels and triumphs of life in the heartland. Dave grew up in Detroit's shadow, and he peppers his performances with stories of his home and his life on the road. Kristi Lynn Davis logged in about 1,200 performances and 240,000 kicks as a Radio City Rockette. She also sailed the globe as a singer-dancer on cruise ships and worked in musical theater productions with showbiz icons Susan Anton, Buddy Ebsen, Maurice Hines, Jack Jones, Paige O’Hara, Juliet Prowse, Rip Taylor, and others. Kristi’s had so many adventures in show business, she had to write a book to keep them all straight. Her award-winning comic memoir is titled "Long Legs and Tall Tales." Close, comforting, and warm, Kristi’s voice slips in right beside Dave’s, and her charming and confident stage presence, along with her quick wit, are adding a whole new appeal to Dave’s shows. Together they have performed at music festivals, listening rooms, and brewpubs from the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula all the way down to Oberlin, Ohio. Tonight marks their first show with a full band.
A multiethnic Latin pop songstress, Gina Chavez is a ten-time Austin Music Award winner. Her bilingual record "Up.Rooted" topped both the Amazon and Latin iTunes charts following a feature on NPR's All Things Considered and has gained wide critical acclaim. Her Tiny Desk concert made NPR's top 15 of 2015, and she recently made 12-country […]
John Raymond and S. Carey have been playing music together for close to twenty years since their time studying music at the University of –Eau Claire. While they both received training in jazz and classical music, their careers would soon head in very different directions. S. Carey would become the right-hand man to Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver); collaborate as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Low, and Bruce Hornsby among others; and release four albums of his own to critical acclaim from Pitchfork, NPR, and more. John Raymond, on the other hand, would become a Grammy-nominated trumpeter and composer “steering jazz in the right direction” (Downbeat); release eight albums garnering praise from the New York Times, Stereogum, and others; and teach on faculty at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, one of the most prestigious music conservatories in the world.
In 2019, the two reunited and began experimenting on what their artistic voices would sound like together. Raymond brought in a host of musical ideas, while Carey contributed lyrics and helped shape the ideas into songs. Producer Sun Chung (formerly with ECM Records) came on board shortly after, and together they enlisted a cast of A-list musicians to help flesh out the music including pianist Aaron Parks (Terri Lyne Carrington, Terence Blanchard), bassist Chris Morrissey (Norah Jones, Mark Guiliana), and guitarist Dave Devine (Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band).
The result is their new album, “Shadowlands” (out September 29), a stunning, genre-bending collection of songs that combines the warmth and beauty of Carey’s aesthetic with the improvisational, spontaneous nature of Raymond’s. The music ranges from intimate and meditative to soaring and anthemic, with electric moments of musical interplay throughout. It’s the kind of collaboration that feels as if it were years in the making.
While in Arizona studying audio engineering, Ben Daniels decided to be a musician. A natural poet, he soon became a young songwriter schooled on Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, J.J. Cale, and John Prine, among others.
Since 2006, Ben has written songs that speak directly to the things we all see, recognize, and think. Years later, his lyrics have the authenticity of an artist.
Together since 2008, the Ben Daniels Band cuts through with an Americana sound from the Michigan ground. From their opening song to the finale of their set, their musicianship, experience, and originality make no two shows alike. And with the bluegrass roots of Tommy Reifel (bass), Wesley Fritzemeier (drums/mandolin/fiddle), and George Merkel (guitar), Ben Daniels Band's live show never fails to take over the venue.
Michigan native Claudia Schmidt has covered a lot of musical ground, beginning with a stirring rendition of "Tammy" at age 4 around a neighborhood bonfire. Then came years of choirs, a guitar, a dulcimer, and some theater thrown into the pot. Over four decades of mostly original songs exploring folk, blues, and jazz idioms, she has created a repertory full of the stuff of life itself. Claudia is joined on the bill by Michigan songwriter and frequent Steppin' in It collaborator Rachael Davis, who was born in Lansing and grew up in Cadillac. What grabs you first about Rachael is the voice, with a bluesy richness that will make you pull off the road to listen. Add in some incisive songwriting, and you have a Michigan artist with a strong and growing following. Says songwriter Susan Werner: "We don't have Eva Cassidy anymore, but we do have Rachael Davis.”
