Tim Stop – Midwest Made

Sunday, Aug. 18 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Tim Stop makes his Midwest Made summer concert appearance with a full band and no shortage of talent.

About the Artists:

Tim Stop is a Midwest singer/songwriter, who's played on several major international tours, opening for classic bands like Chicago, REO Speedwagon and others. He's performed to sold-out crowds at historic venues like Red Rocks and the Greek in LA, and his single "Perfect Fool" can be heard on SiriusXM's "The Pulse". His cover of Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" became a mainstay on SiruisXM's "The Coffee House" channel. In April 2023, he released Silver Lining, an album featuring drum legend Keith Carlock.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Stone & Snow – Midwest Made

Sunday, Aug. 04 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

2023 Acorn Singer-Songwriter Competition 1st Runner-Up artists Stone & Snow return to The Acorn bringing their close, soulful harmonies and thoughtful lyrics to the Midwest Made summer concert series.

About the Artists:

Named “Best Folk/Soul Artist” at the 2022 Richmond International Film + Music Festival, Stone & Snow is an Americana pairing of songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Karen Bridges and Clint Thomson. In 2012, they began a collaboration filled with close harmonies and thoughtful lyrics and gave it a name that gives a nod to the mountain landscapes of the West– Stone & Snow. 

Delicate and Wild (2023) was recorded with Grammy-nominated producer David Mayfield. Delicate and Wild’s lead single “Moonrise” is a beautifully simple, yet haunting love song to the moon, while “Cruel” (named a top entry in the 2020 NPR Tiny Desk Contest) acts as a soulful response of “oh yes, I know” to the phrase “it’s not you, it’s me”. The album also includes the hopeful hook “we’re gonna be alright” on “Wait”, the last song they would write before the pandemic hit, as well as an honest look back on the years of a marriage that collapsed during that time with “The Hardest Part of Loving You.” Stone & Snow has self-produced and released five studio albums to-date: Delicate and Wild (2023), We Were Made For These Times (2021), Love is a Weapon (2019), Devil That I Know (2016), and These are the Hills (2014).

Karen and Clint are passionate about elevating women in music. Through hosting performances for women artists, their work collecting data on the gender balance in their local scene, and Karen’s involvement in the “Girls Rock!” franchise, Stone & Snow is invested in seeing more women grow and thrive in the music industry. 

“The band’s multi-genre sound pulls from folk, indie rock, swing and soul — somehow stitching it all together seamlessly…” –Elle Mannion, NPR Music

“Their rich vocal harmonies and warm vibe will leave you wanting to see more from this [Cincinnati]-based duo.” —American Songwriter Magazine

“If Florence + the Machine made folk music, it might sound a little like Stone & Snow.” –Katie Anastas, NPR Music

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Kelly Hoppenjans – Midwest Made

Sunday, Jul. 21 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Midwest Made at The Acorn continues with indie-rock singer-songwriter Kelly Hoppenjans.

About the Artists:

Kelly Hoppenjans is an indie-rock singer-songwriter from Nashville, now based in Ann Arbor. She creates empowering, feminist, grungy rock with catchy pop melodies and introspective folksy lyrics. She has released three EPs and one full-length album. Kelly has had her music featured on NPR, American Songwriter, The Alternative, Lightning 100, KUTX, and many other press outlets and radio stations. She has also been a finalist in numerous songwriting competitions, including The Acorn’s 2023 Singer-Songwriter Competition, NewSong, Kerrville New Folk, and John Lennon Songwriting Competition, and she was a winner of the Eddie's Attic songwriting competition.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Help Hounds – Midwest Made

Sunday, Jul. 14 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Our Midwest Made summer concert series continues – this week experiencing indie/folk and Americana with the Northwest Indiana band Help Hounds!

About the Artists:

Help Hounds are a four piece from Northwest Indiana writing Americana, indie/folk songs. Self-reflective and a little self-deprecating at times, they sing about nice weather and the human condition. Each member brings a little something different from toe-tapping melodies to classical cello, airy guitar sweets to driving banjo picking. It’s the peoples’ romp and roll!

