The Ark

Trousdale
2023-10-08 19:30 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Trousdale is a powerful female band consisting of Quinn D’Andrea, Georgia Greene and Lauren Jones. Their melodic and heartfelt harmonies are often compared to The Chicks and The Staves, but the girls draw inspiration from a wide array of music, including Crosby Stills and 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.
Trousdale has self-released two EPs and are in the process of releasing their debut album, collecting over 55M streams on Spotify in the last three years. Their catalog until now being entirely self-produced, this upcoming debut includes songs co-written with Jon Bellion, Madi Diaz, Jon Green and Natalie Hemby, and co-production by Jon Green, John Mark Nelson, and others.
San Diego–born songwriter Anna Vaus opens.

Claudia Schmidt // Rachael Davis
2023-10-07 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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. A musician who has always hated categories, Claudia describes herself as a “creative noisemaker.” Her concerts are so unified and full of life that one critic has described a Claudia Schmidt concert as “a lot like falling in love. You never know what’s going to happen next, chances are it’s going to be wonderful, every moment is burned into your memory, and you know you’ll never be the same again.”
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.” For the first time at age 12, and continuing each year since, Rachael has brought the Wheatland Music Festival to its knees closing the Sunday morning gospel set with her stunning solo a capella version of “Amazing Grace.”

Ben Daniels Band
2023-10-06 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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.

John Raymond & S. Carey "Shadowlands"
2023-10-05 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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.

Gina Chavez
2023-10-04 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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 tour as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, Gina offers passionate bilingual songs that take audiences on a journey through the Americas, blending the sounds and rhythms of the region with tension and grace. Her Spanish-language anthem “Siete-D” (Grand Prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest) recounts her experience volunteering in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador, where she co-founded the Niñas Arriba College Fund for young Latinas. Her songs share her story of life in Texas as a married, queer Catholic Gina appeared at the 2022 Ann Arbor Folk Festival, and her latest, the all-Spanish album “La que manda,” earned a Latin Grammy nomination.

Dave & Kristi with their Showband
2023-10-03 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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.

Broken Social Scene
2023-10-02 19:00 - 23:00 | The Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan, 48201, United States
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 building a social network of their own. Like other such networks you’re familiar with, it quickly expanded to include friends, and friends of friends. It became a place where they could live out their best lives or fret about the fragile state of the world. And yes, occasionally, it became a forum for arguments and oversharing. But this social network didn’t require you to stay glued to your smartphone to take part in it. Quite the opposite: Since debuting in 2001, Broken Social Scene have personified the unyielding, incomparable power of IRL human connection.
It’s hard to know what to make of an ongoing experiment like Broken Social Scene. Is it a band? Not quite. Bands tend to have defined memberships and aesthetics and goals; Broken Social Scene have never been bothered with such limitations. Is it a cult? Nah— some of them have the beards, but they could never agree on the right robes. Is it a collective? Certainly, it can seem that way when you see some 15 people crowding the stage, but BSS aren’t so much a united front as a perpetually mutating aggregate of competing creative energies.
Once a two-person basement recording project, Broken Social Scene came to life onstage as a shadowy improvisational entity with a revolving-door roster, each concert a wholly unique experience dependent on the room, the weather, what they ate for dinner that night, and who was dropping in to play. Where the band’s 2001 debut album, Feel Good Lost, presented BSS as an anonymous ambient project that reflected its humble, homespun origins, their electrifying live performances from that era rallied an extended family of performers with roots in post-rock (Justin Peroff, Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin), Latin jazz (Andrew Whiteman), art-folk (Feist), synth-pop (Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, also of Stars), dance-punk (Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw), and country rock (Jason Collett).
But by pursuing improvisational freedom over commercial considerations, Broken Social Scene set a new gold standard for indie rock in the 21st century with 2002’s You Forgot It In People, an album that pushed the genre far beyond its noisy ’90s slacker roots toward a more sonically expansive, emotionally expressive vision. And with follow-up releases like the blissfully chaotic Broken Social Scene (2005), the rapturous Forgiveness Rock Record (2010), and the intricate, insidiously melodic Hug of Thunder (2017), Broken Social Scene have amassed a thrillingly amorphous, unpredictable body of work.
Throughout their two-decade run, Broken Social Scene have achieved all the markers of modern indie success—rave reviews from Pitchfork, invites to play Coachella and Lollapalooza, multiple Juno Awards and Letterman appearances, and name-drops in Lorde songs. And their victories have ultimately been Toronto’s, through the establishment of a record label (Arts & Crafts) and music festival (Field Trip) that became rallying points for the local scene and nurtured the next generation of indie upstarts. But arguably Broken Social Scene’s greatest accomplishment is their mere existence, as a conglomerate that continues to defy all logistical convention and musical expectations. They’re living proof that underdogs are most effective when travelling in a pack, that mass audiences can be led into uncharted waters through collective enthusiasm, and that the better world we all dream of begins with community.
In both sound and personnel, Broken Social Scene has changed a lot since their 2001 inception. But one thing has remained constant—at the end of every show, Kevin Drew bids the crowd adieu by telling everyone to “enjoy your lives.” More than just a simple farewell, those words are a call to action—to put down your goddamn phone, get outside, and be part of a social scene of your own.

