The Brit Pack

Thursday, Jul. 18 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

We are sorry to share that tonight's show with The Brit Pack is being rescheduled. Due to circumstances beyond everyone's control, the show will be postponed to a later date. All ticket holders will be contacted today with options concerning their purchase. Thank you for your support and understanding.

British born but American made, The Brit Pack was founded by two Brits in New York and have established a reputation as the most authentic British Invasion band in the US, covering the full timeline of the UK’s best music!

About the Artist:

The Brit Pack – the most authentic British Invasion experience this side of the Atlantic. Formed in 2011 by British session musicians based in NYC, The Brit Pack take their audience on a journey through a dynamic blend of British classics known and loved by all, including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, The Who, Oasis, Radiohead, The Police, Amy Winehouse and many more.

The Brit Pack is a supergroup of sorts, featuring the amazing talents of Matt Nakoa (vocals, guitar, keys), Mark Johnson (guitar, vocals), Bryan Percivall (bass), and Will Haywood Smith (drums). The accomplished band members of The Brit Pack have performed with artists such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Britney Spears, Chet Faker, Tom Rush and Mark Hudson among many others. They have performed for company events at Google and YouTube and even arranged music for major television events like The Oscars. The Brit Pack delivers a show full of music from major names across the pond that’s at the same time familiar enough to make audiences feel right at home and high-energy enough to get the crowd on their feet.

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.

Heartache Tonight - A Tribute to The Eagles

Saturday, Jun. 29 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

From the powerful guitar duel in “Hotel California” to the shimmering harmonies of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” a Heartache Tonight show is a true Eagles concert experience featuring all the timeless classic songs from one of the greatest rock bands of all time. With meticulous attention to every detail, Heartache Tonight brings together music from all eras and incarnations of this huge American rock powerhouse that produced hits over four decades.

A Heartache Tonight concert is filled with moments designed to thrill classic rock fans: the soaring a cappella harmonies of “Seven Bridges Road,” the snarling guitars of “Life In The Fast Lane,” the anthemic country rock of “Take It Easy,” and Don Henley’s beautifully evocative “Heart Of The Matter.” Close your eyes and you’ll swear you’re hearing the real thing.

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Kyshona

Friday, May. 31 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Kyshona lends her voice and music to those who feel silenced, forgotten or alone. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with patients — students and inmates under her care. She became compelled to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor which led her to the Nashville creative community and songwriting culture.

About the Artist:

Kyshona lends her voice and music to those who feel silenced, forgotten or alone. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with patients — students and inmates under her care. She became compelled to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor which led her to the Nashville creative community and songwriting culture. Since then, she balances her music career with her passion to heal in community through her organization Your Song Kyshona’s new project, LEGACY, focuses on family.

Storytelling is the way we pass information – between friends, colleagues, and family. Stories are how we imprint our culture and give gifts from one generation to the next. Memory is imperfect. It is influenced by emotion, context, our state-of-mind on any given day, our health, surroundings, language, and how we have been socialized. In telling our stories, we not only enlighten one another to our truths, we also call upon our community to practice active understanding and to help us acknowledge, validate, and remember our past. In telling our stories of the past, we shape a collective future informed by where we have traveled, all we have learned, and who we have been. Every family has storytellers, because we are all storytellers. In her forthcoming album LEGACY, Kyshona tells the long story of her family’s journey. Through stories, photos, film, ancestry and genealogy research, and travels in the power of place, Kyshona shares her story while inviting listeners and concert goers to join her in exploration of self, healing and growth.

Over the last few years, in addition to three new original singles and multiple music videos, she released a collection of recordings and videos in collaboration with Centennial Park Conservancy – recorded at Nashville’s Parthenon, in front of a monument-sized gold statue of Athena. A song she wrote with ZG Smith called “Nighttime Animal” was named to American Songwriter’s Top 25 Songs of 2022 and enjoyed spins on AAA radio. She wrote an article for No Depression magazine, and was invited to speak at several events including giving a keynote address for 2023 Fulbright Scholars. She is featured in a 2023 PBS television show called “Ear to the Common Ground,” gathering fans around a dining table to discuss voting rights in America, and she will be featured in an upcoming video series featuring Americana artists performing in the prestigious Schermerhorn Symphony Center Theater in Nashville.