Jon Eddy (Cello)
Josiah Tipton (Guitar)
Marco Sassman (Banjo)
Zac Sassman (Bass)

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

The Backups – Midwest Made

Sunday, Jun. 30 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

The Backups are a soulful, harmony-driven lady trio made up of Leslie Sypian, Meredith George and Morgan Ingle. A love for music and sharing it brought this group together.

About the Artists:

The Backups are a soulful, harmony-driven lady trio made up of Leslie Sypian, Meredith George and Morgan Ingle. A love for music and sharing it brought this group together. All hailing from Southwest Michigan, the trio met through running in the same musical circles in the Benton Harbor Arts District. Leslie (The Sypian Family Band) and Morgan (Slim Gypsy Baggage) have had each other's backs for the last 10 years selling out epic Thanksgiving-Eve shows with their bands at The Livery. Meredith met the two after working at The Livery and performing at Open Mic Nights. Before 2017 they had all sung together in some capacity or another by backing each other up on harmonies. After several suggestions from friends and local fans the three decided to join forces. One back porch summer night the three sang as a trio for the first time, and it was magic. Each voice slid into their own part without hesitation. Several goose bumps and giggles later The Backups were forged.

Seven years going strong, the Trio has found their sound without forgetting their harmony-driven roots. The Backups are now joined by Marc Churchill on drums, Nate Edwards on bass & Nate Sypian on lead guitar. The ladies all share the spotlight vocally while highlighting each other's talents.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

The Jayhawks w/ Beth Bombara

Friday, Jul. 05 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Over the course of almost 4 decades, 11 albums and countless memorable live shows The Jayhawks have soared to heights few ever achieve while winning the hearts and minds of numerous critics, fans and peers in the process.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 16th, 2024 @ 10am ET.

About the Artists

The incredible harmonies and distinctive arrangements of The Jayhawks set them apart from the rest of the Minneapolis music scene that emerged in the 1980s. Over the course of almost 4 decades, 11 albums, countless memorable live shows and enough personal drama to fill a couple of Behind the Music episodes, this beloved band soared to heights few ever achieve while winning the hearts and minds of numerous critics, fans and peers in the process.

After releasing 2 Indie albums in the 80s, The Jayhawks had become a driving force and inspiration behind the growing Americana movement in the early 1990s. Combining the talents of singer-songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, The Jayhawks released their major label debut, the acclaimed Hollywood Town Hall (1992) on the Def American label. This was followed by Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995), which produced the alternative radio hit single “Blue.” When Olson left to pursue a solo career, Louris singularly took over the songwriting role in The Jayhawks creating the band’s enduring sound on some of their best selling and well received albums including Sound of Lies (1997), Smile (2000) and Rainy Day Music (2003). Louris continues to write and tour with the longtime core group of Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg, and Tim O’Reagan.

While the touring line-up has changed over the years and Olson briefly reappeared in 2010 to record and tour, this classic lineup maintains a commitment to excellence and forward motion in their shows and in their recordings. Paging Mr. Proust (2016), was produced in Portland with Peter Buck and Tucker Martine and found the band moving in several new exciting directions. The band's 10th studio album, Back Roads And Abandoned Motels, was released in the summer of 2018, featuring Jayhawks versions of songs Gary Louris had previously written with other artists plus 2 new compositions. In July 2020 The Jayhawks released their latest album, XOXO, that features songwriting and lead vocal contributions from all 4 core members. The Jayhawks have made music in 4 different decades and are as vital now as they were in 1985. They definitely have earned their reputation as a true American treasure.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $50 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $50 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 16th, 2024 @ 10am ET.

Sold Out

Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues

Friday, May. 10 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Internationally recognized blues harmonica players, and celebrated composer, blues pianist, singer, songwriter, band leader and author Corky Siegel returns to The Acorn. His ensemble's latest release is Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues – MORE Different Voices.

Few can claim to have forged an entirely original genre of music, but in 1966, Corky Siegel did just that. Guiding the blues of Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters out of the smoky cavern of Big John’s and onto the stages of the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic and beyond, the harmonica-playing mad scientist had the tuxedo-and-gown crowd on its feet, clamoring for more of this blues-classical alchemy. These days, the harmonica virtuoso and composer is continent-hopping with Indian percussion and string quartet in Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, continuing to bring classical and blues fans shoulder-to-shoulder…and obliterating musical categorization in the process. – Doyle Armbrust

The Chamber Blues ensemble members are: Jaime Gorgojo – violin (Madrid), Chihsuan Yang – violin (Taiwan), Rose Armbrust – viola, Jocelyn Butler-Shoulders – Cello, and Kalyan “Johnny Bongo” Pathak – Tabla (India).

