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John Craigie

For over a decade, John Craigie has made music that brings people in, not with spectacle but with sincerity and songs that feel like conversations.

His new album I Swam Here, out February 6, 2026 on Zabriskie Point Records, was written and produced by Craigie and recorded between New Orleans and Astoria. Seven tracks were cut at Deslonde St Studios with musicians handpicked by Sam Doores of The Deslondes, including Howe Pearson, Max Bien Khan, Jonny Campos, and a guest appearance from Desiree Cannon. Longtime collaborator Anna Moss appears across much of the record. The remaining tracks were finished at the Rope Room in Astoria, carrying over the same spirit and palette. The cover art, painted by Brittany Schall, nods to the design of mid century samba and jazz records.

The album’s singles trace the path of its making. “Fire Season,” engineered by Bart Budwig, was one of the first songs written and features Cooper Trail, Nevada Sowle, Luke Ydstie, and Jamie Greenan. “Dry Land” was reworked in Astoria after early New Orleans sessions didn’t feel right. “Edna Strange,” inspired by Marty Robbins, is the only track where Craigie plays steel string acoustic, with Max Bien Khan on nylon string leads and a trio vocal arrangement in place of Moss’s harmonies.

Following 2024’s Pagan Church with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, which spent six weeks at #1 on the Americana Albums chart, I Swam Here feels both expansive and intimate, shaped by the musical history of the Gulf Coast and the stillness of the Pacific Northwest.

Craigie remains a tireless live performer, touring throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia, appearing at festivals like Newport Folk, Pickathon, Edmonton Folk Festival, and High Sierra, and sharing the stage with artists such as Langhorne Slim, Sierra Hull, Gregory Alan Isakov, Brett Dennen, and Jack Johnson. His annual #KeepItWarm Tour donates $1 from every ticket sold to regional nonprofits, and his John Craigie On The River trips on the Tuolumne and Rogue rivers have become cherished gatherings for fans.

I Swam Here is a grounded, collaborative step forward, blending New Orleans grit with Pacific Northwest quiet, and showing a songwriter still widening the world of his music.

Marley Hale

Born in Texas and raised in Northern California, Marley Hale’s musical influences followed: Texas’s deep, country and western swing roots met San Francisco’s folk and rock legends. The result: classic country tropes, turned on their heads through a switching of roles or a repossessed identity; delicate, revelatory explorations of what it means to be a friend, lover, or neither; and second person addresses to herself that offer both an onlooker’s and her own perspective. After California, Hale spent time in Austin, TX and Portland, OR before relocating to Brooklyn, NY, where she recorded her debut EP, By My Own Ways, released July 2024, and began touring the US and Canada. After spending the better part of three years on the road, she moved back home to Austin, where she now resides.

Artist Presale: 10/7 @ 11am – 10/9 @ 10pm
Public on Sale: 10/10 @ 10am

John Craigie

John Craigie has mastered the art of creating live shows that feel more like intimate conversations than performances. Infusing humor, wit, and poignant storytelling, his shows are a space where audience members feel like old friends. Whether he's headlining solo or sharing the stage with longtime collaborators, Craigie’s ability to make his crowd laugh, reflect, and connect is second to none. As he prepares to release Greatest Hits… Just Kidding… Live – No Hits, his latest live album captures the warmth and spontaneity of these memorable nights.

At this point, there have been quite a few good shows in the rearview… 

As a tried-and-true performer, he has regularly sold out solo tours in addition to hitting the road with the likes of Langhorne Slim, Brett Dennen, Mason Jennings, Bella White and Jack Johnson. He has picked up fans with sets at Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon, Edmonton Folk Festival, and High Sierra Music Festival. Including numerous European tours and his first Australian tour in spring of 2024 Moreover, his annual river trip on the Tuolumne River—just outside of Yosemite in California—has remained a hit with his audience, hosting one sellout after another. Giving back as much as possible, he notably launched the #KeepItWarm Tour during the holidays. By donating $1 from every ticket sale, this headline run has raised money for regional non-profits with the goal of fighting food insecurity. An avowed Beatles acolyte, he has performed acoustic renditions of the albums Abbey Road and Let It Be live in front of packed crowds and partnered with Record Store Day for limited-edition vinyl releases of those concerts.. 

Simultaneously, his catalog has continued to reel in tens of millions of streams fueled by favorites such as “I Am California,” “Highway Blood,” “Don’t Ask,” and “Microdose.” Maintaining a prolific pace, 2024’s Pagan Church saw him join forces with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings. Among many highlights, it logged six weeks at #1 on the Americana Radio Albums Chart. Inciting critical applause, Pop Matters raved, “All of Craigie’s songs are made of something truly ineffable,” and American Highways assured, “Along with excellent musicianship across the album, there are genuinely pretty moments on ‘Pagan Church.’” Meanwhile, he joined forces with Langhorne Slim for a duet song “Out On The Road.” 

To him, the live albums seek to achieve a sound where the listener will feel like they’re in the venue, sitting and experiencing the show with the rest of the crowd.

 

Tickets on sale to the public Friday, July 21st at 10am.

Long time friends (they went to college together!) Brett Dennen and John Craigie join together for a night of stunning songwriting and storytelling, including a special set on stage together.

Brett Dennen

A Northern California native, has been captivating audiences for nearly two decades with his distinct blend of folk-pop melodies, thought-provoking lyrics, and soulful vocal prowess. His signature red hair and lanky frame are as unmistakable as the music that has earned him legions of dedicated fans and critical acclaim.

