Western Union
Sunday, May 17 // Door at 6:30 PM // Show at 7 PM // $12 // $15-$20 Artist Supporter Louie and Kimberlee are founding members of Montana’s hottest Texas swing band Western Union, with bandmates David Horgan and Beth Lo from one of Montana’s most renowned jazz and R&B bands-the Big Sky Mudflaps. They have the distinction of being the only Montana band to play at the Montana Folk Festival (July 2016) in addition to opening for Marty Stewart (Sept 2015) and Colorado’s renowned Hot Rize (July 2015). Where jazz meets country, Western Union is Montana’s favorite “countrypolitan” western swing band, specializing in classic Texas Swing & Honky Tonk music. With electric and acoustic guitars, standup bass, pedal steel guitar, and drums – plus sharp-as-a-tack lead vocals and vocal harmonies — Western Union delivers the true-blue sound of grassroots America. All tickets are general admission. Artist Supporter Tickets are a way for patrons to provide more financial support to performers. For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/.
James McMurtry w/ BettySoo
Saturday, August 1 // 7:00 PM Doors // 8:00 PM Show // $25 ADV // $30 DOS Seating will be limited to only those that need it James McMurtry released The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy on June 20th via New West Records. The 10-song collection was co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens) and is his first album in four years. It follows his 2021 acclaimed new West debut, The Horses and the Hounds, which UnCut Magazine said “lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels” and Pitchfork awarded an 8.0, saying “James McMurtry stands out even among the Lone Star State’s finest songwriters…” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen and more, alongside his trusted backing band, THE MARTIAL LAW REVIEW, Tim Holt on guitar and accordion, Cornbread on bass and Daren Hess on drums. As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell cite him as a formative influence.
In Tune Missoula 2026
Thursday, April 23 // Show at 7:00 PM // $50 In Tune Missoula is a fundraising event complete with dinner, live bands, dancing and silent auction. Come Enjoy the Music of Beau Akimbo and Missoula Mixtape Ticket Prices: * Regular Admission – $50 * Teacher/Student Admission – $25 * There is a $2.50 service charge for online purchases. Proceeds support Missoula school music education programs, helping students attend music camps, rent instruments during the school year, and help teachers with support. Look for online ticket sales to begin in Spring 2026. Purchase tickets at https://rotaryclubofmissoula.org/events/in-tune-missoula-2026/
Lily Seabird w/ Cul De Sac & Star Family Singers
Saturday, March 28 // Doors at 7 PM // Show at 8 PM // $18 ADV // $20 DOS Since 2023, Vermont songwriter Lily Seabird’s life has been in perpetual motion, spending nearly half of that time on the road performing her own music and as a touring bassist. While she thrives in transit, back home she is anchored by “Trash Mountain,” a pink house surrounded by other artists and creatives situated on a decommissioned landfill site at the back of Burlington’s Old North End. cul de sac is a slowcore band from Missoula, MT based around the songwriting of Miles Hawkins. The Star Family Singers are a songwriting duo who write music about the mystical powers of love and friendship. Always a real world venture, they live in a 2003 Toyota Highlander and tour the DIY circuit, eating gas station hot dogs, exploring their craft and pursuing the effervescent mystery of music itself!
