Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater

Nickel Creek is the platinum-selling, internationally renowned roots trio of mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins and guitarist Sean Watkins. The Grammy-winning band has revolutionized folk and roots music since first performing together as children at a pizza parlor in San Diego in 1989, signing to acclaimed roots label Sugar Hill Records after wowing the bluegrass circuit for a decade. Nickel Creek quickly broke through in 2000 with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP, which showcased not just their instrumental virtuosity but their burgeoning songwriting prowess. The trio quickly followed that effort with the Krauss-produced This Side, a landmark release that earned Nickel Creek the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and brought their progressive take on acoustic music to a broader audience, greatly influencing the sound and trajectory of roots music in the process. 2005’s Grammy-nominated Why Should the Fire Die? found the trio pushing genre boundaries even further, incorporating elements of alt-rock and indie pop into their singular brand of acoustic music. Nickel Creek’s most recent album, 2014’s critically acclaimed and joyously received A Dotted Line, ended a seven-year recording and touring hiatus for the band, during which members explored other musical and creative avenues.

For over 25 years, O.A.R. have embodied the kind of joyfully communal spirit that’s transcendent for artist and audience alike. Since forming in Maryland in 1996, the multiplatinum-selling band have merged their musical DNA into a free-flowing sound and exhilarating live show, repeatedly selling out legendary venues thanks to their massively devoted community of fans. In a thrilling new chapter for the ever-evolving collective, O.A.R.’s tenth studio album, The Arcade, marks their most collaborative effort yet: a boldly unpredictable body of work fully showcasing the extraordinary expanse of their singular musicality. The mission of making music with a profoundly life-affirming impact has defined O.A.R. since its earliest days. First taking the stage at an eighth-grade talent show, the group grew a grassroots following while attending The Ohio State University, largely on the strength of their exuberant live performance and their fans’ feverish sharing of live recordings. O.A.R. have maintained one of the most dedicated fanbases in the world while amassing many platinum and gold certifications. Known for their rare level of autonomy in the music industry, they’ve engaged in a great number of philanthropic endeavors, including establishing a scholarship at The Ohio State University and founding the Heard The World Fund to support youth and education in underserved communities throughout the U.S.

Globally recognized musician, activist, Soulshine Bell hotel owner, and award-winning filmmaker Michael Franti is revered for his high-energy live shows, inspiring music, devotion to health and wellness, worldwide philanthropic efforts, and the power of optimism. During his multidecade career, Franti has earned three Billboard No. 1’s, six Top 30 Hot AC singles, 10 Top 25 AAA Singles and three Billboard Top 5 Rock Albums. In January 2019, Franti released his self-directed documentary Stay Human, which won an array of awards at film festivals worldwide and influenced his writing for his album Stay Human Vol. II (Thirty Tigers), which debuted at No. 1 on the Americana and Independent Album charts and received critical acclaim from USA Today, Billboard, Associated Press, and Paste. His Stay Human podcast presented by PACT is nearing its 100th episode and features creatives from all walks of life, with new episodes available each week. Franti continues to foster community on and off stage with a wish-granting nonprofit organization, Do It For The Love, founded by Michael and his wife, Sara. Do It For The Love brings those with life-threatening illnesses, veterans, and children with severe challenges to concerts worldwide, fulfilling over 3,300 wishes and touching the lives of over 12,000 people to date.  

Tegan and Sara are still evolving the way they collaborate, even 20 years into recording together and 20 more as twin sisters. For their 10^th studio album, Crybaby, they got inside each other’s songs in a whole new way. Informed by some of the intense new experiences they’ve had the past couple years—the stress and trauma of the pandemic, the upheaval of changing their entire professional team including their label and management, other personal trials and tribulations—the twins found some of their most potent inspiration yet and a willingness to try doing things differently. Although the source of the title Crybaby isn’t revealed until several tracks in, as a refrain in the bridge to the deliriously catchy “Under My Control,” the word is meaningful for the album as a whole. In the past, they both tried to avoid using the words “cry” and “baby” in their songs, out of feeling both words had become cringe-inducing clichés. But similar to naming their chart-topping 2013 album Heartthrob to reappropriate the word from its masculine connotation, they wanted to explore new contexts for the words, separately and together. The twins have begun to feel a renewed sense of intensity around all of their creative projects, whether the upcoming album or the TV show or various other endeavors they’ve undertaken.  