Chris Smither
2023-09-17 19:30 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
It’s as if the blues met modern poetry and got infused with Zen calm. Chris Smither takes the blues in a direction all his own, offering stoic, existential ruminations sung in a weathered blues moan and set to quietly virtuosic guitar. A New Orleans-to-Boston transplant, Smither has enjoyed a real meeting of the minds with Ark audiences in his shows here over the last few years–they’ve been equally extraordinary for audience and artist. Check it out for yourself! Or just take it from the pros—Chris has won Folk Alliance Awards for both Song of the Year and Contemporary Artist of the Year. Come by and pick up a copy of Chris’s latest, the rootsy “More from the Levee.”
Paul Cebar cut his teeth musically in the coffeehouse folk scene of the mid-’70s in Milwaukee. Upon graduation from New College in Sarasota, Florida, Paul spent substantial amounts of time testing the waters out New York way while exploring band dynamics with a soul and New Orleans-minded crew called the R&B Cadets back home. After that he formed a band called the Milwaukeeans which reflected Paul’s ongoing and deepening fascination with African, Latin American, and Caribbean rhythm & blues analogues. With an ever-deepening appreciation for the funk and the polyglot rhythmic conception that is their trademark, Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound is spreading the word with their headlong, insouciant, and totally funky music The members of Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound want and need you to come on out and help them get down.

George Bedard
2023-08-19 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
For the 10th installment of his celebrated series, George Bedard will present a “Best of” his History of American Music series. This will feature songs from all nine previous shows. “Each year we took a different path, from blues to swing, rockabilly, surf, and country” says Bedard. “We hope that you will join us for this unique retrospective”. Along with Rich Dishman on drums and Pat Prouty on bass, special guests include Mark “Mr. B” Braun on piano, Ross Huff on trumpet, and Dan Bennett on saxophone.
Guitarist and bandleader George Bedard has been a seminal figure on the Michigan roots rock scene and has played the closing night for the Ann Arbor Summer Festival for 25 years. He was a founding member of the Silvertones in the 1970s, and in 1984 he formed the first version of George Bedard & The Kingpins. Their debut recording won CD Reviews “Best Blues CD of the Year” award, and Guitar Player Magazine described the music as “a brainy composite of blues phrasing and rockabilly bad-boy twang.”
Bedard has backed such luminaries as Johnnie Johnson, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Eddie Taylor, Koko Taylor, Johnny Adams, Koko Taylor, and Kim Wilson. The Kingpins, featuring Pat Prouty on bass and Rich Dishman on drums, have earned a reputation as one of Michigan’s best live bands.

