There are songwriters who chronicle life, and then there’s David Wilcox—an artist who metabolizes it. He has long been a quiet force in American folk music; a musician’s musician, a writer’s writer, and a seeker whose gift lies in making the personal feel universal.

With the release of The Way I Tell the Story (2025), Wilcox proves, yet again, that resilience isn’t just a survival skill—it’s an art form. The record shimmers with musical sophistication but leaves just enough space for the listener to feel what Wilcox has always done best: tell the truth, gently but without apology.

The music he’s creating now comes from a place that can’t be faked. In recent years, Wilcox’s life has been shaped by his wife’s Parkinson’s diagnosis—a shift that reordered his priorities and redefined his sense of time, love, and presence. But rather than retreat, Wilcox leaned in. “Times get tough, and music gets good,” he says, and means it. These songs don’t dramatize. They don’t resolve neatly. They sit in the complexity of living—open-eyed, unafraid, quietly brave.

Wilcox’s career began in earnest in the late 1980s, when his self-released debut The Nightshift Watchman caught the attention of A&M Records. His major-label debut, How Did You Find Me Here (1989), became an unexpected hit, selling over 100,000 copies largely by word of mouth and live shows alone—an unheard-of feat for a debut folk record. Critics took note of his deft guitar work and emotional clarity, but it was the unassuming wisdom threaded through his lyrics that truly set him apart. Rolling Stone praised his “soulful insight,” while The New York Times called his music “a kind of open- hearted therapy.”

What followed was a string of acclaimed albums—Big Horizon (1994), Turning Point (1997), What You Whispered (2000) each one refining his reputation as a songwriter who knows how to say hard things in soft, lasting ways. Over the years, he’s shared stages and collaborations with artists like Shawn Colvin, Patty Larkin, Pierce Pettis, and John Gorka—fellow craftspeople committed to song over spectacle. But Wilcox has never followed the current. He’s followed the work, and in 2018 Wilcox won top honors In the 23rd annual USA Songwriting for his effervescent “We Make the Way by Walking” from his album, The View From the Edge.

That work has earned him quiet but enduring respect. His songs have been covered by k.d. lang and Tony Rice; his guitar work studied by those who understand that precision, when rooted in care, becomes its own kind of virtuosity. His influence runs deep, especially among younger artists trying to build something real in a world obsessed with surface.

Wilcox’s music still resonates, especially now, because it doesn’t try to outpace the moment. It meets it. In his world, craft is a form of care. Introspection is a public offering. And staying soft in a hard world isn’t a liability—it’s a kind of leadership.

For audiences seeking something more than noise, more than nostalgia, Wilcox’s songs remain a rare kind of company. Not flashy. Not loud. Just deeply, generously alive.

John Mambira

Originally from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, John Mambira is the founder of the acclaimed band Bongo Love. Since arriving in the United States in 2007, he has shared the joy of Zimbabwean drumming, marimba, dance, and theater arts with audiences and students across the Pacific Northwest, earning a reputation as one of the region's most vibrant ambassadors of Zimbabwean culture.

Ratie D

A captivating vocalist and world music artist, Ratie D channels Zimbabwe's spirit through her powerful voice and contemporary sensibility. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and released her debut EP, Ink & Melodies, which blends traditional Zimbabwean influences with modern expression. Her music is a bridge between cultures, rooted in tradition and alive in the present.

Rujeko Dumbutshena

Rujeko is a Zimbabwean born dancer, teacher, cultural arts community organizer, and performing artist of African dance practices. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Dance at the University of Florida. Rujeko Dumbutshena has performed and taught across the United States and internationally. For 16 years, she directed African music and dance camps featuring artists from across Africa. She was an original cast member of the Broadway musical FELA!

Napoleon Jambwa

Born and raised in Highfield, Harare, Kudzie Jambwa grew up steeped in Zimbabwe's musical traditions. Taught his first mbira song by his father at age five, he went on to master marimba, ngoma, hosho, and a range of modern instruments, and added dance, from traditional African to Western styles, to his remarkable repertoire. He is a complete artist in every sense of the word.