Her song, “Listen,” was an anthem for many in 2020. Of her album of the same name, one fan reviewer wrote: “Amidst these hard, divisive times this set of songs is a salve for the grief many of us are feeling about resulting loss of family, friends, and community.” Within the grooves of its 10 tracks, Kyshona blends roots, rock, R&B, and folk with lyrical prowess to uplift the marginalized and bring awareness to the masses. It’s for every silent scream, every heavy load, fearful thought, and a simmering sense of anger that the repressed, the lost, and the forgotten try to hide from the world.

Audiences will find a common thread of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and finding hope in her work. The show doesn’t end when the last song is sung. After her powerful performances, concertgoers often ask, “What can I do?”

Her response? “Listen.”

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.

Steve Earle: Alone Again, Solo & Acoustic w/ Florence Dore

Saturday, Aug. 24 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. The Acorn is proud to present his tour Alone Again, Solo & Acoustic.

About the Artist:

Steve Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protege of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Pretenders, and countless others. 1986 saw the release of his record, Guitar Town, which shot to number one on the country charts and is now regarded as a classic of the Americana genre. Most recently, Earle’s 1988 hit Copperhead Road was made an official state song of Tennessee in 2023.

Subsequent releases like The Revolution Starts...Now (2004), Washington Square Serenade (2007), and TOWNES (2009) received consecutive GRAMMY® Awards. His most recent album, Jerry Jeff (2022) consisted of Earle’s versions of songs written by Jerry Jeff Walker, one of his mentors.

Earle has published both a novel I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011) and Dog House Roses, a collection of short stories (Houghton Mifflin 2003). Earle produced albums for other artists such as Joan Baez (Day After Tomorrow) and Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels On A Gravel Road)

As an actor, Earle has appeared in several films and had recurring roles in the HBO series, The Wire and Tremé. In 2009, Earle appeared in the off-Broadway play Samara, for which he also wrote a score that The New York Times described as “exquisitely subliminal.” Earle wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Earle is the host of the weekly show Hard Core Troubadour on Sirius Radio’s Outlaw Country channel.

In 2020, Earle was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. And in 2023, Steve was honored by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.

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.

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An Evening with Mavis Staples

Saturday, Aug. 17 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Mavis Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate.

Tickets to this event will go on sale on Friday, April 12 at 10am ET.

About the Artist:

“I’M THE MESSENGER,” MAVIS STAPLES SAYS ON THE EVE OF HER 80TH BIRTHDAY. “THAT’S MY JOB—IT HAS BEEN FOR MY WHOLE LIFE—AND I CAN’T JUST GIVE UP WHILE THE STRUGGLE’S STILL ALIVE. WE’VE GOT MORE WORK TO DO, SO I’M GOING TO KEEP ON GETTING STRONGER AND KEEP ON DELIVERING MY MESSAGE EVERY SINGLE DAY.”

That message—a clarion call to love, to faith, to justice, to brotherhood, to joy—lies at the heart of ‘We Get By,’ Staples’ spectacular twelfth studio album and first full-length collaboration with multi-GRAMMY Award-winner Ben Harper. Backed by her longtime touring band, Staples breathes extraordinary life into Harper’s compositions on the record, delivering roof-raising performances with both a youthful vigor and a commanding maturity. The arrangements here are spare but weighty, matched by Harper’s suitably lean and thoughtful production, and Staples seizes the opportunity to showcase her remarkable and continued evolution as an artist, one still growing and exploring more than half a century into her storied career. ‘We Get By’ is undoubtedly a timely collection, arriving such as it does in the face of deep social divisions and heightened political tensions, but like everything Staples touches, it’s also larger than any particular moment, a timeless appeal to the better angels of our nature that’s universal in its reach and unwavering in its assurance of better things to come.