Trousdale (say: TRUES-dale) is a powerful female band consisting of Quinn D’Andrea, Georgia Greene, and Lauren Jones. Their melodic and heartfelt harmonies are often compared to those of The Chicks and The Staves, but the girls draw inspiration from a wide array of music, including Crosby Stills & Nash, Kacey Musgraves, and HAIM. Driven by their passion to empower young women, Trousdale is committed to making quality music that spreads a message of self-acceptance and love.
Based in Philadelphia, Low Cut Connie is a rock and roll band that also serves as the alter ego for the songwriting and the amazing stage presence of frontman Adam Weiner. LA Weekly has called Low Cut Connie’s live performances “unmatched in all of rock right now.” Among the band’s backers are Barack Obama, who put “Boozophilia” on his Spotify playlist, Elton John, and Bruce Springsteen. Low Cut Connie’s recent dates include a performance at President Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Low Cut Connie comes to Michigan with a new release, “Are You Gonna Run?”
Shovels & Rope is the Charleston, South Carolina–based duo of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent. They perform as an energetic two-piece band, stirring up a righteous racket with two old guitars, a handful of harmonicas, the occasional keyboard, and a junkyard drum kit harvested from an actual garbage heap and adorned with tambourines, flowers and kitchen rags. But the songs are the deadliest arrows in this duo's quiver. Since 2010, Shovels & Rope has been traveling the highways and back roads of North America, logging hundreds of shows and performing for crowds large and small. If you enjoy the tough new strain of Southern songwriting exemplified by Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell, the Felice Brothers, Hayes Carll, and Butch Walker, Shovels & Rope are not to be missed. The group’s latest album, “Manticore,” has a new sound born of pandemic-time studio experimentation.
This annual concert benefits the Veterans for Peace Chapter 93 Peace Scholarship Fund. Proceeds will go to scholarships for college students enrolled in an accredited peace studies program and for programs to assist combat veterans suffering from serious trauma. Previous performers have included Chris Buhalis, Dave Keeney and Sophia Hanifi, Annie and Rod Capps, Dave Boutette and Kristi Lynn Davis, Dick Siegel, Judy Banker, Rochelle Clark, Laith Al-Saadi, Rollie Tussing, Michael Smith, Billy King, Jud Branam and Kevin Brown, and Shari Kane and Dave Steele. All artists will be performing peace-themed songs.
Allison Russell - poet, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, and co-founder of Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago - embarks upon her next chapter in The Returner, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of Black liberation, Black love, of Black self-respect. Written and co-produced by Allison along with dim star (her partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay), The Returner was recorded over Solstice week in December 2022 at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It features Russell’s “Rainbow Coalition” band of all female musicians along with special guest appearances from the legendary Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier.
“If you like guitar playing, it simply doesn’t get any better than Tommy.” – Jason Isbell Tommy Emmanuel has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. Or at least they would if he was the kind of artist who was ever satisfied. At the age of six, he was touring regional Australia with his […]
The Verve Pipe has spent the better part of three decades in evolution, creating a sound that transcends genre and generation. It's a sound rooted in pop hooks, alt-rock guitars, and the sharp songwriting of frontman Brian Vander Ark. A sound that's taken the band from the golden days of late-'90s modern rock—when The Verve Pipe enjoyed multi-platinum success with hits like "Photograph" and the chart-topping "The Freshmen"—to the rule-breaking creativity of the 2010s and beyond, an era that's found the band reinventing itself with each release. Throughout it all, The Verve Pipe has released critically-acclaimed music as both a major-label act and an independent band, maintaining a commitment to forward-thinking rock & roll with albums like 2021's Threads.