Dennen's musical journey began in earnest at Camp Jack Hazard, a summer camp where he first discovered his love for singing and songwriting. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell, Dennen crafted his own unique style that reflects his passion for storytelling and social commentary.

Dennen's debut album, Brett Dennen (2004), introduced the world to his undeniable talent and served as a springboard for a career that has since seen the release of several successful albums including So Much More (2006), Hope for the Hopeless (2008), Loverboy (2011), Smoke and Mirrors (2013), Por Favor (2016), and See The World (2021). Each record has showcased his evolution as an artist, with a growing mastery of his craft and the ability to convey complex emotions through his songwriting.

With a successful string of albums and several Top Ten AAA singles like “Make You Crazy,” “Wild Child,” and 2018’s “Already Gone.” His single “See The World,” off the album of the same name, reaching Top Five on the AAA charts, Dennen has cemented himself as a fixture in American pop/folk music. He released his most recent single, “This Is Going To Be The Year,” on Mick Music.

Dennen's live performances are characterized by his infectious energy and charisma, with each show a heartfelt expression of his love for music and connection with his audience. His insightful lyrics often touch on themes of love, nature, and social justice, resonating with fans who appreciate the genuine emotion and thoughtfulness behind his art.

In recent years, Brett Dennen has started to let the world in on his secrets. In 2017, he created the “Lift Series,” an annual tour wherein he combines shows in ski towns with conservation initiatives and education in each locale. An avid skier and surfer as well as a conservationist, Dennen works with local organizations to spearhead beach clean-ups and educate young people to become climate stewards, driving awareness through his music and marrying just a few of his many sides in one effort to help drive positive change. Despite the success of his career, Dennen’s connection to his roots remains. In 2022, he tapped into his love for the outdoors and summer camp memories, hosting the first annual Camp Dennen outdoor retreat at Constellation Creek in the greater Lake Tahoe area, establishing a space for community, nature, music, and art.

With his undeniable talent, magnetic stage presence, and unwavering dedication to his craft, Brett Dennen has carved out a unique niche for himself in the world of singer-songwriters. As he continues to evolve as an artist, fans and critics alike eagerly await the next chapter in this remarkable musician's storied career.

John Craigie

Portland, OR-based singer, songwriter, and producer John Craigie adapts moments of solitude into stories perfectly suited for old Americana fiction anthologies. Instead of leaving them on dog-eared
pages, he projects them widescreen in flashes of simmering soul and folk eloquence. On his 2022 full-length album, Mermaid Salt, we witness revenge unfurled in flames, watch a landlocked mermaid’s escape, and fall asleep under a meteor shower.

After selling out shows consistently coast-to-coast and earning acclaim from Rolling Stone, Glide Magazine, No Depression, and many more, his unflinching honesty ties these ten tracks together.

The album comes from the solitude and loneliness of lockdown in the Northwest. Someone whose life
was touring, traveling, and having lots of human interaction is faced with an undefinable amount of time without those things. So, he began writing new songs and envisioning an album that was different from his past records. The sound of everyone playing live in a room together was traded for the sound of song construction with an unknown amount of instruments and musicians—a quiet symphony.

Rather than steal away to a cabin or hole up in a house with friends, Craigie opted to set up shop at the OK Theater in Enterprise, OR with longtime collaborator Bart Budwig behind the board as engineer. A rotating cast of musicians shuffled in and out safely, distinguishing the process from the communal recording of previous releases. The core players included Justin Landis, Cooper Trail, and Nevada Sowle. Meanwhile, Shook Twins lent their signature vocal harmonies, Bevin Foley arranged, composed, and performed strings, and Ben Walden dropped in for guitar and violin plucking parts.

“Instruments were scattered around the theater and microphones placed in various spots,” he recalls. “It’s hard to say who all played what exactly.”

As such, the spirit in the room guided everyone. On “Distance,” warm piano glows alongside a glitchy
beat as he softly laments, “I could lose you to the loneliness, vast and infinite.” Then, there’s “Helena.” A jazz-y bass line snakes through head-nodding percussion as he relays an incendiary parable of a mother and son in exile. He croons, “She said fire was how we’d make ‘em pay. As I ran across the fields, she would scream, ‘Light it up son’,” uplifted in a conflagration of Shook Twins’ harmonies. Strings echo in the background as his vocals quake front-and-center on “Street Mermaid.”

Elsewhere, the guitar-laden “Microdose” beguiles and bewitches with an intoxicating refrain dedicated
to a time where he “Microdosed for months and months, dissolve my ego in the acid.” Everything culminates on the glassy beat-craft and glistening guitars of “Perseids” where he sings, “There’s always a new heart after the old heart. Maybe a new heart is enough.”

During this period, he explored the environment around him “from the Oregon coasts to the waterfalls” and read books about Levon Helm, Billie Holiday, and Ani DiFranco.

“I got time to silence all the noise and chaos of touring and look inward,” he observes.

Craigie had reached a series of watershed moments in tandem with Mermaid Salt. Beyond headlining
venues such as The Fillmore and gracing the stage of Red Rocks Amphitheater, his 2020 offering Asterisk The Universe earned unanimous tastemaker applause. Rolling Stone noted, “tracks like ‘Don’t Deny’ and ‘Climb Up’ bridge a Sixties and Seventies songwriter vibe with the laid-back cool of Jack Johnson, an early supporter of Craigie,” while Glide Magazine hailed it as “one of his best records.” Perhaps, No Depression put it best, “For many weary and heavy- listeners hearted, the album might be exactly what they need.” Along the way, he generated over 40 million total streams and counting, speaking to his unassuming impact.

In the end, Craigie offers a sense of peace on Mermaid Salt.