The Wood Brothers have learned to trust their hearts. For the better part of two decades, they've cemented their reputation as freethinking songwriters, road warriors, and community builders, creating a catalog of diverse music and a loyal audience who’ve grown alongside them through the years. That evolution continues with Heart is the Hero, the band's eighth studio album. Recorded analog to 16-track tape, this latest effort finds its three creators embracing the chemistry of their acclaimed live shows by capturing their performances in real-time direct from the studio floor with nary a computer in sight. An acoustic-driven album that electrifies, Heart is the Hero is stocked with songs that target not only the heart, but the head and hips, too. Throughout Heart Is The Hero, those performances are matched by the visceral storytelling and songwriting chops that have turned The Wood Brothers into Grammy-nominated leaders of American roots music, even as their music reaches far beyond the genre's borders. The album is bold, bright, and singularly creative, a fully realized collective effort ultimately greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps that's to be expected from a group whose willingness to experiment has earned acclaim from Rolling Stone and NPR, as well as an annual touring schedule of sold-out music halls and theaters on both sides of the Atlantic.

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The year 2022 marked a decade since Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent released their debut album O’ Be Joyful, the first formally billed as Shovels & Rope. That first decade included the release of six full-length albums, three collaborative covers albums, a curated music festival in their South Carolina hometown of Charleston, a musical film and countless dynamic live performances all over the planet. But it was in the rear courtyard suite of the Decatur St. house belonging to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans where the duo began polishing up the songs that became the stark personal musings of their most recent album, Manticore. There was a piano in the room and a little desk. There were piles of scattered and folded papers lying on the bed and copious digital ideas in the form of voice memos. An image here and a rhyme there, scratched into a note pad for later. Ten years since O’ Be Joyful, amidst a sea of their peers, Shovels & Rope are still master commentators of the human experience and maintain a rare gift that allows them to address the most gnarly of life’s lows while always keeping an eye on hope, compassion and community.  

Grammy-winning guitarist Peter Frampton is among the most celebrated artists in rock history. At 16, he was lead singer and guitarist for British band the Herd. At 18, he co-founded one of the first super groups: seminal rock act Humble Pie. His recording session and live performance collaborations include such legendary artists as George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, David Bowie, Dion, Hank Marvin, Ringo Starr, B.B. King, Mike McCready and Matt Cameron, Buddy Guy, and Steve Miller. He worked closely with Cameron Crowe on his Oscar winning film, Almost Famous—as a technical advisor, writing music for fictional band Stillwater and making a cameo as Humble Pie’s road manager. In 2007, he won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album and in 2014 was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He received the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award from NAMM’s TEC Awards in 2019 and his album All Blues was No. 1 for 15 weeks on Billboard’s Blues Chart. In 2020 Frampton was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, his autobiography debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers list, and his 2021 album saw widespread critical acclaim. Last fall, a sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall was filmed and airs on PBS as part of their Pledge Drive. The numbered limited-edition vinyl box set Frampton@50, featuring three essential 1972–1975 studio releases, is slated for late July. After 46 years, Frampton’s relevancy has not waned in the least.

A singer, composer and actor, Lyle Lovett has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums. Coupled with his gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of country, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a convention-defying manner that breaks down barriers. Whether touring as a Duo or with his Acoustic Group or his Large Band, Lovett's live performances show not only the breadth of this Texas legend's deep talents but also the diversity of his influences, making him one of the most compelling and captivating musicians in popular music. Since his self-titled debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has evolved into one of music's most vibrant and iconic performers. Among his many accolades—besides the four Grammy Awards—he was given the Americana Music Association's inaugural Trailblazer Award and was named Texas State Musician. His works, rich and eclectic, are some of the most beloved of any artist working today.

At age 86, Buddy Guy is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee; a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan; a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound; and a living link to the city’s halcyon days of electric blues. He has received eight Grammy Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, 38 Blues Music Awards—the most of any artist, the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 23 in its "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Though Buddy will forever be associated with Chicago, his story actually begins in Louisiana. One of five children, he was born to a sharecropper’s family and raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. He was 7 years old when he fashioned his first makeshift “guitar”—a two-string contraption attached to a piece of wood and secured with his mother’s hairpins. In honor of his 85th birthday, PBS American Masters released the documentary “Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away,” following his rise to becoming one of the most influential guitar players of all time. Buddy remains a genuine American treasure and one of the final surviving connections to an historic era in the country’s musical evolution.

