Siri Imani
She weaves together song and poetry to tell powerful stories of love and liberation, state and personal violence, social, environmental, racial and sexual justice, woman’s empowerment and human transcendence. She openly, poetically reflects on her life as a lesbian, black, inner city youth and former college athlete. Siri Imani is a boundary-breaking soul sister who has sharpened her art as a tool for popular education, community organizing and personal transcendence. She is a warrior woman writer not afraid to tell her personal truths and making biting social commentary on the world we live in.
Artivism! Through poetry, rap, and singing i put every message i have for the world in my music. hopes, experiences,lessons- you name it. My performances are meant to feel like a long conversation. We'll go through highs, lows, cry together, twerk together, scream together, love on each other, and ultimately end up 10x closer than we started!
Settle Into Stillness
Settle into Stillness unites the healing power of conscious relaxation with sacred sound. Settle Into Stillness was founded by Jeremy Arndt and Nancy Grzeszak, whose paths converged in 2011, igniting a shared passion for yoga and music that would ultimately blossom into a transformative journey around the globe. Their mutual desire to spread peace, serenity, and self-discovery led them to create the Sound Journey, a magical fusion of music and mindfulness. Their musical journey has taken them together to 20 countries and 5 continents. They continue to share their music worldwide, as a duo, as well as with their newly formed Settle Into Stillness Ensemble, featuring the additions of pedal harp, world percussion, and more.
Katelyn G. Vallier
Katelyn G. Vallier is an earth-honoring folk musician. She weaves songs inspired by Community and the Land. Her life, in devotion to Stewardship, is led with the same soulfulness that flows from her voice and six strings.
Dani Darling
A singer, song-writer, producer and bandleader. From lo-fi, to lush shoe-gazey soundscapes; and influences from Radiohead, Motown. Her recent EP “The Future” earned her a Detroit Music Award nomination. Dani Darling’s band is indie soul, with ethereal vibes and funky grooves to move to.
Dani Darling is an indie soul band with psychedelic vibes and retro grooves. Their set is a cosmic experience to remember!
Nina Soulfia
Folky Soulful Detroit Rock on Acoustic. Nina’s soft tones play your heartstrings like a cello, while her passionate and powerful grit jolt electric feels through your veins. Nina’s ability to bend many genres together is one way that she melts communities together.
A journey of ups and downs, sung from great heights and great lows. Very percussive and dynamic. Songs of love and loss dance with those of strength and stability. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and your feet will be stomping in time!
Greater Alexander
Alexander Vlachos (born August 18, 1980) is an independent singer-songwriter. Born in New York, raised in Greece and currently residing in Detroit, Michigan, Vlachos started using the moniker Greater Alexander as a way of creatively expressing the greater part of himself through the medium of a sonic musical landscape. Greater Alexander was named Metro Detroit’s best songwriter by the city’s alt-weekly. His original piano and guitar works have been featured in ads for Amazon, Jeep, and Dodge, as well as the Comedy Central series “Detroiters.” Alexander’s full-length release “Positive Love” was re-released on vinyl in Japan where it sold out.
Using natural reverb to record in spaces while infusing classical and acoustic guitars, piano, African and Latin percussion instruments to color the music and create an Indie-world folk genre similar to Jack Johnson intertwined with Trevor Hall, and Paul Simon. Partaking in this rebirth of Michigan and its glorious folk music, his voice is instantly soothing as it floats across the finely plucked and gently strummed guitar that finds its home in his arms.
Pajamas
Ann Arbor, Michigan based quartet that creates their own unique blend of psychedelic improvisational rock and funk music. The exploratory sound is born from a close and cohesive musical relationship. Incorporating elements of rock, funk, blues, jazz, hip hop, psychedelia and beyond, every live performance is a distinct and new experience - heavily encouraging and inspired by crowd participation. Pajamas draws influence from the likes of Phish, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Snarky Puppy, Vic Wooten, the Allman Brothers and many others. Since forming in 2015 Pajamas has played hundreds of shows across the Midwest and beyond. From festivals like Summer Camp and big stages like Frederik Meijer Garden Amphitheater, to small clubs, they’ve shared the stage with nationally touring acts including Goose, Aqueous, Karina Rykman, Yam Yam and many more.