Samantha Fish Ft. Jesse Dayton
2023-08-13 19:30 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
The first-ever collaborative album from Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, “Death Wish Blues” is a body of work born from a shared passion for pushing the limits of blues music. As one of the most dynamic forces in the blues world today, Samantha Fish has made her name as a multi-award-winning festival headliner who captivates crowds with her explosive yet elegant guitar work, delivering an unbridled form of blues-rock that defies all genre boundaries. Jesse Dayton, meanwhile, boasts an extraordinary background that includes recording with the likes of Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, touring as a guitarist for seminal punk band X, working with Rob Zombie on the soundtracks for his iconic horror films, and releasing a series of acclaimed solo albums. Produced by the legendary Jon Spencer of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Death Wish Blues” ultimately melds their eclectic sensibilities into a batch of songs both emotionally potent and wildly combustible.

Katie Geddes
2023-08-10 20:00 - 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, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Michael Nesmith and Lennon and McCartney. Katie’s CD release “We Are Each Other’s Angels” features an inspired roster of guest artists including Michael Johnson, Mary McCaslin, Don Henry and Small Potatoes. 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 unannounced guests at her shows are always a possibility!

Jared Deck Band
2023-03-11 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Jared Deck has been praised for his “powerful, beautiful voice” by Alejandro Escovedo. “The battle has always been internal, overcoming my own failures and working to improve,” he says. 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. “In a community of 1,200 people, big dreams seem impossible. We’re taught to manage expectations, put our nose down, and get to work.” 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. And on top of all this, he was recently elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Returning from Folk Festival, Jared has a recent release, “Bully Pulpit.”

May Erlewine
2023-03-10 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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One of the Midwest’s most prolific and passionate songwriters, May Erlewine continues to share her gift for writing songs of substance that feel both new and soulfully familiar. Her lyrics offer a window into her heartbreak, her empowerment, and her emboldened spirit. These lyrics, which are really stories crafted through May’s unique experiences, are rooted in wisdom, joy, sorrow, simplicity, and love. Musically, she carries the songwriter’s torch through many genres and sonic landscapes. May considers her career in the music industry as a service-oriented one and uses her platform for positive change. She stresses the importance of environmental advocacy, social justice, creative empowerment, and community building as necessary work in our world. May’s body of work has become an anthem and an example of why we need to listen to women, empower women, and why we need to hear their stories. May’s work has been spotlighted by Rolling Stone and NBC’s “The Voice” and covered by countless artists.
This performance will be in celebration of her new record, The Real Thing. The album produced by Theo Katzman, is a collection of songs performed live in a room, deep in the Manistee National Forest. Released as a part of Theo’s new record label, The Real Thing is just that, real people, making real music, together in a room.

Vanessa Collier
2023-03-09 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Vanessa Collier is a captivating and multitalented blues vocalist, saxophonist, and songwriter, hailing from the world-renowned Berklee College of Music, where she earned dual degrees in Performance and Music Production & Engineering. Vanessa demonstrates her skills as a master musician and songwriter, blending her blues background with elements of funk, rock, and soul. Vanessa’s mighty vocals, gritty saxophone solos, and incredible high-energy stage presence create a powerful show not to be missed!

Mark Erelli
2023-03-08 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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During a performance in summer 2020, Mark Erelli looked down at his guitar neck and couldn’t believe what he saw. Or rather, what he couldn’t see: his fingers on the frets. Soon after, a diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disease, would bring some answers, but it also yielded new questions. Does diminished eyesight correlate with lesser insight? Does your songwriting change when your perception of the world around you changes? These questions, and Mark’s hunt for creative agency, are at the heart of his new album, “Lay Your Darkness Down.” In need of connection and catharsis, he turned as he often did to songwriting. “The only way I could console myself was to know that I was still going to be able to have some creative agency,” Mark says. “I could then bring whatever I was feeling or wanting to express into reality.” He began to craft songs with an intricate, labored approach like never before. “It’s much more like an oil painting, where you’re layering different tones and colors one at a time.”

Leo Kottke
2023-03-07 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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The Los Angeles Times calls Leo Kottke “an American legend in the guitar world, and a king of his own private musical world.” If you haven’t heard Leo Kottke for a while, though, you may have missed how one of the fastest 6- and 12-string guitar players around has also become one of the most innovative and least musically classifiable. His music encompasses influences from all over the world, and players from outside the folk world closely follow what he does. Leo Kottke is a legend of the guitar who’s still full of surprises after all these years. His shows are displays of captivating mastery of a sort that’s rare in any genre of music. Don’t miss him, and get tickets early for this one—Leo’s Ark shows have been consistent sellouts.