For two decades now, Greensky Bluegrass have been building an empire, brick by brick. They are widely known for their dazzling live performances and relentless touring schedule—only the tip of the complex tale of the five musicians making up the band: Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass), and Paul Hoffman (mandolin). The five are connected through a deep bond; just as they are seasoned road warriors, they’re a band of brothers who’ve seen each other through decades of ups and downs, personal and collective highlights, and the moments when life turns it all upside down. They’re real people having real experiences. As with traditional bluegrass, they write about their own contemporary day-to-day happenings, emotions and experiences in the modern world. Their underground die-hard fans pack out venues across the country. They travel in droves and sell out multiple-night show runs at iconic venues like Red Rocks and The Ryman. And, band members note, Greensky Bluegrass isn’t all for money. They did it for romantic reasons such as love, catharsis, and because it mattered to them and their listeners. They love what we do and they’re grateful for the love they receive from the people listening.

In the 24 years since eclectic improv-rock band Umphrey’s McGee formed, their sound has been an amalgamation of genres, moods, and tempos, effortlessly flowing from one feeling to the next throughout an album or a concert—or a singular song. Yet time and repetition breed personal and musical wisdom and maturity. With 2022’s album Asking For A Friend, Umphrey’s McGee entered the recording studio with something to say and a wise, measured way to say it. Mostly recorded in three distinct sessions at three different studios during the pandemic and never played live, the album is the band’s first since 2009’s Mantis that fans haven’t had a sneak peek of from stage. Working on new music by day and performing via live stream at night proved to be highly successful and entertaining for the band who’d just been sidelined a mere three months before. Pulling the ripcord and taking an enforced break after twenty years of touring resulted in a complex emotional reaction from members of Umphrey’s McGee. The astoundingly cohesive 14-song album feels like a fresh statement from a group of world-class musicians and friends reapproaching their craft with a new lens. The band longtime fans know and love remains present. It’s simply more refined; more focused.

Jenny Lewis released her fourth and most critically acclaimed solo album to date, On The Line, in 2019. Recorded at the distinguished Capitol Studios, the album features a who’s who of supporting players including Beck, Don Was, Benmont Tench, Jim Keltner, Ringo Starr, and Beck sidemen Jason Falkner and Smokey Hormel among others. The album continues to generate rave reviews, with Vulture declaring it her “best work to date,” and top spots on Best of 2019 (So Far) lists including Rolling Stone, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today and AV Club. A culmination of Lewis’ prolific 20-plus year career, On The Line follows her three previous solo albums as well as her universally-loved work in Rilo Kiley and several side projects. After a globe-spanning 2019 tour that saw her headline the likes of The Ryman, Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, and a very special stop at NPR Music’s Tiny Desk, Jenny spent 2020 and 2021 recording new music, including the Dave Cob-produced, “Puppy and A Truck, and captivating audiences as special guest of Harry Styles for Love On Tour. With no signs of slowing down for 2022, Jenny Lewis is fastidiously at work in the studio and on tour as she prepares to hit the road with The Chicks in addition to her own headlining dates.

Australia-born Tommy Emmanuel started playing guitar at 4. By his twenties he was a most sought-after performer and session musician, burning on electric guitar with several bands. Yearning for something purer and closer to his heart he went acoustic—shaped by his hero and eventual lifelong friend, Chet Atkins, who welcomed him into guitarist knighthood by bestowing upon him the coveted title of Certified Guitar Player. Receiving Chet’s love and esteem lifted Tommy into a different realm. The exuberance he brings to every note of every song is palpable and infectious. Fans love his unbound guitar talent and ability to play three parts at once, always with pure heart and real soul. This true virtuoso seems as delighted with the music’s magic as the audience, his joy illuminating everything. It’s one thing to play multidimensional arrangements flawlessly on an acoustic guitar. Doing so with that smile of the ages—evidence of authentic, unbridled delight—is an irresistibly infectious invitation to feel his music deeply. That authentic exuberance Tommy brings to every show and record is especially powerful. His happiness, like his music, is pure and expressed in real time—a quality reaching far beyond any one language and instantly understood by his fellow humans. It’s why he and his audience smile so much as he plays. His joy is universally recognized. And it feels good.  