Internationally acclaimed guitar virtuoso Trace Bundy must be seen, not just heard. His music is poetry in motion, using harmonics, looping, multiple capos, and his unique banter and stage presence to deliver an unforgettable live concert experience. Listening to his intricate arrangements is one thing, but seeing the fan-dubbed "Acoustic Ninja" play live confounds even the most accomplished music lovers as to how one person can do all that with just two hands and ten fingers. Trace has played about 30 countries and counting—from high-tech performance halls in South Korea and Italy, to remote villages in Zimbabwe and Guatemala. In the hands of Trace Bundy, says Guitar Player, "the acoustic guitar is an imagination station, and there was no telling where he is going to take the audience at any given turn. Thrilling stuff."
With Billy King, Emily Slomovits, San Slomovits, and Jen Sygit! A quartet of mainstays of the Michigan music scene join together to perform Joni Mitchell songs in honor of her 80th birthday. Come sing along with your favorites and hear newly reimagined arrangements of familiar, iconic Joni songs, and less well-known gems from her nearly […]
at Michigan Theater Join us for a special one of a kind show of songs, stories, and visuals. Lucinda Williams’ music has gotten her through her darkest days. It’s been that way since growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I told You. Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from a debilitating stroke she suffered on November 17, 2020, at age 67. Her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. To
wit, her stunning, sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since age 12 – her distinctive vocals sound better than ever.
The constant for Ann Arbor-based Bill Edwards has always been songwriting. He won first prize in Billboard’s® national songwriting contest and his songs have been recorded by other singers and featured on TV and on the silver screen. He’s held staff-writer positions in Nashville and instructed others in the fine art of words and music. But you haven't heard Bill's songs until you've heard them presented in his own fine voice and with his expressive playing. Bill will be releasing his newest album, “So Far,” at this concert with a full band. This is his ninth full-length album. Opening the show will be metro Detroit singer/songwriter/producer Jeff Scott.
“I saw a literal manifestation of the sacred feminine, and had this profound sense that I was meant to embody it,” recalls singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou after journeying through a hallucinogenic ritual that would inform the way she processed waves of grief in the sea of change ahead of her. The loss of her grandmother, the end of her marriage, and the overwhelming turmoil of COVID lockdowns found the Nashville-based artist on a spiritual journey of self-knowledge and healing with this gift from the mystic swirl. On her brand-new album, “Queen of Time,” Lou explores that quest across ten tracks of tender, heartbreakingly beautiful music. Produced by Dave O'Donnell (James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Heart) ) and featuring a gamut of guests including GRAMMY-winners Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, Queen of Time celebrates love and loss, and captures a new arc of haloed beauty.
In the words of the Boston Globe, Darrell Scott "is to Nashville what Richard Thompson is to Britain and what Paul Brady is to Ireland." Most artists fall toward one side or the other of the divide between great songwriting and instrumental virtuosity, but in the songs of Darrell Scott words, music, and instruments are inseparable. Darrell has written some of the sharpest country songs of the 21st century (like the Dixie Chicks' "Long Time Gone"), and he can play just about anything with strings. Darrell's song "Hank Williams' Ghost" was named Song of the Year at the 2007 Americana Music Awards. Darrell has toured with Robert Plant and The Zac Brown Band, and, as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist he's been an artist to whom many in Nashville turn for a shot of inspiration. His music features guitars (including lap and pedal steel), keyboards, electric and acoustic bass, harp, bouzouki, harmonium, mandolin, banjolin, cello, glockenspiel, drums, and various other percussion instruments. Darrell has two recent albums, “Darrell Scott Sings the Blues of Hank Williams” and “Jaroso.”