“When I first started reading the lyrics Ben wrote for me, I said to myself, ‘My God, he’s saying everything that needs to be said right now,’” Staples remembers. “But the songs were also true to my journey and the stories I’ve been singing all my life. There’s a spirituality and an honesty to Ben’s writing that took me back to church.”

Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She’s both a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; a civil rights icon; a GRAMMY Award-winner; a chart-topping soul/gospel/R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; and a Kennedy Center honoree. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and sang in Barack Obama’s White House. She’s collaborated with everyone from Prince and Bob Dylan to Arcade Fire and Hozier, blown away countless festivalgoers from Newport Folk and Glastonbury to Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, performed with The Band at The Last Waltz, and graced the airwaves on Fallon, Colbert, Ellen, Austin City Limits, Jools Holland, the GRAMMYs, and more. At a time when most artists begin to wind down, Staples ramped things up, releasing a trio of critically acclaimed albums in her 70’s with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy that prompted Pitchfork to rave that “her voice has only gained texture and power over the years” and People to proclaim that she “provides the comfort of a higher power.” In between records with Tweedy, Staples teamed up with a slew of other younger artists—Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Nick Cave, Valerie June, tUnE-yArDs, and M. Ward among others—for ‘Livin’ On A High Note,’ an album The Boston Globe called “stunningly fresh and cutting edge” and which first introduced her to Harper.

“Ben wrote a song for that album called “Love and Trust,’” explains Staples. “When he said he that he wanted to produce me, I told him, ‘Well shucks, if you write another song like that, count me in.’”

Harper did more than write just another song, instead penning an entire album of emotionally riveting and spiritually uplifting tracks that hit Staples directly in the heart. The tunes fit her like a glove—due in no small part to the decades Harper spent listening to Staples’s music, both with The Staple Singers and as a solo artist—and Staples found herself fighting back tears as she fell in love with the beauty and sincerity of those early stripped down demos.

“I come from a family of Mavis fans,” explains Harper, “so her music has been woven into the fabric of my life from the very start. When I got the call for this gig, it felt like my entire career, everything I’d ever written, had been pre-production for this.”

Leading up to the recording sessions, Harper sat in the audience for several of Staples’ concerts, approaching her performances now as a student more than a fan. As brilliant as Staples’ studio output was over the years, Harper came to understand the stage as her home and her touring band as her family, and capturing as much of that spirit as possible seemed like the obvious approach for ‘We Get By.’

“There’s so much soul and Muscle Shoals in that band,” explains Harper. “They’ve got a specific chemistry that I recognized instantly. When you have a guitar player like Rick Holmstrom, a bass player like Jeff Turmes, a drummer like Stephen Hodges, and a vocalist like Donny Gerrard all supporting the voice of the century, why would you ever want to go outside of that foundation?”

With Harper at the helm, the band recorded everything live at Henson Studio in Hollywood, CA, capturing the kind of powerhouse energy and deep pocket grooves that have come to define Staples’ legendary concerts. While Harper had a distinct vision for the sound of the record, he purposely kept his demos to skeletal sketches, leaving space for Mavis and the band to interpret and give flight to his songs in the inimitable way that only they could.

“The more I’ve produced over the years, the more I’ve heightened my sensitivity to what different artists require,” reflects Harper. “Every artist and every album is different. With Mavis, sometimes the most important thing you can do is press record and just get the hell out of the way.”

The record opens with the stirring “Change,” which finds Staples proclaiming, “Say it loud say it clear / Gotta change around here” over a simmering, fuzzed-out guitar line. It’s a song focused as much internally as it is externally, and after one listen, it’s plain to see why Staples and Harper referred to the studio’s vocal booth as the “prayer room.” Staples’ performance is hypnotic, holy even, restrained in its delivery but relentless in its urgency, and it lays the groundwork for an album that insists on joy and communal celebration without pulling any punches or sugarcoating any ugly truths. The funky “Anytime” looks fearlessly to the future, while the rousing “Brothers and Sisters” is a call for action in the face of injustice, and the gritty “Stronger” promises there’s no power in this world greater than our love for one another.

