Threshold Live!
Tuesday, October 27 // Doors at 6:30 PM // Show at 7:00 PM // $15 Threshold Live is a sonic exploration of the more-than-human world. The live show, an immersive blend of music, story, and sound, takes audiences across the planet—the Australian outback, an Arctic lake, the Kenyan savannah—and asks pressing questions about what happens when we tune into the life all around us. Based on the eponymous Peabody Award-winning podcast, Threshold Live is the product of on-the-ground reporting by host and executive producer Amy Martin, who set out to explore the wondrous chorus of life on Earth and learn from the scientists at the heart of a listening renaissance. Grammy-winning composer and musician Todd Sickafoose live-scores the journey alongside multi-instrumentalist Jonny Rodgers and audio engineer Sam Moore. The result is a collective acoustic journey: a chance to gather and share the experience of listening to what other beings are saying, and to consider what it might mean. Learn more at www.thresholdpodcast.org
Fugue State Ravens w/ Madd At The World & Big Bad Frank
Thursday, August 27 // Doors at 7:30 PM // Show at 8:00 PM // $10 Fugue State Ravens is a two-piece acoustic powerhouse blending DIY punk rock sensibility with raw musical beauty. Jeremy delivers passionate vocals and dynamic percussion, while Chris complements with evocative vocals and skillful guitar work. Known for their intense live performances, they captivate audiences with a unique blend of grit and grace. Madd at the World is false folk punk/faux noise from Idaho Falls.
Kate Stephenson w/ Hayden Everett
Friday, October 16 // Doors at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 // $15 ADV // $20 DOS It’s kind of unbelievable. A gentle voice, a dagger for a pen. Kate Stephenson has found a way to offer this balance at once. Songs that hurt to relate to, but offer a lifeline if you do. Breaking free of genre’s limitations, Stephenson shares these blistering stories with stunning arrangements that dare to take on different shapes every time. Her unforgettable writing is the through line, finding the right sounds to express it all is her magic. From intimate, acoustic, profound songs like ‘Shoving’ to the full-band-get-up-and-dance ‘Summerfoot’, she can do it all. Living in Nashville, she’s finding her ever-changing sound, moving closer and closer every day. Oh, and she’ll wipe the floor with you at the bowling alley. Hayden Everett is a Seattle-based Americana artist blending folk storytelling with jazz-trained musicianship and expansive, atmospheric production. Hayden writes many of his lyrics on solo backpacking trips, guided by a belief that presence gives art its weight. His debut EP, produced with Jeremy McDonald (Kevin Garrett, Vulfpeck, Beyoncé), earned placements on Grey’s Anatomy and praise from Earmilk, Atwood Magazine, and KCRW. Follow-up releases via Platoon and Nettwerk Music Group featured collaborators like JT Bates (Bonny Light Horseman, Big Red Machine, Taylor Swift, The National), James McAlister (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), and Jack Van Cleaf (Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan). With over 60 million streams, Hayden has toured with Hazlett, The Paper Kites, Trousdale, and Vacation Manor. His debut full length record, So The Sun Can Pour, was independently released in April of 2026. Hayden recorded the album live with close friends at the cabin in Tahoe, CA that his great grandfather built. It was mixed by Tucker Martine, known for his work with Gregory Alan Isakov, My Morning Jacket, Madison Cunningham, Caamp, Mt. Joy, and more.