Blending rock, folk, Celtic, bluegrass and Americana traditions into a high-energy style the group calls ether-electrified porch music, this Virginia quintet’s poetic songs are brought to life with acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, fiddle, bass, drums, cello, banjo, penny whistle, pedal steel, accordion and rich vocal harmony. Carbon Leaf writes, records and produces its music independently from their studio in Richmond, VA, and has performed over 2,400 live shows across 17 albums in their long career. The group’s independent music and spirit continue to resonate with its fans.
Sweden’s Väsen-Duo, Mikael Marin and Olov Johansson, have, after almost 40 years of interaction and touring, refined their sound and their stage presence to the extent that today they are unique in their kind. They perform on a variety of stringed instruments, including kontrabasharpa, oktavharpa, three-rowed nyckelharpa, violoncello da spalla and a blue electric base-viola. Väsen comes to Michigan with a new album, “Melliken.”
Hawktail brings together musicians you've heard in a dozen other places into an exciting new combination! Fiddler Brittany Haas was a member of Crooked Still and a fixture on Chris Thile's "Live from Here" radio shows. Bassist Paul Kowert is a longtime member of Punch Brothers. Guitarist Jordan Tice grew up in bluegrass and has played with The Dave Rawlings Music Machine. And mandolinist Dominick Leslie has studied with Thile, Mike Marshall, and David Grisman, and has performed with Noam Pikelny & Friends. Put it together, and you have a band that can range across genres and recombine them with ease, imagination, and brilliant virtuosity.
Voted Guitarist of the Decade by Guitarist magazine and Best Acoustic Fingerstylist four years in a row by readers of Guitar Player, Adrian Legg dazzles audiences with an unclassifiable mixture of country, jazz, folk, rock, and classical styles.
If you haven’t heard of the cheerfully named supergroup Mr. Sun, you’ve certainly heard its proponents, four of the finest musicians on the American Roots scene: Renowned fiddler Darol Anger, Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music, who has released dozens of influential solo albums over a 50-year career in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall, and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss, and Republic of Strings; Joe K. Walsh, mandolin virtuoso and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before becoming a solo artist, songwriter, and Strings Department Professor at Berklee; all-around guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of David Grisman’s band and respected solo artist and educator; and the phenomenal Scots bassist Aidan O’Donnell, who has backed harpist Maeve Gilchrist and countless modern jazz heroes. Their appearances in the last few years at Wintergrass, Rockygrass, Grey Fox, Freshgrass, Redwing Roots, and at IBMA conventions have created a reverberant clang throughout the Acoustic Americana music world.
Charlie Cunningham has emerged as a truly under-the-radar success story. He has headlined London’s iconic Queen Elizabeth Hall and has become a regular fixture in Europe’s most prestigious concert halls. Splitting his time between piano and nylon string guitar, Charlie creates melancholic yet rhythmically driven songs. When these are expressed with his characteristic restraint, something timeless takes shape. Despite his dyslexia making it nearly impossible for him to read music, Charlie earned a music degree and by his mid-20s worked a variety of odd jobs and wrote songs in his free time. Eventually, he moved to Seville, immersed himself in flamenco music and focused intensely on his guitar playing. Planning to stay for three months, he stayed for three years. Once home, Charlie found work playing in bars across London and Oxford —eventually returning to songwriting. Charlie has subsequently released two albums and four eps which have garnered over half a billion streams. Charlie comes to Michigan with his his third album, “Frame.” A collection of lush, delicate pop songs brimming with references to art rock, golden era jazz, and neo-classical composition—all the while maintaining the pared-back and clear-eyed musicality for which he is so well recognized. Throughout the album, Charlie creates the fragility, power and tension found in timeless songwriting, reanimated through a modern lens.