Ukama Band

Ukama is a Northwest-based band and emerging arts initiative that brings people together through music, culture, and community. We promote and back artists, helping bring meaningful cultural exchange, live performance, and connection to our communities.

Walter Parks’ original and tributed work is an inspired soundtrack to the Okefenokee Swamp–headwaters of The Suwannee River near where he grew up in North Florida. His research and unique reimaginings of the hollers, hymns and reels of swamp homesteaders is archived in The Library of Congress/American Folklife Collection. For 10 years Walter toured and recorded the world over with Woodstock legend Richie Havens – performing at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden and at The Glastonbury Festival in England. In 2014, Walter was the sole accompanist of Judy Collins at her Lincoln Center tribute to Pete Seeger. Walter is the leader of two Americana roots groups – Swamp Cabbage (electric-folk/rock) and The Unlawful Assembly (reimagined spirituals). Walter now lives in St Louis, and co-produces The Concert at The Burroak with his wife Margo.

"Walter Parks is an extraordinary singer whose songs can break your heart as well as get you dancing. Lyrical and political, personal and otherworldly at the same time, transcendent as well as down to earth, Walter is a musical treasure, an artist of the highest caliber. To hear him is to be lifted into a mystical sphere. I adore him." 

- Judy Collins

Love, DEAN is the musical creation of Rachael and Luke Price, blending Soul-Americana with indie spirit out of Portland, OR. With just two voices and one vintage hollow-body guitar, they craft a sound that’s warm, raw, and instantly magnetic.Their latest self-titled release is out now, and they’re currently at work on their third studio album and touring nationally. 

Think Lake Street Dive meets Al Green, with lush harmonies and soul-steeped grooves that linger long after the last note. The duo met at Berklee College of Music, fell in love with each other (and the music), and have been creating together ever since.

Luke, in addition to producing and songwriting, is also a five time national fiddle champion and grew up immersed in communal music. He tours as a fiddle player and background vocalist with Tony Furtado and others year round. Rachael started writing and singing at a very young age and brings a powerhouse voice that radiates vulnerability and strength to every stage.

They're bringing a special band up with them for a soulful night at the New Prospect Theatre! Don’t miss this one!

For more than a decade, Mama’s Broke, the Canadian duo of Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria, have forged a style carried across landscapes rather than tied to one. Their forthcoming 12-song LP Reunion, out August 28 via Free Dirt Records and Forward Music Group, follows years in near-constant motion, bringing their folk-without-borders approach to small clubs, DIY spaces, and everywhere in between. Winners of the Canadian Folk Music Award for Ensemble of the Year for their 2017 debut Count the Wicked, their music is rooted in long days playing for passing crowds and traveling by foot, as well as in the deep wells of folk lineage they’ve tapped into across Eastern Canada, Appalachia, Ireland, and beyond. Their sound doesn’t belong to any one place so much as it passes through them, grounded in the traditions that shaped it.



That foundation was built long before stages and studio sessions, in traveling communities where music functioned as both currency and connection. The two met within a global network of musicians funding their way through shared songs, carrying only what they could as they traded melodies and stories across the miles. Playing for hours at a time on the street demanded a repertoire that could hold attention and sustain emotion, drawing them deep into traditional material and the discipline of close harmony. Over time, the songs became a common language, connecting what came before with the music they were making together.

Building on their JUNO-nominated album Narrow Line (2022), Reunion reflects a world coming apart in plain sight, tracing fractured communities, the erosion of shared ground, and the growing awareness that the systems we were taught to trust no longer hold or deliver the promises they were meant to keep. The songs don’t preach or prescribe; they reflect, holding up a mirror and leaving space for something else to take shape. 

Recorded just outside Nashville in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, Reunion features subtle contributions from bassist Paul Kowert (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings) and others, adding depth without pulling focus from the record’s acoustic core. At its heart, Mama’s Broke remains what it has always been: two voices, intertwined, both fragile and enduring. Reunion asks what it means to make something that lasts: not a place you’re from, or even a place you return to, but what you make together, and how long it lasts, if you tend to it.

Mama’s Broke are touring their new album in North America and Europe throughout 2026 and 2027.

Photo Credit: Emma Ledgerwood