In 2023, Chris Pierce was handpicked to be the special guest opener for the Neil Young Coastal Tour. He recently gained worldwide prominence with his song “We Can Always Come Back to This," airing on 3 episodes of the #1 NBC primetime series This Is Us, and going on to hit the #1 slot on the Billboard Blues chart. Pierce has done worldwide headlining tours and has performed with Neil Young, B.B. King, Seal, Al Green, Steve Earle, Allison Russell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Jill Scott, Keb’Mo, Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville, and others.

At a young age, Pierce developed a rare hearing disorder called Otosclerosis that led to the loss of hearing in one ear and partial deafness in the other, a setback that would deter many young musicians forever. The reality, however, fueled Chris’ passion and determination all the more, forcing him to re-learn almost everything he had known prior to his condition. To Chris, music was, and still is, an unconditional companion.

His 2021 album, American Silence, garnered critical acclaim from NPR, Rolling Stone, No Depression, SiriusXM, The Bluegrass Situation, AmericanaUK, Acoustic Guitar, and others. PopMatters named American Silence the #1 Folk Album of 2021, and FolkAlley named "Residential School" from American Silence one of 100 Essential Folk Songs.

His highly anticipated album Let All Who Will was released on September 1, 2023, with critical acclaim from NPR, No Depression, American Songwriter, Hi Times, and more.

In addition to his solo career, Pierce performs/records with both Americana/Folk/Soul sensation War and Pierce, with Sunny War, with the Americana/Roots band Leon Creek, and occasional appearances with the Black Opry Revue.

Montreal-born Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR's Tiny Desk, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and No Depression. Through her artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background; her family’s deep ties to the Canadian folk music scene; her college years spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia, and her father’s experience growing up in Grenada, arriving in Canada in 1986, after the U.S. invasion.

Kaia released her first EP Old Soul (2013) when she was just out of high school. Since then, she’s gone on to release three more albums, Sorrow Bound (2015), Nine Pin (2016), and Grenades (2018).

For the JUNO-nominated and Polaris Music Prize long-listed Grenades, Kaia leaned into a wide array of sounds and styles in order to convey a broad range of emotions and topics, most notably her Caribbean ancestry and her father’s experience as a refugee in Canada. In 2020, Kaia took part in the Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Center, released a new single, and wrote original music for The Porter (BET+ 2022), for which she garnered a Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Song in a Drama Series. Her next album, recorded in Montreal with Joe Grass as co-producer, will land in 2024.

Elizabeth Lubin's songwriting is a catalyst for contemplation; her rhythms a rootsy homage to intimacy. There is a tenderness in her music that feels like the kin of your own heartbeat, with melodies digging for the roots of the ancestral, seeking new growth, and healing to replace where a stump, beholden to a discouraged heart, once stood.

In addition to songwriting and band-leading, Elizabeth is a music teacher, currently based in the Bay Area, teaching piano, guitar, bass and voice in private and classroom settings. Tonight’s performance at Symphony Space is her NYC debut.