About the Artists

Chicago Blues Hall of Fame inductee Corky Siegel is known internationally as one of the world’s great blues harmonica players, and is a celebrated composer, blues pianist, singer, songwriter, band leader and author. Born Mark Paul Siegel in Chicago in 1943, Corky’s professional music career began when he co-founded the now legendary Siegel-Schwall Band in Chicago in 1964 with guitarist Jim Schwall. Corky Siegel has a catalogue of recordings on RCA, Vanguard, Alligator, and million selling blues/classical recordings on the iconic classical label Deutsche Grammophon. At a young age, he learned his craft - personally - at the feet of such legendary first generation bluesmen as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Little Walter, and Otis Spann and all the great blues masters he performed with beginning in 1965. In the earlier days of Chicago blues, he was an essential part in the blues rock revolution, and his surprising and continuing success in bringing together blues and classical audiences (with his symphonic and Chamber Blues recordings and performances) make him a pivotally unique figure in popular music history.

Corky founded Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, featuring himself on harmonica, piano and vocals, the West End String Quartet of topflight Chicago classical string players, and Frank Donaldson on world percussion instruments. The novel ensemble performed Siegel’s pioneering blues/classical music compositions and released its first album, Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, on Chicago’s famed blues label Alligator Records in 1994. The album gained rave notices from publications like Billboard and Stereophile, and has been followed by four more albums, the last two receiving DOWNBEAT EDITOR PICK for 2017, DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE’S BEST ALBUMS OF 2022. The latest ensemble includes the newest member tabla virtuoso Kalyan Pathak (India) who has been with the group for 7 years, Jaime Gorgojo from Spain (Violin), Chihsuan Yang from Taiwan (Violin and Erhu), Rose Armbrust (Viola), Jocelyn Butler Shoulders (Cello) who have all been part of the ensemble between 12 and 17 years.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Alejandro Escovedo w/ James Mastro

Sunday, Apr. 21 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

American rock musician, songwriter, and singer Alejandro Escovedo returns to The Acorn! His songs point out all the majesty and mystery of how he sees the world. The sounds he makes take him places that he might not even predict, but once there, greatness always follows.

About the Artists

Alejandro Escovedo's New Album Echo Dancing is an Adventure in Life

No one has really ever been able to define themselves and their music like singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo does. His life in music of all kinds sometimes feels like a swirl through the sky, where his songs point out all the majesty and mystery of how he sees the world. The sounds he makes take him places that he might not even predict, but once there, greatness always follows.

It's just the way Escovedo is. It has happened over and over for decades, almost like a fateful agreement he has with the cosmos. There is a good chance it cannot be explained, especially by him. Maybe that's because this is a musician who feels magic, both in himself and the world around him, and is open to the experience of whatever comes his way. It is not always easy, and can have a high demand on how a person lives. But it is the way that Escovedo is always moving forward.