It was after midnight when Trombone Shorty stepped offstage at the House of Blues in New Orleans, but he wasn’t done playing yet. Listen to Lifted, Trombone Shorty’s second Blue Note Records release, to hear that same ecstatic energy coursing through the entire collection. The album finds the Grammy-nominated NOLA icon and his bandmates tapping into the raw power and exhilarating grooves of their legendary live show, channeling it all into a series of tight, explosive performances that blur the lines between funk, soul, R&B, and psychedelic rock. The writing is bold and self-assured, standing up to hard times and loss with grit and determination. The playing is muscular to match, mixing pop gleam with hip-hop swagger and second line abandon. Shorty celebrates the good times on the album too, reveling in the joy of love and friendship and family throughout. Wild as all that may sound, Lifted is still the work of a master craftsman: The album’s nimble arrangements and judicious use of special guests—from Gary Clark Jr. and Lauren Daigle to the rhythm section from Shorty’s high school marching band—ultimately yields a collection as refined as it is rapturous; one that balances technical virtuosity and emotional release in equal measure as it celebrates music’s primal power to bring us all together. For Trombone Shorty, the show never ends. Not by a long shot.  

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The rain came down in heavy sheets as Mavis Staples, hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” arrived in Woodstock. Still recovering from knee surgery, she wasn’t her usual spry self, yet aches and pains melted away when she spotted the familiar figure waiting to greet her. Lean and wiry, his gentle warmth radiating Southern charm and hospitality, there was no mistaking Levon Helm. Quick as a flash, she was out of the car, through the rain, up the steps. As the pair embraced in the deep, spiritual way of kindred souls, Mavis Staples and Levon Helm did what came most naturally: They sang. Staples was there to perform for Helm’s Midnight Ramble series. The ensuing 2011 concert—available today on the rousing new release Carry Me Home—is a personal high watermark for both artists. The righteous setlist mixed vintage gospel and soul with timeless folk and blues. An ecstatic atmosphere equal parts family reunion and tent revival fueled the performances. As their last performance together, it takes on a bittersweet meaning time capsule and memorial; blissful homecoming and fond farewell; a once-in-a-lifetime concert, and friendship, preserved for the ages. Staples—a chart-topping soul, gospel, and R&B pioneer, and civil rights icon—graces us as a once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture is difficult to overstate.

Ben Folds’ masterful new What Matters Most collection is less a statement than it is an offering—an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day. Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, the album marks Folds’ first new studio release in eight years. It’s a bold, timely, cinematic work, examining the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake. Yet taken as a whole, the result is an undeniably joyful record that refuses to succumb to the weight of the world around it—an ecstatic reminder of all the beauty and promise hiding in plain sight for anyone willing and present enough to recognize their moments as they arrive. Folds ultimately isn’t interested in simply lamenting the flaws of our times, but rather in finding ways to still connect to the magic and wonder of being alive, no matter what the world may throw at us.  

GRAND RAPIDS SYMPHONY

Recognized nationally for the high quality of its concerts and educational programs, the Grand Rapids Symphony has been an important cultural resource in Grand Rapids and the West Michigan community for almost a century.

Led by Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, and Assistant Conductor Duo Shen, the orchestra presents more than 400 performances each year, enriching the lives of approximately 200,000 people. Thousands of those who benefit are students, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who are reached through the orchestra’s extensive education and community service programs.

The Grand Rapids Symphony released its 13th professional recording, Strauss & Villa-Lobos, a collection of live performances under the direction of Lehninger, in late 2021. Another notable recording, Invention & Alchemy, featuring jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, was nominated for the Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album during the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

The orchestra boasts longstanding partnerships of over 60 years with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony & Classical Orchestra, and more recently has formed an additional affiliate in the Grand Rapids Bach Festival.

The Grand Rapids Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 and returned in 2018 for a triumphant performance with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus under Lehninger’s baton.

