Chris Acker * Alex Teller

***THIS SHOW IS IN THE THEATER, WHICH IS ON THE 2ND FLOOR & ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY STAIRS. We would love nothing more than to be able to welcome every human into the theater and are working really hard to have an elevator built in the near future.***

In a genre full of tall tales and marketable lies, New Orleans’s Chris Acker crafts candid songs – weaving his wit and woes into a body of work that exposes the stale plight of the American Songster to the honest, and sometimes hilarious, light of day.

In the tradition of Guthrie and Prine, Chris lends a quavering voice to the half-rotten romance of the unremarkable and unrefined. Regardless if you’re sitting by a backyard fire on a muggy Louisiana night or standing stage-side in some far flung town, when you hear Chris Acker playing, you’re hearing the end result of countless hours of observing the masters of the craft…and the end result of repeating their mistakes.

From the folk revival through the golden age of country music, deafened by punk shows and brass bands alike, Chris’s songwriting is a nod to the absurd yet muted brilliance that inhabits the molded corners of the bars he patrons and cratered street he treads, paired with a pained honesty that merits a long second look.

Acker released his fourth full-length album, Famous Lunch, on Gar Hole Records in October of 2024. Famous Lunch contains some of his best work yet: laid-back country-rockers like “Wouldn’t Do For You (Buddy)” and “Shit Surprise” (which Paste Magazine called a “song of the year contender” in 2024), a few raucous, bar-ready joints like “Don’t You Know (Who I Think I Am)” and “Bunn Machine”, and tender, folky triumphs like “Stubborn Eyes” and “Eyelash”, all showcasing Chris’s gift of building “vivid scenes at an impressively low word count” (No Depression).

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With his vintage country voice & narrative lyrics, Alex Teller creates music that’s as honest & authentic as the artist himself. Born in Florida and raised in the suburbs of Long Island, Alex moved to Michigan at 19 where he found a jackpot of traditional songs through his deep love for Jerry Garcia & the music of The Grateful Dead. Teller soon started a solo career playing shows & began diving deep into traditional Folk music & the sounds that inspired him the most. Endless nights studying & transcribing the works of writers like Bob Dylan, John Prine & Townes Van Zandt turned into a whole new wave of inspiration & songwriting.

Alex released his debut self-titled EP, Alex Teller, in January of 2023. The album consists of four original songs, drawing sounds from traditional American songwriters such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson, in both a nostalgic & fresh way. Produced by the artist himself, Alex Teller expresses a tasteful classic tone, fitting for an artist whose roots drink from the deep well of America’s traditional folk music & the lore of storytelling. While shaping & molding the album, Teller collaborated with an all-star lineup of Michigan music legends (including Peter Madcat Ruth, Drew Howard, and Bill Fuller), adding brilliant color & texture to each of his heartfelt songs.