On this new album, Alejandro Escovedo has taken a road rarely traveled, which is totally in keeping with how he has lived his life in music. Echo Dancing is an experiment in how to use the past to shape the future. By recording completely new and repurposed versions of songs from his past, Escovedo actually gets a chance to rewrite his own history. It's also an idea that pushes growth into the present, and asks an artist to see themselves anew. "I always feel that a well-written song can withstand a lot of abuse," Escovedo says. It is an area of creativity that the man has always honored. "Turning a past song inside out leads to discovery of new ideas you might not have understood about the song," he says. "Even lyrical refurbishing has proven helpful and effective. It's like interpreting your own work anew. The songs never seem to be complete. They are always evolving." And with those words, Alejandro Escovedo succinctly explains the new levels of artistic exploration he's undertaken on his new album. It's a unique adventure into recording new versions of songs from his past, and approaching them as challenges to totally express what the music means to him today. Songs like "Bury Me" and "Castañuelas," while they were powerful in their original form several years ago, now announce themselves as highlights of Escovedo's long career. They speak to an eternal world that lives inside so much of his music, like it was formed in a way that cannot age. There is something very permanent in the career of the Texas- born artist, an inner flame that is always there. It feels like it is a part of musical history that is rarely captured at such peak performance, let alone reappears with a new life. If the life of an artist is always to push ahead, to leave what was done alone in favor of contemporary creations, then Escovedo's basic concept of Echo Dancing is a revolutionary concept of high beliefs. That the past can live again as a reborn entity. "I was planning this record just prior to boarding a plane to Italy to record with Don Antonio and Nicola Peruch," Escovedo says. "My original idea was to record an album of new material. But then I changed my mind and thought that revisiting songs from my various past albums throughout my career would be more interesting. I have a great faith in these two artists to always create something interesting with whatever I might bring to the session. These songs were already dressed for the dance."

Everything on Echo Dancing has a feeling of absolute freshness about it, and at the same time, there is a strong link to the past. It's almost like reincarnation in the recording studio, but everything seems brand new. All the musicians are dedicated to finding the new amongst the songs' prior history. It is not something that happens often, and it surely has never occurred quite like it does on this fascinating new collection.

Alejandro Escovedo knew that an experience like the one he was embarking on needed all the freshness he could find, and off he went to Italy. Sometimes there are now choices in how to approach a new vision. It simply has to be started with total dedication. "I find that recording in a foreign country opens the creative eye in a way that working at home lacks," he says. And the way the experiment works was proof that today's approach to these songs has a rock-solid beauty to it. A new sonic world has opened. "Surprises were a daily occurance," the musician says, "and we embraced them with exuberance. Is it the beginning or the end? I feel there have always been certain songs on my albums that have guided me to new approaches in my music. That is really the goal of recording. To keep moving forward no matter what it takes. That's why I continue to work on new ways to tell these stories."

Truer words were never spoken than Alejandro Escovedo's love for exploration in the music he writes and plays. The son of a Mexican immigrant and a Texas native, the sounds that Escovedo first discovered and then performed morphed into all kinds of exciting styles of his life.

A member of the first-wave punk rock group The Nuns in San Francisco, he moved to New York and joined the Judy Nylon band and experienced the total electricity of the late 1970s there. Moving then to Austin was a radical shift of geography and musical style when Escovedo helped form one of the country's first so-called Cowpunk adventurers. It often seems like the man has been on a pirate-like adventure through the kinds of music he is drawn to. Those sounds are usually new and often have a strong edge of the avant-garde in them.

Deeply embedded in the burgeoning Austin scene in the 1980s, Escovedo was a prime architect in the new band True Believers, which included his brother Javier and Jon Dee Graham. In many ways the band helped build the gateway to the whole burgeoning Americana music scene which prospers to this day, but it was also the turning point for Alejandro Escovedo to take his life in his control and record solo albums. In the thirty-plus years since that decision has come a wild roller-coaster ride of groups, spinoffs, tribute albums and even original dramatic projects and experiments. In 1998, No Depression Magazine named him Artist of the Decade. For this musician, though, that was just the start of a life that twists and turns wherever Escovedo's clearly uninhibited imagination takes him.

The 21st century has been a time of widely successful excursions that only a few American musicians are able to create. Between adventurous solo albums, continuing collaborations with other musicians, and an ever-growing sense of boundary-breaking, Alejandro Escovedo has created his own definition of what a modern rock artist can accomplish. Which is exactly why Echo Dancing comes at the perfect time for this man.

While it does seem Escovedo has his own category of accomplishments, to now bring together these songs he has previously recorded and inject such exciting new and different life into them is a complete exoneration of his belief in the future. "I said goodbye to certain phases of my life as I have grown," the musician says. "I greeted new acquaintances musically. And I was extremely surprised by the outcome. That is the thrill of being alive. I feel we have now made a beautiful collection of songs recorded in an effortless vibe of collaboration and camaraderie. I can't give Nicola and Antonio enough credit and thanks for their musicianship and wide-open approach to making this album. And I should also mention Ivano Giovedi, who incredibly engineered the recordings. He did an amazing job."