FeRn Whale
A bowling ally lounge is what brought Angela and Tom together, first as bandmates in Big Livy. Through roller rinks and open mics, they continued to grow in their relationship. The two got married in 2013 and formed FeRn Whale shortly after. Their music and marriage go hand in hand. Tom provides the steady pulse and dynamic rhythms, while Angela gives emotionally charged eccentricity. They are the complimentary yin and yang.
Tom and Angela Sheppard make meditative folk rock that whispers of the intersections between dreams and reality, between the inner world and the wider horizon. Classical training harnessed to whimsy and adventure makes FeRn Whale a unique experience
RamBull Rompers
New Orleans based duo, featuring multi-instrumentalist songwriters Natalie Mae Palms and Rose Yvonne Cangelosi. Coming from different corners of the country, these women have led their own musical careers respectively in New Orleans while playing regularly with various musical projects for many years. Since early 2021, they have joined forces of friendship and musical camaraderie to create a duo that entertains the heart with catchy and soulful original songs, decorated with humor and relatability. Their songs are honest and heartfelt, with voices that weave together so intricately many can't tell the difference between the two. Switching often between the drums, guitar, banjo, and piano, the Rompers deliver a wide variety of songs and genres that accompany their infectious personalities.
Harmony-driven originals songs with influences in folk, Americana, blues, and pop, including New Orleans R&B classics. Inspired by the likes of Lucinda Williams and Irma Thomas, to Allen Toussaint and Leo Nocentelli, the RamBull Rompers truly play it all and delight in sharing the incredible music of their beloved Big Easy and the music it helps create in their own songs.
Sonic Alchemy
Bringing together lifelong friends and musicians Parker Horsch, Ben Clark, and Humza Rahman. As multi-instrumentalists, Sonic Alchemy weaves together an intuitive web of sounds for each performance (including but not limited to handpan, world percussion, guitar, bass, sitar, keys, etc). With each member coming from a unique musical background, Sonic Alchemy seamlessly blends elements of different genres to create a passionate, memorable, and engaging performance for any music lover.
Ecstatic Dance with Charity Loring + DJ Ekanti
AKA Conscious Clubbing, is a consent based movement practice that encourages music to be your intoxicant. Whether you’re any good at dancing or not is irrelevant — this is simply about letting go, “releasing the beast”, gently releasing, or moving freely in any way you wish, by being true to yourself. To move freely in our dances is about expression, not perfection. We set judgment aside, of ourselves, and others. Judgment usually requires punishment. Instead, we use Discernment in listening to what our minds and bodies need in each moment. Show up for yourself and others, close your eyes, take a deep breath and move with us through this supportive journey.
Lena Maude
Based in the Keweenaw for the past 5 years enjoying powder days and working through the challenging cold and blizzards. Her creativity is currently driven by curiosity, the way water moves, ever-present mystery and beauty, and a burgeoning cosmology of energy. Though a singer-songwriter at heart, Lena is also a sketch artist, painter, and 'facilitator' with a foundation in Nature Connection and healthfulness. Introspective, curiosity driven lyrics paired with wide-ranging vocals, fingerstyle guitar, and looping pedal soundscapes.
"Ethereal but grounded, raw yet sincere, haunting yet visceral, her work weaves colorful tales of memory, dreams and the intimately personal... dances between morose sincerity and incredible playfulness" - Lily Venable
The Clark Singers
Audrey and Mike met in Peru and have been sharing music mostly in sacred ceremony since 2019. Married in 2022, currently they are joyful to be sharing their music with an expanded space and community. Playing and writing music together has been central to their personal healing journeys. Their music has become a sacred channel for the unique expression of their love and reverence for Life. They reside in southeastern Michigan in an old home where they garden, cook, play music, make ritual and medicine, and study the sacred together.