Silkworm w/ cul.de.sac
Tuesday August 25 // Doors at 7:00 PM // Show at 8:00 PM // $25 SILKWORM is a storied and beloved rock band, revered among many of those in the know. From western Montana by way of Seattle and Chicago, “the Worm” is the subject of an upcoming book (Lay It Down in Full View), a feature-length documentary (Couldn’t You Wait: The Story of Silkworm), and gratifyingly detailed essays across a variety of publications both print and online. Most importantly, the band released nine richly distinctive, influential albums and “a bunch” of singles, EPs, and compilations over an eighteen-year period, as well as touring worldwide in North America, Europe, and Asia, notably playing every state in the continental USA except Delaware. Joel R.L. Phelps founded Silkworm in 1987 and left the band in 1994. Andy Cohen, Tim Midyett, and Michael Dahlquist continued on as a trio for many prolific, creatively fertile years thereafter. The group disbanded immediately–and apparently permanently–upon Michael’s horrific murder in July 2005. In late July 2024, the surviving band members realized they would be in the same place at the same time–at a weekend-long memorial for their longtime engineer Steve Albini. They decided to reunite officially for a short set there to pay tribute to their dear friend. Jeff Panall (Songs: Ohia and Tim’s band Mint Mile) joined them on drums. The experience of playing together as a quartet for the first time in thirty years was highly emotional and rewarding. The four of them discussed trying to regroup for some additional events…which led them to poking at the best possible options for doing so. After a quite successful summer and fall of shows in the central US in 2025, they are setting out on tour in May (central/eastern US) and August (western US) of 2026.JOEL R.L. PHELPS – Telecaster, vocals ANDREW COHEN – lead guitar, vocals TIMOTHY MIDYETT – bass, vocals JEFF PANALL – drums cul de sac is a slowcore band from Missoula, MT based around the songwriting of Miles Hawkins. Spotify
Cat Clyde & Dean Johnson
Tuesday, November 10 // Doors at 7:00 PM // Show at 8:00 PM // $25 ADV // $30 DOS Cat Clyde’s fourth full-length and first release with Concord Records finds her at a transformative point in her life. Produced by Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, S. G. Goodman), Mud Blood Bone meets at a sonic crossroads — the rockabilly grit of Sierra Ferrell melding with the evocative folk rock volatility of Big Thief — as Clyde charts a long journey to reshape the meaning of love in her life. It’s a trudge through the swamp and into vast, cleansing waters that finds Clyde at a critical point of personal evolution—equal parts despair, invocation, discovery, and celebration. Ahead of and throughout her writing sessions for Mud Blood Bone, Clyde looked to her indigenous Métis roots and invoked a deep reverence for nature in efforts to redefine her relationship with love in her life. Learning from the natural world, she took solace in its cyclicality. The new songs exude nomadic independence: penned in her 1973 Boler trailer on a farm in Ontario, on a narrow boat in England, or in transit from one festival to another, letting lyrics stream freely from a jetlagged dream state. The result is uninhibited, raw, pure; it’s the sound of personal truth discovered in real time. With I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, his debut for Saddle Creek, Dean Johnson makes a pact with the listener: He will sing you his truth in the most heartfelt and charming way possible, if you promise to keep an open mind. The title partly stems from the playful way the Seattle-based singer, songwriter and guitarist communes with his audiences at concerts. “I hope you’re not afraid to talk to me after the show,” he’ll say, sweetly, before launching into “Death of the Party,” the album’s seventh song. Centered on the “energy vampire” archetype — the exasperating windbag we’ve all encountered at some point — its lyrics are at once intellectually biting and unmistakably hilarious. His tender voice rings out like the ghost of Roy Orbison or a misfit Everly brother. “Words don’t come easily to me / I notice you don’t have that problem / It sounds to me you cannot stop them,” Johnson sings over acoustic guitar strumming, and gentle bass and drums, like the narrator in a dark comedy whose coming-of-age misadventures have made for an excellent film. Johnson spent years tending bar at Al’s Tavern in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. There, he encountered folks of all stripes; and regulars enthusiastically murmured about his budding musical greatness — There’s the best songwriter in town! Johnson was a kind of local lore, a long-held family secret, before the singer finally broke out in 2023 with his debut album, Nothing For Me Please, at age 50.
Flowers From The Pool’s Album Debut w/ Jules Jensen & Chloe Tschetter
Friday, August 28 // Doors at 7:00 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $12 GA // $15-$20 Artist Supporter flowers from the pool makes music for friends, with Jules Jensen and Kate Widmer on guitar/vocals, Sid Boyer on bass, and Larry Leonard on drums. They are arguably Missoula’s most niche supergroup. Jules Jensen plays acoustic music inspired by Elliott Smith, Pigeon Pit, Flatsound, Plumtree, and most importantly, her friends. Chloe Tschetter is an 18-year-old singer songwriter hailing from Billings, Montana. Her new EP titled ‘Growing Pains’ is out on September 6th.