The Wailin' Jennys are neither a reggae group nor an all-female Waylon Jennings tribute band. Three extraordinary voices with one singular vision: The Wailin' Jennys continue to evolve into far more than the melodious sum of their individual talents years after blowing in on a fresh acoustic breeze from Canada's midwestern heartland. Canadians Nicky Mehta, and Ruth Moody and New Yorker Heather Masse were all well-established talents individually, and their collaboration is an example of how exciting it can be when performers with distinct outlooks find ways of working together. Each member of the trio contributes distinctive original songs to the mix, which ranges from folk-rock to Celtic to traditional song. This trio has won fans for its incredible harmonies at venues ranging from "A Prairie Home Companion" (multiple times) to the small-town parks and festivals in Manitoba that gave them their start.
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. 31 years and 2000+ gigs later, the CGT remains intensely committed to explore, evolve and communicate a wide-ranging musical worldview.
Since 2005 when Erin Zindle first created The Ragbirds, the band has gathered and maintained a passionate, grassroots fan base by continually reinventing themselves with an ever-evolving sound, while remaining rooted in the high-energy, world-inspired folk-rock that they have become known for. With a change of cast in 2019, the band is shifting its weight and focusing more on the melodic components. The rhythms of their new sound leave room for the songs to breathe and for the vocals to take on the spotlight. Now equipped with four vocalists, the band is diving into the textures they can create with vocal harmonies and exploring the newly-created space with instrumental curiosity, adding more improvisational elements into the otherwise-tight arrangements. Touring for nearly 15 years from their home-base of Ann Arbor, MI, Erin Zindle & The Ragbirds have developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the most dynamic, hard-working, high-spirited live bands in roots music.
With four distinct voices clustered around a single microphone, Darlingside effortlessly draws audiences into their lush musical world. David Fricke of Rolling Stone describes them as "a quartet with a rich line in acoustic textures and chamber-rock dynamics." The band's sound, with classical strings, tight vocal arrangements, bluegrass and rock instrumentation, and smart lyricism, is the product of complete collaboration among the four close friends. The group has no frontman; instead, lead vocals are traded from moment to moment, and each song features a new combination of instruments and textures, pulling heavily from folk, retro-pop, barbershop, and chamber music. The music Darlingside plays is serious, cinematic, and deeply moving. Darlingside has been featured on NPR's World Cafe and in Paste magazine, and they come to Michigan with a new album, “Eliza I See.”
Masters of their trade, The Lonesome Ace Stringband bring grit, skill and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless.
Instrumentation alone sets this Toronto-based trio’s sound apart: consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Heineman). The spine-tingling harmonies and interchanging lead vocals only bring more magic to the equation. They’re releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty all-original collection (Try To Make It Fly Oct 2023) and touring it to Canada, the US and Europe.
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.
Tartan Terrors are not a band but, in the words of the organizers, "North America's premiere Celtic event, featuring the best in music, comedy and dance." Amazed by the blistering chops of a two-time world champion bagpiper, the driving tones of drums from around the world, and a guitar played unlike any you've ever heard, standing-room-only audiences come to understand why Dig This magazine declares Tartan Terrors "one act to keep an eye on!" Combine all the music with championship-caliber Highland Dancers and internationally recognized comedic performers, and this Celtic group goes beyond the ordinary. Members of Tartan Terrors have performed on four different continents; in some of the most prestigious festivals, Highland Games, and theaters in North America, for a U.S. president and Britain's Queen, and on Good Morning America. Experience the phenomenon of Tartan Terrors and see why Celtic Beat hails them as "the heirs apparent to the mayhem"!
Americana and Alt-Country artist Judy Banker returns to The Ark with her all-star band for a birthday concert that also celebrates the release of her fourth studio album, “Bona Fide.” With this newest release, Judy’s songwriting—rife with melodic hooks and raw, poetic lyrics set to layered, innovative arrangements—has evolved, crossing over and blending jazz, R&B, and rock to create something that feels at once familiar and wholly original. Judy and her band—David Roof, John Sperendi, Tony Pace, Alan Pagliere & Brian Williams—will be performing “Bona Fide” cover to cover as well as favorite selections from Judy’s other records.