It’s impossible to listen to a voice like Staples’ without contemplating all she’s been through in her life—the album cover features a heartrending Gordon Parks photo that speaks to the casual cruelty of racial segregation in 1950’s Alabama—but it only serves to make her optimism and resilience that much more inspiring and contagious. There is darkness and doubt on the album to be sure (the spirit of Pops Staples informs the mournful “Heavy On My Mind,” which recognizes that some wounds never heal, while the poignant “Never Needed Anyone” stings with the pain of lingering regret) but it’s consistently overpowered by hope and conviction. “Been holding on too long to let go / Running too hard to slow down / Believing too deep to not have faith,” Staples confesses on the soulful “One More Change To Make.” In that sense, the album’s title is more than just an observation. When Staples and Harper join forces to sing “We Get By,” it’s a prayer, a promise, an invitation.

“I sing because I want to leave people feeling better than I found them,” Staples concludes. “I want them to walk away with a positive message in their hearts, feeling stronger than they felt before. I’m singing to myself for those same reasons, too.”

Even the messenger needs a reminder every now and then.

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 to this event will go on sale on Friday, April 12 at 10am ET.

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Sarah Shook & the Disarmers w/ Reilly Downes & The Acid Cowboys - A CLUB ACORN Show

Friday, Aug. 16 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

It’s obvious listening to Sarah Shook and the Disarmers’ clear-eyed, biting, and unafraid songs that integrity is the most important thing to the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, country-punk outfit.

“A lot of artists are in this industry for fame, recognition, and money but those things don’t mean anything to me,” says bandleader River Shook. “Songwriting is it for me. It’s the only real healthy coping mechanism I've ever had. It’s life-saving. I don't care about any superficial things when I’m making a record.” On their resonant fourth album Revelations, produced by Shook and out March 29 via Thirty Tigers, these raw and resilient tracks come first. Throughout, Shook’s deft storytelling documents regular people getting by and keeping on, all presented without filter or pretension.

A Club Acorn Show – dance party, club vibe, standing room, limited seating available

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.

Dixon's Violin

Saturday, Jun. 01 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Dixon improvises on a 5-string electric violin with a looping system he developed to create an all-live one-man symphony, guided by his remarkable personal story of life transformation.

About the Artist:

You've never heard violin like this! The world's premier visionary violinist, Dixon's life mission is to inspire people - and he has done so at over 1,000 concerts across North America, including giving five TED talks/performances, over ten years at Burning Man and Electric Forest, plus radio, TV, and film appearances. A former technology leader and symphony violinist, Dixon walked away from a distinguished career to follow his dream full-time, and invented a whole new music genre. Dixon now improvises on a 5-string electric violin with a looping system he developed to create an all-live one-man symphony, guided by his remarkable personal story of life transformation.

"It's quite an accomplishment for a man who possibly invented a new genre on his violin" – City Pulse

"Dixon's Violin is a journey of transformation, unlike anything else" – Alex Grey / Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

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.

Danielle Nicole

Friday, Sep. 13 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

American blues/soul artist Danielle Nicole performs. Her stunning new album, The Love You Bleed, comprises twelve heartfelt tracks exploring themes of love, loss and perseverance.

About the Artist:

Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Danielle Nicole has spent her life making music and pleasing fans, domestically and abroad. Her stunning new album, The Love You Bleed on Forty Below Records, comprises twelve heartfelt tracks exploring themes of love, loss and perseverance.

The new album was produced by Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal, Eric Burdon, Robert Cray) and co-produced by Nicole, with John Porter (B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bryan Ferry) mixing. The tight knit quartet on the songs features Danielle on bass guitar and vocals; Brandon Miller (electric, acoustic, pedal steel, mandolin, and 12-string guitar), Damon Parker (keyboards); Go-Go Ray (drums), and Stevie Blacke (violin and cello).