Difficult to categorize, the Clark Singers offer spiritual folk music that holds a prayer to connect to the healing of heavens and earth, to find the light in the dark, to experience the sacred wholeness of our interdependence. A mix of original songs and covers that have inspired and healed them personally, their harmonies give voice to a spectrum of love and medicine. Authenticity and Truth being essential, and not trying to fit a mould of what is typically deemed "spiritual music" in our times, their songs often do nevertheless channel springtime, sunshine and rainbows (et al). They consider their music to be a generous gift from the plants and other Spirit and Nature teachers they've worked with closely.
Sudden Merganzer
A 4-piece Psych-Pop, Surf-Funk band out of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The band formed in 2021 through the group's desire to finish developing their early catchy riffs, into a symphonic collection of groovy tunes and easy listening that was meant to keep listeners swinging and swaying. Their unique brand of entertainment fuses a wide and wavy shoegaze sound with spacey rhythmic passages that will leave audience members cheering for more.
Sudden Merganzer uses modern sound to create a vintage feel. Psychedelic swirling guitar riffs accompanied by funk driven drum beats are only further enhanced by catchy hooks and memorable lyrics. Expect time to feel like it somehow magically slowed down during parts of a Merganzer set as the easy listening approach to the vast majority of their songs leaves a lasting aura of light airy calmness, but watch out for the occasional gust roaring in too!
Eric O'Daly
Roaming across several continents for the past two decades, playing prestigious venues the Detroit Jazz Festival, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Café Paradiso in Amsterdam, as well as hole-in-the-wall clubs and hidden grottos across North and South America, absorbing and collecting music from various regions of the world and sharing his own original music in all corners. Fronting an all-star band, he brings a wide range of music to the stage, from dreamy Americana to Eastern European folk songs to Brazilian funk-jazz, united by soaring harmonies and virtuosic playing.
"O'Daly's set was astounding not only in its wide range of genres, but in the mastery he and his band displayed over all of them." - Morgan Haner, Midtown Grand Rapids. Performing original music from his 2022 EP, Catching Light, as well as a host of new songs from a forthcoming record, Eric O'Daly and his band take the audience on a ride that swings from heartfelt Americana to upbeat, bouncing Braziliana, to shimmering pop-rock. Rich and evocative songwriting underpins O'Daly's original songs, which are woven together by his crystalline vocals. Backed up by a virtuosic band, their live set is not to be missed!
Groove Monkey Trio
A family band that explores deep grooves in an instrumental trio format. It all started with Chaim, aka The Dad-man bangin on drums and also having some kids with his woman Rachelle. The kids, Elijah and Nate, turned out to be groovy dudes that were also super musically inclined and together with the help and guidance of some other music-y people they figured out how to play groovy music for the people of the universe.
Our music is a fusion of danceable tunes from Stevie Wonder to jazz and funk standards to our home-grown originals. We interpret classic groove heavy tunes and add some of our own compositions to form a cornucopia of booty shakin instrumentals.
J. Michael & The Heavy Burden
What happens when you blend acoustic-based folk inspired melodies with punchy, hard driving electric guitar riffs and top it all off with hook laden, pop-oriented choruses? This is J. Michael & The Heavy Burden in a nutshell. JMHB is an Alt-Americana jam roots rock band hailing from the Ann Arbor/Detroit region and has quickly gained a reputation amongst its fan base for crafting high energy shows, steeped in dance worthy grooves. “All 12 songs (from their self-titled debut album release 'J. Michael & The Heavy Burden') are expertly executed and would go over well at outdoor concerts or in local bars - even if the listeners are unfamiliar with J. Michael & Co.'s music. That's because their tunes are all catchy and comfortable, evoking all sorts of classic/alt rock vibes with just enough dusty twang to attract country-centric listeners, too.” Christopher Porter — A2Pulp.org. Endearing themselves to the listener with relatable tales of love and heartbreak, enveloped in a package of groove heavy rhythms and catchy hooks, JMHB will leave you hanging on to every word while simultaneously swinging and swaying to the funky beat.