At Nadir w/ Minot and Evening Redness Out West
Friday, September 4 // Doors at 7:00 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $12 GA // $15-$20 Artist Supporter At Nadir plays hooky, literate, guitar-driven indie. We write about lost dogs, losing track of time, and the monotony of long winters.We are working to make a scene in Helena, MTPete Brown – Vocals, GuitarKristy Fortman – Bass, VocalsJohnny Lowell – GuitarEvin Mitchell – Drums Bandcamp The adolescent neanderthals themselves, Minot. These overgrown-teenaged garage punk muffins bring their sonic take on the raw, the cheap and the lo-fidelity. The three-piece from Missoula, MT embodies the primitive, sloppy roots of everything that is, Budget Rock. A poorly contained train wreck influenced by punk, 60s garage pop and country blues. Bandcamp Evening Redness Out West is a band of brothers hailing from Garnet Montana – Wess, Red, and Sweet Keaton Evening. Bandcamp
Cat Positive w/ Perfect Blue and Dylan Running Crane
Saturday, September 26 // Doors at 7:30 PM // Show at 8:00 PM // $12 GA // $15-$20 Artist Supporter Dylan Running Crane is a singer-songwriter from Browning, Montana, a place that remains the subject of most of her work. Her vibe is country meets rez-folk meets tender and silly. https://dylanrunningcranemusic.bandcamp.com/ Check out her work with Cry Baby – https://crybabymissoula.bandcamp.com/track/missoula Perfect Blue is a genre-bending, instrumental post-rock quartet from Missoula, Montana. Their music blends elements of post-punk, psych, shoegaze, folk and black metal for an eclectic spectrum of sounds moving between somber, intricate passages to dark, heavy soundscapes. The band’s debut album, “Empress,” is now available everywhere. Cat Positive is a band featuring singer songwriter Tyson Ballew. Since 2002 Ballew has performed and written pop punk inspired music as a solo artist or in several short lived bands. https://tysonballew.bandcamp.com/
Sunday Swing! w/ Ed Norton Big Band
Sunday, September 6 // Doors & Lessons at 6:30 PM // Show at 7 PM // $12 // $15 GA + Dance Lesson // $15-$20 Artist Supporter **Dance lessons with Lindy Hop begin at 6:30** Get your dancing shoes on and spend a Sunday with hits from Ed Norton Big Band in The Show Room at the ZACC! The Ed Norton Big Band was founded around 1987 after trombonists Tom Wogsland and Scot Ray performed in the pit Orchestra for Missoula Children’s Theatre’s first production of The 1940’s Radio Hour – and didn’t want to stop. Since then the 18 piece band, made up of Missoula musicians from multiple generations, has been a staple of traditional and modern big band music throughout western Montana. Ed Norton Big Band has a long history of entertaining audiences of all ages from birthday parties, fundraisers, Out to Lunch, Second Sunday Jazz, and First Night. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
Jeffrey Foucault
Thursday, September 17 // Doors at 7:00 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $25 ADV // $30 DOS In two decades on the road Jeffrey Foucault has become one of the most distinctive voices in American music, refining a sound instantly recognizable for its simplicity and emotional power. With a string of critically acclaimed studio albums – “Stark, literate songs that are as wide open as the landscape of his native Midwest” (The New Yorker), “Beat-up troubadour folk whittled to dolorous perfection” (Uncut), “Songwriting Brilliance,” (Irish Times) – he’s built a brick-and-mortar international touring career and a devoted following, one that includes luminaries like Van Dyke Parks, Greil Marcus, and Don Henley. In September of 2024 Jeffrey Foucault released THE UNIVERSAL FIRE (Fluff & Gravy, 9/6/24), his first album of entirely new material since 2018. A series of high-voltage performances cut live in one room, the album is both a working wake – Foucault lost his best friend and drummer Billy Conway, to cancer in 2021 – and a meditation on the nature of beauty, artifact, and loss. Augmenting Foucault’s all-star band with members of Calexico and Bon Iver (drummer John Convertino and producer/saxophonist Mike Lewis) THE UNIVERSAL FIRE sets Conway’s death against the massive 2008 fire at the Universal Studios lot in California that destroyed the master recordings of some of our bedrock American music, to interrogate ideas about mortality, legacy, meaning, and calling.