Uplifted by the familial creative harmony of sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, First Aid Kit delicately thread together eloquent folk, breezy Americana and pensive pop. After amassing over 1 billion streams, the two-time BRIT Award-nominated Swedish duo’s blend of artful songcraft and ambitious melodies continue fixating audiences worldwide. Following The Big Black and The Blue and The Lion’s Roar, they reached critical mass with Stay Gold. Lead single “My Silver Lining” gathered hundreds of millions of streams and picked up a gold certification in the UK. Ruins went gold in Sweden and earned “4-out-of-5 stars” from The Guardian, Q, and NME, while Pitchfork applauded it as “a showcase for their sweet harmonies, with some bold stylistic departures.” In the wake of the latter, they scored a second BRIT Awards nomination in the “Brit Award for International Group” category. They’ve collaborated with everyone from Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst to George Ezra and Zara Larsson. Beyond dozens of film and television syncs, they’ve voiced characters in the English and Swedish versions of NETFLIX’s Centaurworld and delivered stunning performances on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. First Aid Kit take flight like never before on Palomino, their 2022 fifth full-length release, leaning into vibrant and vital pop hooks with their signature intuition and emotional acuity on display.

Multiplatinum troubadour Andy Grammer continues to engage, energize and empower audiences with stomping stadium-size pop anthems meant to be shared at full volume. His observations and affirmations pick you back up when you need it, affirm your potential, and encourage you to keep going. His catalog consists of numerous bona fide hits, including quadruple-platinum “Honey, I’m Good”; platinum singles “Keep Your Head Up,” “Fine By Me,” “Don’t Give Up On Me,” “Fresh Eyes,” and “Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)”; gold single “I Found You”; and gold albums Andy Grammer and Magazines or Novels. He has quietly generated billions of streams and lent his music to Five Feet Apart and other films. When “Don’t Give Up On Me” soundtracked ESPN’s 13^th Annual V Week for Cancer Reach, he garnered a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction and a Clio Award. Beyond selling out shows on multiple continents, Andy has electrified dozens of television shows, including The Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, Good Morning America, American Idol, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and The Late Late Show with James Corden in addition to appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His 2019 offering, Naïve, arrived to widespread critical acclaim. Once again, he makes a connection on his forthcoming fifth full-length album, led by the song “Lease On Life.”

Melissa Etheridge stormed onto the American rock scene in 1988 with the release of her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, which led to an appearance on the 1989 Grammy Awards show. Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, she has remained one of America’s favorite female singer-songwriters for more than two decades. In February 2007, she celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the Best Song category at the Academy^® Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. As a performer and songwriter, Etheridge has shown herself to be an artist who has never allowed “inconvenient truths” to keep her down. Earlier in her recording career, she acknowledged her sexual orientation when doing so was considered less than prudent. In October 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer—a health battle that, with her typical tenacity, she won. Despite losing her hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy^® telecast to sing “Piece of My Heart” in tribute to Janis Joplin and give hope to many. In 2021, Etheridge released the nine-track album One Way Out—a collection of songs she wrote in the late 1980s and early ‘90s that hadn’t made the cut—giving fans a deeper glimpse of who she was.

With one foot in the real world and the other in a charmed dimension of his own making, Amos Lee creates rare music: emotionally raw yet touched with a certain magical quality. He intimately documents his real-world struggles on 2022’s Dreamland—an outpouring born of deliberate, often painful self-examination. He collaborated with producer Christian “Leggy” Langdon on its unpredictable, endlessly imaginative sound—a prime showcase for Lee’s warmly commanding voice and soul-baring songwriting. The first song they created together, “Hold You” set Dreamland’s standard for open-hearted confession. Its delicate convergence of exquisite sonic details—luminous guitar tones, ethereal textures, tender toy-piano melodies—finds Lee looking inward and uncovering a deep urge to provide comfort and solace. Throughout Dreamland he embraces an unfettered honesty, shedding light on the darkest corners of his psyche. Last fall Lee unveiled the 16-song My Ideal (A Tribute To Chet Baker Sings), which pays tribute to his musical hero, reflects on the Billboard chart-topper's deep jazz roots, shines a light on his Philadelphia music community, and toasts the excitement of returning to the road and releasing new music. Chet Baker Sings, a record Lee always loved, holds even deeper meaning as a source of light in the pandemic’s darkest days—where Lee’s daily routine included waking up, meditating, and playing the 1954 jazz epic front to back, diving deep into its nuances.