"Everyone involved has guided me to new approaches to my music, like other musicians have my whole life. I have always worked hard to discover new ways to tell the story. I've never hidden my love for Brian Eno, Roxy Music, Judy Nylon, Cluster, along with the Stooges, New York Dolls, MC5, Roky Erickson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Joe Ely, Terry Allen; you get the picture. There is always more work to be done and joy to be made. I am nowhere near finished."

Echo Dancing makes sure Alejandro Escovedo's evolving circle remains unbroken.

James Mastro - guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter extraordinaire - has toured the world dozens of times over as a supportive musician with some of the biggest and most critically acclaimed rock and pop artists ever to grace a stage including Ian Hunter, Patti Smith, John Cale, The Jayhawks, Alejandro Escovedo, Garland Jeffreys, Jesse Malin, and with Robert Plant as his musical director for a benefit concert for an artist they both admired immensely, Love’s Arthur Lee. From The Beacon Theater to the Shepherd's Bush Empire (UK), Mastro has roused crowds with brilliant performances channeling the sonic inventiveness of David Bowie and the tastefulness of Mick Ronson. Discussing his new album for MPress Records, Dawn of a New Error, the Americana-rock singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer reveals: "As an underage kid, I used to do whatever it took to see the bands I loved: wait in line for hours for tickets, or sneak into clubs and push my way to the front of the stage. Now, as an overaged kid, I’ve had the best seat in the house playing guitar onstage with many of those same artists that inspired me to do what I’ve been doing all these years. And I still feel like I’m sneaking in!”

Dawn of a New Error finds Mastro firmly in frontman territory, unleashing 11 brand-new, fiery cuts that will make even the most jaded music listener sit up and listen. What makes Mastro all the more impressive - band cred aside - is his arsenal of sounds. Textural and otherworldly one minute and retro-rock the next, each track on his MPress debut is a swoon-worthy, master class in crafting timeless hooks, intelligent lyrics, and kick-ass playing that any fan of Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, or Wilco will embrace.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

The Acorn is hosting a Community Book Drive in celebration of the life and legacy of Dolly Parton! Bring a book to The Acorn throughout the month of April and receive a Dolly Parton themed gift. Bring a book to The Acorn the night of The Music of Dolly Parton on April 27 for $3 off our specialty drink for the night - the Wine to 5! Books should be new and chosen for children of any age - infants through teens! Books will be distributed to River Valley Schools.

Jackie Venson

Friday, May. 17 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Jackie Venson is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter known far and wide for her beautifully complex music and blazing guitar skills.

This concert serves as our next recording partnership activity with 88.1 WVPE Public Radio which will air in a future "The Sauce Live from The Acorn" broadcast on WVPE! We'll be capturing LIVE footage at the show - come get in on the action! 

About the Artists

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Jackie has traveled the world playing to crowds both as a headliner and as support for major acts such as Keb' Mo', Gary Clark Jr, Aloe Blacc, Melissa Etheridge, and Citizen Cope, to name a few. In 2020, Jackie released her studio album Vintage Machine, her first studio follow up to 2019's Joy. Music from Vintage Machine was featured heavily on Jackie's taping for Austin City Limits' 46th season, and she released the full set on "Live at Austin City Limits" that year. In 2021, she released Love Transcends, her first studio album centered around the blues and at the start of 2023 she released Evolution of Joy, a reimagining of her breakout album Joy, with producer Frenchie Smith (Jet, Toadies, Wild Child.) With the uncertainty of the times we're living in, one thing holds true for Jackie Venson-she's going to play her music, speak her truth, and spread as much joy as she can doing it.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Despite The Smoke w/ Jack Cunningham

Friday, Mar. 08 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Despite The Smoke is Nich Lampson, Kevin Krizmanich, Cory Miller and Brian McGuire, an emerging alt-folk rhythm and rock band born in the Midwest and based in New York City. With deep roots in Detroit, Indiana, and Ohio, the crew has an affinity for the music they grew up listening to in these areas. As the people and highways of this region naturally invite others from all over the world to pass through, so too does this band invite influences from other geographies and time periods to shape their sound.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.