LSD and the Search for God w/ Harsh Intention
Sunday, March 29 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 8 PM // $25 ADV // $30 DOS LSD and the Search for God hit the Northern California coast in 2005––seemingly from another place and time––dosing San Francisco with hypnotic shows built upon swirling guitars, otherworldly drones, fuzzed-out pop melodies, and dreamy vocal harmonies. With reviews of early shows and recordings drawing comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Yo La Tengo, Spacemen 3, and Sonic Youth, the band quickly developed a must-see reputation within the underground psychedelic music scene. When LSD finally released their self-titled debut EP (Mind Expansion Records, 2007) it sold out from the record label prior to the official release date. It earned critical acclaim and continues to frequently appear on lists of essential shoegaze releases. The EP was twice reissued on vinyl (Deep Space Recordings, 2008, 2015), twice on cassette (Cellar Door Tapes, 2015), and selected tracks were featured on three compilations: Mind Expansion Vol. 1, M.E. Vol. 2, and Australian nugazer compilation Take Me on the Wildest Spree (Rubber Records/EMI, 2008).LSD’s most recent release, Heaven Is a Place (Space Age Recordings, 2016), captures a snapshot in time soon after Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre) temporarily joined the band on drums. Like the self-titled EP, it garnered critical acclaim and frequented many Best Of lists. Pop Matters calls it, “a long-awaited sermon for the faithful and a blazing induction for new converts,” while Primal Music says it’s “another astonishing collection of five psychedelic stories glistening with the same spaced out ingredients that blew my mind way back in 2007.” LSD’s time and space travels have led them all over the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including tours with Martin Rev (Suicide), Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3), and The Telescopes, as well as appearances at Levitation–Austin Psych Fest, SoCal’s Desert Daze, Manchester’s Cosmosis Festival (with The Jesus and Mary Chain), Bathysphere (with A Place To Bury Strangers), twice at Desert Stars (first with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, then The Dandy Warhols), Calgary’s Garbage Daze, and Portugal’s Reverence Valada (with The Damned, The Oh Sees, and Silver Apples). A new record is currently in the works. Harsh Intention is a sexy heartthrob musical duo.
Doom Scroll w/ Big Mosquito & Minot
Sunday, March 22 // Door at 7:00 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // $12 ADV // $15 DOS Doom Scroll describes its acoustic punk sound as “aggressive, melodic punk/crust wave” with complex instrumentation and layers of harmonies knitted from decades of music appreciation and performance. Coming soon to your sleepy, unsuspecting town. 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. Big Mosquito is a local Missoula ska outfit bringing a mix of authentic ska and high energy, with renditions and covers of such classics as The Skatalites, The Specials, laurel Aitkens, Phyllis Dillon/Freddy McKay, ect. Plus originals and more lively tunes like Murphy’s law’s 1%. Big Mosquito’s goal is to bring authentic ska and love for roots music to the forefront of our rising youth movement in Missoula and beyond. Big Mosquito is made up of Zane Lambert, Cameron Doucette, Evan Wright, Spencer Nelson, Nick Mogensen, Jacob Tirado, Rhett Matthew, and Danny Boatwright.
Abyecta w/ Operative & Designer Drugs
Wednesday, April 8 // Door at 7:30 PM // Show at 8 PM // $15 Abyecta began as a two-piece metallic punk onslaught formed by singer/guitarist Carolina Valium and drummer Marc Boleas in Barcelona around 2019. After rehearsing for a few months, the duo recorded their debut EP, Infrafuturo, just before the pandemic hit. As the Covid hell unfolded, Carolina was forced to return to her native Chile, where she reformed the band with drummer Benjamin Orrego. There Abyecta recorded and released their second EP Enemigos De La Razón in 2022. In both EPs, Abyecta demonstrate a deep passion and dedication to a blend of aggressive hardcore punk with elements of ’80s speed metal and thrash. Abyecta relentlessly deliver a barrage of fiery riffs and thunderous drumming, drawing inspiration from a spectrum of legends including all-female heavy metal bands like Las Brujas and Leather Angel, and metal/punk stalwarts, ranging from Razor, Whiplash and Exciter (North America) to Discharge, Sacrilege and Broken Bones (UK) or Death Side, The Comes, G.I.S.M. (Japan). Currently, all copies of their seven-inch records are sold out from their label Symphony of Destruction, but a collected vinyl LP containing both EPs and their brand new Demo III are expected to be released in physical format just in time for Abyecta’s tour in May 2024. Don’t miss the chance to see them live! https://abyecta.bandcamp.com/album/abyecta-infrafuturo-demo-2020 https://www.instagram.com/abyecta.banda/
Space Wizard (16+)
Friday, April 24 // 8:00 PM // (16+) Liquid Bass Productions Presents: Space Wizard W/ Support From TBD https://posh.vip/e/space-wizard-at-the-zacc
Sunday Swing! w/ Ed Norton Big Band
Sunday, April 12 // Door & Lessons at 6:30 PM // Show at 7 PM // $10 // $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/.
UM Small Groups
Monday, March 9 // Door at 7 PM // Show at 7:30 PM // Free and Open to the Public! Join the UM Small Group program for an evening of jazz standards, contemporary tunes and originals from the University of Montana musicians as they begin their 2026 musical journey. This performance is free and open to the public – Don’t Miss it!