Matt Nathanson
2023-03-06 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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A lot of people know Matt Nathanson for his 2007 hit “Come On Get Higher,” but his career has only kept growing since then. He comes to Michigan with a new album, “Boston Accent,” whose stripped-down arrangements recall his beginnings as an acoustic troubadour. That’s all to the good for this show—it’s not so common to hear him in a club The Ark’s size. Matt has a unique sense of humor on stage that can get lost in larger venues, and we’re looking forward to welcoming him back for the first time since the pandemic began. “I wanted to make a real singer/songwriter record this time. an ‘inspired by cat stevens, joni mitchell, paul simon, tom petty kinda record … which is something i’ve been running away from since ‘Ernst,’ Matt says.

Choir! Choir! Choir!
2023-03-05 19:30 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman (AKA “DaBu”) started Choir! Choir! Choir! as a weekly drop-in, no-commitment singing event in 2011. Now happening twice weekly, and open to anyone who likes to sing new arrangements of pop songs, C!C!C! boasts a dedicated and passionate membership of inspired singers from in and around Toronto, Canada. They have performed live with Patti Smith at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Tegan and Sara on the Juno Awards, at TEDx Toronto, and at the Toronto International Film Festival Closing Gala at Roy Thompson Hall. Choir! Choir! Choir! sings popular songs, choral style—you never know quite which ones. Like what you hear? Show up, and they’ll teach you an original arrangement of a song you love. Tonight: an epic George Harrison singalong to celebrate George’s 80th birthday.

The Steel Wheels
2023-03-04 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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The Steel Wheels have captured audiences across the country with their heady brew of original soulful mountain music. Based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, this dynamic band marries old-time musical traditions with their own innovative sound. Trent Wagler’s weathered tenor is joined by bell-clear four-part harmonies inspired by a shared Mennonite heritage. Add top this lively and evocative fiddle, grounded yet buoyant upright bass, and signature mandolin style, and it’s no surprise that The Steel Wheels have conquer aed the Americana scene, becoming festival favorites and selling out venues across the country. “Americana music at its very best!” says Larry Groce of “Mountain Stage.” The values portrayed in the band’s music—devotion to roots, community, and family—are a way of life for The Steel Wheels, and this is reflected in everything from production process and booking agency to merchandise and touring.

Gina Chavez
2023-03-03 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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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. Fresh off a 12-country tour as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, Gina offers passionate bilingual songs that take audiences on a journey through the Americas, blending the sounds and rhythms of the region with tension and grace. Her Spanish-language anthem “Siete-D” (Grand Prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest) recounts her experience volunteering in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador, where she co-founded the Niñas Arriba College Fund for young Latinas. Her songs share her story of life in Texas as a married, queer Catholic She’s back from Folk Festival with her first all-Spanish album, the Latin Grammy–nominated “La que manda.”