GRAND RAPIDS SYMPHONY

Recognized nationally for the high quality of its concerts and educational programs, the Grand Rapids Symphony has been an important cultural resource in Grand Rapids and the West Michigan community for almost a century.

Led by Music Director Marcelo Lehninger, Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, and Assistant Conductor Duo Shen, the orchestra presents more than 400 performances each year, enriching the lives of approximately 200,000 people. Thousands of those who benefit are students, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who are reached through the orchestra’s extensive education and community service programs.

The Grand Rapids Symphony released its 13th professional recording, Strauss & Villa-Lobos, a collection of live performances under the direction of Lehninger, in late 2021. Another notable recording, Invention & Alchemy, featuring jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant, was nominated for the Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album during the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

The orchestra boasts longstanding partnerships of over 60 years with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony & Classical Orchestra, and more recently has formed an additional affiliate in the Grand Rapids Bach Festival.

The Grand Rapids Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 and returned in 2018 for a triumphant performance with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus under Lehninger’s baton.

Rock 'n' roll collective The Revivalists—David Shaw (lead vocals, guitar), Zack Feinberg (guitar), Andrew Campanelli (drums), George Gekas (bass), Ed Williams (pedal steel guitar), Rob Ingraham (saxophone), Michael Girardot (keyboard, trumpet), and PJ Howard (drums, percussion])—made the journey from hole-in-the-wall gigs to sold-out shows at hallowed venues, multiplatinum success, more than 800 million streams, and major media praise. Their life-affirming fifth album, Pour It Out Into The Night, is about living in the moment, fueled by lessons in gratitude and life realizations. As the world came to a standstill in the years since their last album, personal experiences and life challenges abounded with band members having their first children, getting married, and navigating the mental hurdles of lockdown. On lead single "Kid"—a hopeful anthem about capturing the essence of life, self-belief and living for the spirit—piano peeks through bright acoustic guitar as a bold beat powers a chantable chorus. “Kid” introduces an album offering a nostalgic hopefulness rooted in living for who you are, an unburdening, and an appreciation for the here and now. Renowned for their live prowess, soulful alt-rock anthems, distinct mix of many classic styles of American music, and outward generosity through their philanthropic Rev Causes initiative, The Revivalists broke through with 2015's Men Amongst Mountains, featuring the double-platinum smash single and Billboard Hot 100 hit "Wish I Knew You.”

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There might be no other band able to channel the generational anxiety in those early millennial years and turn it into such powerful and inclusive art quite like Band of Horses. The band fashioned gorgeously ragged epics, Ben Bridwell’s high-flying vocals and eccentric enunciation floating like a specter that felt like a prelude to a dream. Full of profundity, truth, and sometimes just homespun advice on how to live, Band of Horses songs became anthems and touchstones for fans. Emotionally intense on a personal and elemental level, the songs for sixth album Things Are Great find Bridwell more autobiographical than he’s ever been on record, detailing the nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities of relationship changes and what a person will do to make things right—and what you do when you can’t. Band of Horses comprises Bridwell, longtime members Ryan Monroe and Creighton Barrett, and new members bass player Matt Gentling (Archers of Loaf) and guitarist Brett Nash. This fresh chapter finds the band recapturing the raw emotion and unpolished punk-rock spirit of its early days. The songs on Things Are Great document the connections in Bridwell’s life that have shifted or remained, yet the epic album is not an exercise in nostalgia or regret. It’s closer to the classic pattern of the hero’s journey—where Bridwell doesn’t locate those elusive answers but finds himself in the end, providing hope all of us can do the same.

Orville Peck is a country recording artist and songwriter known for his deep baritone voice, strong musicianship and songs that are sincere yet bold in their storytelling. Never confirming his identity, Orville, who is openly gay and lived an itinerant life, is never seen without his signature, fringed mask. Following the release of his self-produced debut album Pony in 2019, Orville signed with Columbia Records and released his Show Pony EP. Released to immediate critical acclaim in 2020, the EP features a duet with global icon Shania Twain and puts Orville’s triumphant songwriting skills and intentional craftsmanship on full display. Orville, known for his unique personal style, has collaborated with many fashion brands including but not limited to Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, Dior, Michael KORS and Pamela Love amongst others. When Orville is not performing or touring, he lends his time to activism and the causes he is committed to.