Joseph Dugan
A saxophonist/composer who also operates and teaches at Samastah Yoga Center in Ferndale, MI with his wife Maura. The two of them met at the Earthship Biotecture Academy in Taos, NM, building homes from earth and recycled materials. He grew up in Waterford, MI with a canal in his backyard that quickly became his greatest teacher. He would play his saxophone in his backyard and harmonize with the echoes as they cascaded back and forth across the water. He has released two solo albums Swaha (2019), While You're Away (2020) and a compilation of solo performances of Convergence of Wind and Water (2020-2023) which focuses on currents, collective experiences and abstracting time through live looping. In 2023 he fundraised a solo expedition to the Falkland Islands to collect wildlife recordings for his project MEND, where he is reverse engineering a traditional style of music based on the sounds of animals from the Antarctic region.
The Rupple Brothers
A psychedelic folk ensemble who combine a love for family, music, life, and improvisation to create a musical space unlike any other. Born unto song, brothers Evan and Cole, and an ever expanding cast of soul brothers, traverse the entire spectrum of sound and space; each being proficient in multiple ways of musical strangeness, while bringing a positive and powerful family message with their brand of wild folk. They have carved themselves out a respected place amongst the Michigan music scene, throwing their own annual grassroots festival Handmade Music Festival in their home of Chesaning, opening for bands like Chirp & Good Old War, opening up for White Denim at Ann Arbor's Sonic Lunch, winning the Review Award for "Best Duo", and playing top tier venues and festivals across the state. They plan to carry their stories of song to the furthest reaches of the universe .”
Railcar Graffiti
Putting on an energetic, engaging and entertaining good time for crowds in Michigan since 2014. Bringing their own captivating brand of Alternative old time, with influences from American string bands and Celtic roots. Their high spirited shows give a taste of older music traditions but with a new flair that is uniquely Railcar Graffiti. The 4 piece band is made up of a group of multi-instrumentalist friends with a keen love of making great music and having a fun time doing it.
Act Casual
Known for magnetizing performances, chilling harmonies, and a unique style of improvisation, Detroit's funky fusion band Act Casual has been taking over the Midwest music scene by blending the blues, funk, long instrumentals, and tight pop tunes with infectious melodies. In the last few years, the group has seen an increased following of dedicated fans that brought them from jamming in a basement to playing sold out shows at iconic venues such as Detroit’s Magic Stick, Ann Arbor’s Blind Pig, Grand Rapids’ Tip Top Deluxe, and Mount Pleasant’s Centennial Hall.
Headlining Livestock Music Festival and Sugar Creek Music Festival as well as performing at Summer Camp Music Festival, Hookahville, Weekend at the Cave, Good People Good Times, Ohio Dreamfest, Ann Arbor Hash Bash, Arts Beats & Eats, Big Fam Music Festival, a Bernie Sanders rally, and many more. Act Casual has shared the stage with national acts including Bootsy Collins, Larry McCray, Laith al-Saadi, Brendan Bayliss and Ryan Stasik of Umphrey's McGee, Spafford, Ben Carrey of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Moon Hooch, Muruga Booker and Gabe Gonzalez of Parliament Funkadelic, The Werks, Magic Beans, The Nth Power, Dizgo, and The North 41.
The presence they have built on stage and throughout the Midwest is undeniable, leading to press in Rolling Stone Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, Local Spins, The Stratton Setlist, and Music Connection Magazine. The group recently released an album to the tune of over 40,000 streams on Spotify including radio play on 101 WRIF and 90.9 WDET.
Sister Siren
