In partnership with the Michigan Theater, The Ark is delighted to present a special screening of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The screening is part of The Ark's year-long celebration of its 60th Anniversary as well as the 25th anniversary of the beloved film.
Opener: Mason Via
Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesPresented by ann arbor's 107one With the 2014 formation of I’m With Her, singer/songwriters Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins introduced an essential new force into the world of folk music: a close-knit alliance of highly esteemed musicians, each graced with a deep understanding of folk tradition and unbridled passion for expanding its possibilities. Since delivering their critically lauded debut See You Around and standalone singles like “Call My Name” (winner of the 2020 Grammy for Best American Roots Song), the trio have routinely taken time out from their individual careers to dream up songs together—eventually arriving at a new album exploring themes of ancestry, lineage, and the collective human experience. On their long-awaited sophomore LP Wild and Clear and Blue, I’m With Her now bring their luminous harmonies to a soul-searching body of work about reaching into the past, navigating a chaotic present, and bravely moving forward into the unknown.
Special Guest: Alex Harding & Organ Nation
Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesExplosions in the Sky are an iconic instrumental rock band from Texas that have become the gold standard for bold, emotional, cinematic music and are known for their incendiary live concerts. They’ve slowly grown from playing DIY spaces and opening for Fugazi to having headlined Radio City Music Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Greek Theatre, and the Sydney Opera House. Over 24 years of being a band (with the same four members the entire time), they’ve achieved remarkable commercial success from an especially non-commercial corner of the music world, selling more than 1.3 million copies over six studio albums, and scoring five major motion pictures in the process. They’ve become the sound of modern sports films, documentaries and television, while managing to not sound like any other popular artist.
Special Guest: Sean Patton
Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesEmmy Award winner and two-time Grammy Award nominee, David Cross is an inventive performer, writer, and producer on stage and screen. David’s eighth stand-up special, David Cross: Worst Daddy In The World, is available on the 800 Pound Gorilla Media YouTube channel, and he will join the cast of the Netflix series, The Umbrella Academy, for their fourth and final season premiering August 8.
Old Crow Medicine Show's concerts are legendary thanks to the band’s virtuosity and breakneck tempos, their strong original songwriting and deep respect for traditional American music. Their rise began in 2000 after a chance meeting with the flatpicking guitar and mountain music legend Doc Watson, when the band was busking on a street corner in Boone, North Carolina. Over the years, their string band revival sound has found a growing legion of fans hungry for roots music and it has captured the hearts of acclaimed artists like John Prine, Gillian Welch and Marty Stuart who helped propel their music.
Special Guest: Mikaela Davis
Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI, United States“There's a lot of existential stuff in these songs,” says Amos Lee. “If you really listen to what's in between the lines, there's a lot of grappling with your place in the world, grappling with loss. There's a lot of grappling with the balance between bailing out the boat and rowing at the same time—the experience of writing music and playing songs while trying, as we all are right now, to make sense of a world that feels like it's changing really quickly.” On his eleventh studio album, Transmissions, singer-songwriter Lee continues to expand his sonic range while sharpening his closely observed lyrics that squarely address death, aging, and love.
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.
Update 1/24/22 - This event has been rescheduled for Friday, April 8, 2022. Lucinda Williams, heralded by The New York Times as an “archetype in a lineage of rocking, literary American songwriters,” will headline a benefit concert at The Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor on Feb. 11, 2022 to mark the 40th anniversary of The Breakfast at St. Andrew’s daily meal program.
Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, and she has been nominated for six additional Grammys for her work as a soloist and collaborator.