Nicole was initially influenced by her parents. She recalls seeing her father playing blues guitar and her mother singing with the group Little Eva. With her two brothers, she became a member of Trampled Under Foot, which found initial popularity in the Midwest. Danielle embarked on her solo career with Wolf Den (2015), which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Blues charts and amassed 7.5 million Spotify streams. Cry No More (2018) followed, the record was nominated for a Grammy in the contemporary blues category and debuted at number one in the Billboard Blues Charts – it also boasts over Spotify streams in excess of 10 million.

Nicole has been inducted into the Kansas City Hall of Fame and has been the recipient of seven Blues Music Awards. She recently did a duet with Dion on the upcoming song "I Aim To Please," and recorded the opening track in the forthcoming Peter Hutchings film "Which Brings Me To You."

There has been no shortage of praise; Guitar World stated, "Danielle Nicole has won respect and admiration throughout the American blues scene for her soulful, inventive playing and tireless work ethic." Blues Music Magazine effused, "Nicole brings it, bakes it, and serves it up blazing on a silver soulrocking platter." The Kansas City Star declared, "Blues and soul vocalists tend to improve as they age. Bettye LaVette is among the artists who became increasingly believable as she matured. Danielle Nicole appears to be following in her footsteps." And the legendary Koko Taylor gets right to the point: "That girl gets down to the nitty gritty!"

At the beginning of the The Love You Bleed recording sessions; Danielle Nicole knew this new album would be different from those in the past. "Maybe that's because over half the songs are about falling in love and not falling through the destruction of it," she says. The album is full of love, loss, will, determination, and all the other things that go together with love. "Make Love" is about consciously pushing past the pain, choosing love, family, and community in life's difficult moments. It uplifts the message of love and togetherness in the face of hardship." "How Did We Get to Goodbye" with its raw and honest lyrics, document a soured love that bears no hero or villain, asking how you get to such a place of disrepair without even knowing it. And Love On My Brain, is a potent hybrid of vintage R&B and driving blues, begins as a flirty feeling inside and turns to an overpowering need and deep desire. Right By Your Side is a vintage soul/R&B ballad about never making the mistake of watching "the one" walk away again.

The Love You Bleed gives Nicole a solid place that music has always provided in dealing with love and loss. "It's been a difficult relationship listening to music outside of professional reasons since the passing of my brother Kris," she says. "But just being honest in my writing and direction, I find when I'm the truest to myself, that's when the magic happens. Not trying to find perfection in it so much, but engulfing myself in every moment and being there with the audience is when fun things can happen inside and out." Many of those feelings are captured in all the songs on the album.

There is a powerful sense of self in The Love You Bleed, taking the new songs to the place Nicole envisioned they could go. "I want to consciously move forward in the natural evolution of my songwriting and singing," she says. And as I grow as a person, a woman, a mother.”

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.

An American Prayer: The Doors Tribute

Saturday, Jul. 06 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

An American Prayer is America's most authentic tribute to the Doors offering a high-energy concert experience celebrating Jim Morrison and the Doors in their prime. Founded in 2013 in Chicago by lead vocalist Rick Lisak, An American Prayer has become one of the most sought after bands in the country.

Go back in time to Los Angeles in the 1960s, and experience the atmosphere around Venice Beach as one of the most prolific, controversial, and influential rock bands of the era is reborn for a 21st Century audience. Experience the sounds that changed a generation.

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.

PettyBreakers: A Tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Thursday, Jul. 11 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

“The World’s Greatest Tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!” So say Katie Daryl, Mark Cuban and Ryan Seacrest of AXS-TV as they selected the PettyBreakers to perform on their hit TV show in 2014.

What started out in 2010 as a regional band is now the Nation’s #1 touring tribute to Tom Petty. The PettyBreakers has played in 22 states and Washington D.C. ­with more being added constantly. Having performed at many cool clubs, theaters and festivals, one of the highlights so far was performing at the Naval Yard in Washington D.C. in 2018 for Major League Baseball’s All Star Pregame Celebration. Another highlight was performing a four and half month residency in the Sammy Davis Showroom at Harrah’s Casino in Reno in 2017. And, yet another, was being selected in 2014 as “The World’s Greatest Tribute to Tom Petty” by AXS-TV.

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.