The Wood Brothers
2023-03-02 19:00 - 23:00 | The Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan, 48201, United States
The Wood Brothers didn’t know they were making a record. Looking back, they’re grateful for that.
“If we had known, we probably would have been too self-conscious to play what we played,” reflects bassist/vocalist Chris Wood. “At the time, we just thought we were jamming to break in our new studio, so we felt free to explore all these different ways of performing together without worrying about form or structure. It was liberating.”
Recorded live to tape, those freewheeling, improvised sessions became a vast pool of source material from which The Wood Brothers would go on to draw ‘Kingdom In My Mind,’ their seventh studio release and most spontaneous and experimental collection yet. While on past records, the band—Chris, guitarist/vocalist Oliver Wood, and drummer/keyboardist Jano Rix—would write a large batch of songs and then record them all at once, ‘Kingdom’ found them retroactively carving tunes out of sprawling instrumental jam sessions like sculptors chipping away at blocks of marble. A testament to the limitless creativity of the unharnessed mind, the record explores the power of our external surroundings to shape our internal worlds (and vice versa), reckoning with time, mortality, and human nature. The songs here find strength in accepting what lies beyond our control, thoughtfully honing in on the bittersweet beauty that underlies doubt and pain and sadness with vivid character studies and unflinching self-examination. Deep as the lyrics dig, the arrangements always manage to remain buoyant and light, though, drawing from across a broad sonic spectrum to create a transportive, effervescent blend that reflects the trio’s unique place in the modern musical landscape.
“My brother came to this band from the blues and gospel world, and my history was allover the map with jazz and R&B,” says Chris, who first rose to fame with the pioneering trio Medeski Martin & Wood. “The idea for this group has always been to marry our backgrounds, to imagine what might happen if Robert Johnson and Charles Mingus had started a band together.”
‘Kingdom In My Mind’ follows The Wood Brothers’ most recent studio release, 2018’s ‘One Drop Of Truth,’ which hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and garnered the band their first GRAMMY nomination for Best Americana Album. NPR praised the record’s “unexpected changes and kaleidoscopic array of influences,” while Uncut hailed its “virtuosic performances and subtly evocative lyrics,” and Blurt proclaimed it “a career-defining album.” Tracks from the record racked up roughly 8 million streams on Spotify alone, and the band took the album on the road for extensive tour dates in the US and Europe, including their first-ever headline performance at Red Rocks, two nights at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore (captured on their 2019 release, ‘Live At The Fillmore’),and festival appearances everywhere from Bonnaroo to XPoNentia

Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express
2023-03-01 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Since his neo-psychedelic Green On Red days, Chuck Prophet has been turning out country, folk, blues, and Brill Building classicism. His latest album, “The Land That Time Forgot,” is something different, a weather vane picking up signals from outer space—or maybe from the Heartland. Priced out of his beloved hometown, San Francisco, Chuck found himself re-energized in upstate New York just a few miles from the Vermont border—and made a record that’s something of a 21st-century exorcism. The songs inhabit a world where a “Fast Kid” might be on the run from the truant officer or a handsy boss … or the Immigration Service. These are love songs that turn political on a dime (“Love Doesn’t Come from the Barrel of a Gun”), and melodic hallucinations about kicking back in the Oval Office after hours “talking to my baby, saying baby, let’s not fight.” Where else besides a Chuck Prophet LP are songs going to come at you from both the Tenderloin and an English roundabout, with stopovers in “Nixonland” and a lovestruck mirror on a Saturday night while a working man tries his “Best Shirt On”? There’s more. Come and hear the latest from one of our favorite songwriters to have come out of the world of alternative rock.

Ron Sexsmith
2023-02-28 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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With producer Mitchell Froom, Ron Sexsmith released his self-titled label debut album in 1995. The melancholic tone and sparse acoustic arrangements of the album were met an enthusiastic endorsement from Elvis Costello, and the album was declared a critical success. In his Sept 7, 1995 review for Rolling Stone, Bud Scoppa wrote: “He just may be the most fluent balladeer to come along since Tim Hardin or Harry Nilsson.” Ron’s songwriting style evolved into a unique and timeless blend of classic pop, contemporary folk, and roots-rock idioms. He has built a steadfast reputation with critics and with some of his own songwriting heroes (Elton John, Ray Davies, John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney) for his characteristically honest, sensitive, and enduring approach to the songwriting craft. Ron has a substantive cult following and an international touring career, and his songs as well, have been covered by the likes of Rod Stewart, Nick Lowe, Emmylou Harris, Feist, and Michael Bublé to name a few.

