Kelley Mickwee with Chris Murphy (USA) / The Weeping Willows (Aus)

Event information

Kelley Mickwee has spent the past two decades making a name for herself in her home state of Texas. Within the past year, she’s re-focused her efforts on her solo work, beginning with a set of singles in 2021 recorded with singer-songwriter Jonathan Tyler and culminating with “Gold Standard,” out now. This set of four singles mark Kelley's first original releases since 2014’s You Used to Live Here, her debut solo record. Although she was already a seasoned artist at that point with a decade’s worth of experience under her belt, up until then all of her performing and recording experience had been as part of a unit, as one-fourth of the acclaimed Americana group The Trishas, with Jamie Lin Wilson, Savannah Welch and Liz Foster, previously one-half of the Memphis-based duo Jed and Kelley and most recently as part of Kevin Russell’s Shinyribs’ Shiny Soul Sisters. But sometimes what gets lost in the shuffle of all the well- deserved acclaim for what she adds to other artist’s work is the music she makes in her own right. Kelley released her sophomore album, Everything Beautiful, in September of 2024 and is currently touring behind this release.

"Mickwee’s gospel-soaked voice reminds one of Susan Tedeschi and the two Bonnies, Bramlett and Raitt, while the singers Alice Spencer, Tony Kamel, Bruce Hughes and Courtney Patton make up the kind of background vocal choir heard on so many classic soul tracks” AMERICANA UK
"Simply stunning. The songs, the singing, the playing...Righteous, indeed” RAY WYLIE HUBBARD

Chris Murphy is that rare breed of musician who easily creates and performs in many music worlds. As he searches for new ways to communicate through music, fusing styles, and techniques from across the globe — a unique fabric of world music, he calls it — Murphy finds his element on the stage, where spontaneity and improvisation reign.

"To me, the music is liquid, and I’m looking for some kind of experience," he says. "I’ll twist and turn, hammer and mould, shape, cut and paste the music to do that. We’ve never done a song the same way twice."

The Weeping Willows (Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth) are a couple of old souls, steeped in Bluegrass tradition and draped in Gothic Americana imagery. They regale their audiences with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay. A Weeping Willows performance, whether live on location or caught on tape will always delight.

“A mature, courageous and beguiling experience” NO DEPRESSION
“On the way to making some serious waves in Americana” AMERICANA UK
“Stunning acoustic guitar work, heavenly harmonies, and a haunting melody rooted in American Gothic” POP MATTERS