After 11 albums and 12 years of touring practically nonstop, Erin McKeown rolls into Berkeley with a brand new release, Manifestra, that doubles down on her musical and political commitments. A great guitarist, gifted songwriter, and dynamic performer, Erin has performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Later with Jools Holland, NPR, and the BBC – as well as appearing on the PBS News Hour to discuss the intersection of music, technology, and government policy. “In several distinctive ways – voice, dynamic subtlety, and sheer songwriting ability – Erin McKeown is in a class of her own,” says the Sunday Times of London. The website popmatters.com calls her new album “brilliant and imaginative” and declares that it “gives you faith in how pop music can be both high art and great fun at the same time.”

Erin grew up in Virginia, studied ornithology and ethnomusicology at Brown University, and now lives in the wilds of western Massachusetts. She regularly collaborates and performs with such folks as Anais Mitchell, Carrie Rodriguez, Amos Lee, and Josh Ritter, and she co-wrote one of the songs on her new album with her friend Rachel Maddow. Last year she was a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and she has been an active lobbyist on capitol hill. “I speak through my songs,” she says, “because I feel a deep sense of responsibility as a citizen to participate in the world the best way I know how.” Her music is clever, catchy, substantial, and subversive, and her performances are big fun.

Holcombe Waller is a composer, singer, and performance artist with a wide range of talents and accomplishments. He grew up in Palo Alto, studied art at Yale, taught briefly at U.C. Berkeley, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He’s released three albums, collaborated with the Joe Goode Performance Group, and composed the music for We Were Here: Voices from the AIDS Years in San Francisco. The Washington Post calls Holcombe “an assured writer and performer” and praises his latest album, Into the Dark Unknown, as “a soul-baring song cycle” with songs that “illuminate the darkness.” His set promises to be exciting, original, and thought-provoking.

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Photo by Merri Cyr