Masters of Hawaiian Music
2023-02-27 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Three masters, featured regularly at Maui’s renowned “Slack Key Show®” share the uniquely Hawaiian styles of slack key guitar and ‘ukulele, with origins in the early 19th century when Portuguese immigrants introduced the ‘ukulele to Hawai‘i and Mexican cowboys brought guitars along with their ranching knowledge. Ever since, Hawaiians have made these instruments their own. Four-time Grammy-winner and master slack key guitarist George Kahumoku Jr., known as “Hawai‘i’s Renaissance Man,” is a multiple NaHōkū Hanohano (Hawaiian Grammy) Award winner, a vocalist, storyteller, songwriter, and author, teacher, sculptor, farmer, and chef, and honored with a Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. “There’s something quite magical…about the evocative tones of a trusty ‘ukulele,” says the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Slack key guitarist, lap steel guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer Sonny Lim developed his guitar and vocal styles performing with his famous Lim Family of the Big Island. He was also one of the early members of the renowned Makaha Sons of Ni‘ihau for whom he played lap steel guitar beginning at age 15. He performed on the first Grammy-winning CD in Hawaiian music, and has won multiple Na Hoku Awards on his solo CDs. ‘Ukulele virtuoso Herb Ohta Jr.’s natural talent, knowledge, technique, and speed are unsurpassed. Herb’s versatility and ability to adapt to the changing times will captivate you, the listener, and transport you. Herb Ohta Jr. is the undisputed master ‘ukulele instrumentalist of his generation.

Enter the Haggis
2023-02-26 19:30 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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A haggis is a tasty Scottish dish consisting of sheep heart, liver, and lungs, mixed with oatmeal, onion, suet, and spices, and then boiled inside the sheep’s stomach. The Canadian-Scots band Enter the Haggis (bagpiper Craig Downie is from Scotland) has just about as much variety in their style, a high-speed collision of Celtic music, rock, bluegrass, funk, and world music. An Enter the Haggis live show is a musical feast—dynamic and emotionally uplifting. Alternating between upbeat rock numbers with sing-along choruses and slower, more introspective alt pop songs, the band plays progressive and lyrically driven music that’s strongly rooted in Celtic tradition—from the storytelling to the bagpipes. Enter the Haggis returns to The Ark with a new album, “The Archer’s Parade.”

The Ark's 36th Annual Storytelling Festival - Family Show
2023-02-26 13:00 - 15:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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Sunday’s Matinee brings storytellers Bill Harley, Sheila Arnold, and Steve Daut. Bill Harley is a songwriter and storyteller whose commentaries have been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He’s equally at home performing for adults and for families, and a refreshing breath of fantasy is just around the corner in everything he does. Sheila Arnold brings stories, historic individuals, new ideas, new perspectives and old knowledge to schools, libraries, professional organizations, museums and churches. And Steve Daut is well known to Michigan audiences; he has adapted stories of Mark Twain to the storytelling medium.

Margo Price
2023-02-25 20:00 - 23:00 | The Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan, 48201, United States
Margo Price has something to say but nothing to prove. In just three remarkable solo albums, the singer and songwriter has cemented herself as a force in American music and a generational talent. A deserving critical darling, she has never shied away from the sounds that move her, the pain that’s shaped her, or the topics that tick her off, like music industry double standards, the gender wage gap, or the plight of the American farmer. (In 2021, she even joined the board of Farm Aid.)
Now, on her fourth full-length Strays, a clear-eyed mission statement delivered in blistering rock and roll, she’s taking on substance abuse, self-image, abortion rights, and orgasms. Musically extravagant but lyrically laser focused, the 10-song record tears into a broken world desperate for remedy. And who better to tell it? Price has done plenty of her own rebuilding—or as she shout sings in explanation on “Been to the Mountain,” the set’s throat-ripping opener, “I have been to the mountain and back alright”—and finds herself, at long last, free. Feral. Stray.
So, while the last few years have seen remarkable moments of acclaim—a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, Americana Music Honors, a Saturday Night Live performance, and just about every outlet and critics’ year-end Best Of list—Price is still hungry. “I still have a lot of drive inside of me,” she says. “I have a chip on my shoulder. It feels like I still haven’t been able to fully realize all my dreams yet, and that eats me up.” Just wait.
When Tré Burt was signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records in 2019, he was one of only two artists -including label mate Kelsey Waldon, to join the label in the past 15 years. Caught It From The Rye, Tré Burt’s debut album was re-released on Oh Boy in Jan 2020. The album showcases Burt’s literary songwriting and lo-fi, rootsy aesthetic, which he honed busking on the streets of San Francisco and traveling the world in search of inspiration. Like labelmate and songwriting hero John Prine, Burt has a poet’s eye for detail, a surgeon’s sense of narrative precision and a folk singer’s natural knack for a timeless melody. Caught It From The Ryeis an urgent missive from an important new voice in songwriting.
For a songwriter who thoughtfully documents what he sees in the world, 2020, while challenging, was rich with inspiration. The year birthed the single, Under The Devil’s Knee, a song that continues the tradition of outspoken political folk songwritersof yore. It is an incredibly moving protest song tracing the lives of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Breonna Taylor. Recorded remotely featuring Allison Russell, Sunny War and Leyla McCalla. “Humanity feels like it’s slipping away from us, as a country. Iwanted to reinstate the humanity of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner and so many other brothers and sisters slain by police in the way I know how. I wanted to immortalize their dignity and make the work easy for future historians and remind the present that no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, this is about actual pain and real human suffering caused by a system of governance that is morally bankrupt. This, I felt was my duty as an American songwriter to do. Music is a powerful force, especially when you put it through a protest song. It makes the fight more tangible. Reframes perspective. None of which entered my mind when writing this, at all. That was out of anger. I wrote this song out of anger. They should all be alive.” -Tré Burt

The Ark's 36th Annual Storytelling Festival
2023-02-25 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
Please review The Ark’s current COVID-related information before attending a show.
COVID-19 FAQ
Saturday brings storytellers Bill Harley, Sheila Arnold, and Steve Daut. Bill Harley is a songwriter and storyteller whose commentaries have been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He’s equally at home performing for adults and for families, and a refreshing breath of fantasy is just around the corner in everything he does. Sheila Arnold brings stories, historic individuals, new ideas, new perspectives and old knowledge to schools, libraries, professional organizations, museums and churches. And Steve Daut is well known to Michigan audiences; he has adapted stories of Mark Twain to the storytelling medium.

The Ark's 36th Annual Storytelling Festival - Liar's Contest
2023-02-24 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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COVID-19 FAQ
The Ark’s annual Storytelling Festival expands to three days for 2022! New this year is a Liars’ Contest on Friday night.
Liars have been around since the snake first hit it off with Eve. By some accounts, contests celebrating liars have been around since the 15th century, but these accounts may be apocryphal. Today, liars contests are held in countries all around the globe, and The Ark is joining the fray with its First Annual Liars contest, which is part of the new and expanded 36th Annual Storytelling Festival. The event will feature six of the best liars in the region, each telling a ten-minute story and competing for highly valuable bragging rights, a crisp $100 bill, and a fabulous trophy for the winner! Each of our distinguished celebrity judges has a special relationship to the fine art of prevarication.
The Liars: Larry Castleberry, Jennifer Otto, Rich Swanson, Jeff Doyle, Genot Picor, Mike Cox
The Judges: Kathleen Daniels/Married to Jeff Daniels, a man who makes his living by pretending to be other people; Karl Fink/As a retired Circuit Court judge, he spent most of his life listening to liars … and not just the attorneys; Christopher Taylor/Mayor of Ann Arbor, a politician—need we say more?
MC for the event: Amir Baghdadchi

Rochelle Clark & The Familiars
2023-02-23 20:00 - 23:00 | The Ark, 316 S. Main, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, United States
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COVID-19 FAQ
A native of Michigan, Rochelle Clark writes music that has been described as raw, honest, and beautifully vulnerable. She writes and sings about real life, joy, struggle and human tragedy – you can’t help but feel for the characters in her songs. Leaning heavily on personal experience, she connects on an intimate level that resonates with her audience. As one half of the acclaimed Americana duo The Potters Field, Rochelle has offered powerful vocals that have been captivating audiences in Michigan and throughout the Midwest for years. Drawing on her roots in folk, Americana, and country, Rochelle has found a sound that is uniquely her own. In January 2020 she released her first solo recording; an EP titled “In Time,” and she’s continuing to explore her voice as a solo songwriter. Joining Rochelle will be a band of exceptional musicians (affectionately dubbed The Familiars) who include Jason Dennie, Keith Bilick, and John Sperendi.
