The Accidentals

For artists Katie Larson and Sav Buist, it wouldn’t be summer without multiple stops in their home state, among their most loyal and long-standing fans.

Recently signed by Sony Masterworks, The Accidentals offer a unique blend as diverse as Michigan itself. And this year marks a new dawn for the hit band, as longtime drummer Michael Dause is stepping away to focus on other projects after eight years with the group. Detroit’s Katelynn Corll, who recently sat in at SXSW in Austin, will now wo’man the sticks and help shape the group’s sounds. According to Buist, they’re leaning into a time for “the music to assume a little less structure and a little more freedom and improvisation. We want to create experiences rather than just concerts.”

If you’ve wondered what it might feel like to be a kite flying above the shoreline, then “Go Getter” from the album Vessel might be your jam to float into the sunset—or inner thoughts of your choice. Also catch the moving short film for their single “Cityview” that just took home some award hardware at the Michigan Music

Playing on repeat: With three distinct studio and live albums out in just over a year, The Accidentals scattered many a seed for a wild and perfect Summer 2023 jam. But if you ask Buist for a road trip recommendation with an old friend: “I mean, if the windows are down, we’re listening to ‘Michigan and Again’ (and again and again).” —J.B.

Jack M. Senff

Life sometimes feels crazy (working flexible jobs, recording, touring seasonally and now accidentally running a mini artisanal pizza empire with his wife, illustrator Em Randall), yet Midwest musician Jack M. Senff has no regrets. Instead, he shares simply, “I don’t make a dime in music, but I have to catch these songs coming out of me while I can, right?”

Senff writes and scores the effusive albums, creates his own sounds and poetry, and always attempts to capture his here and now through the lyrics. As a way to give himself space and freedom, he hustles his vinyl records, his band merch and most recently launched Make Believe Pizza with creative and life partner Randall (vegetarian pies so popular via Instagram they sell out immediately; friends at Bubbie’s Bagels are hosting a popup each week this summer in Traverse City to help meet demand).

Senff and his Rolling Hill Band just finished a tour following the release of three albums that mark the end of a trio, setting them up for something new to be recorded and released in 2024. After that, Senff plans to take at least one day off before starting whatever is next, with ingredients and discoveries he hasn’t even made yet. jackmsenff.com

Playing on repeat: “Old Days” from Good to Know You is an optimistic, lollygagging jam to play as you dust off the bike for the first time and roll along the TART trails by yourself, planning new adventures. —J.B.

Caroline Barlow

Booking agent by day, performer by night, fan at all hours? Something like that. Perhaps best known as the artistic director for Blissfest Music Organization, Caroline Barlow is herself a singer, songwriter and, as she puts it, songminer. A self-confessed fan as much as player, Barlow is a member of several Michigan-based collaborations, such as The North Carolines, Hand in the Hopper and The Lonely Lovers, as well as a solo performer.

The Petoskey resident has spent 15plus years sharing folk and roots music. Catch her solo this summer at Bière de Mac Brew Works in Mackinaw City, with The Lonely Lovers at Lavender Hill Farm in Boyne City, and with The North Carolines at Jacob’s Farm in Traverse City.

carolinebarlowfolk.com

Playing on repeat: The gentle, nostalgic “Across the Great Divide.” —R.B.

Andrew Lutes

Following a migration to the hustle and bustle of elsewhere (Brooklyn, specifically), singer and songwriter A.S. Lutes has returned home and regained his passion for music. “My heart was always tuned to the Northern Michigan clock, and the city had different hours,” he shares. Still, finding time to compose and perform is challenging—he and wife Lana Winter have one-year-old twins, a huge adjustment that coincided with the opening of The Alluvion, a new artist-driven performance space in downtown Traverse City that Lutes helped create—yet, he’s more than fine with it. When his boys watch him play (surprise live-recordings via Instagram where

Dad teases out new songs, ideas and connects with his loyal NoMi followers between parenting), Lutes is passing on something visceral and timeless.

This summer he’ll perform at The Union in Northport as part of a summer residency with some surprise collaborators, and, “I’ll work on songs from my upcoming album before recording,” Lutes says.

Playing on repeat: “Oh, My Leelanau” is a song from the heart, and captured Lutes’ longing for the waters and peninsula he grew up on. Only available now as a live-track from his Instagram feed. —J.B.

Billy Strings

Northern Michigan can’t lay claim to Billy Strings; the 2021 Grammy-winning Bluegrass phenom only graced Traverse City for a few years between his hard-knock childhood as William Lee Apostol in central Michigan and a life-changing move to Nashville in 2015. But anyone lucky enough to have caught the kid dropping jaws while flatpicking on a TC street corner—or, eventually, on stage every Thursday night at the former Little Bohemia—talks like a proud parent: The boy done good, like we knew he would.

Astride his high, lonesome voice and heartstring-plucked lyrics, Strings runs his guitar wild, pushing traditional bluegrass into a new era of his own hard, fast and loud invention, prompting sold-out shows, legions of multi-generational fans and collaborations both awesome (Bluegrass legend Del McCoury, country star Luke Combs) and unexpected (Post Malone, masked rapper RMR).

Our favorite, though, is his 14-track collab with the man who taught Apostol to play guitar, his father, Terry Barber. A soundtrack of the seminal songs of Apostol’s childhood, 2022’s Me/And/Dad is a tender tribute to Bluegrass roots, Barber’s unique sound and the magic father and son make when their guitars sing together.

Happy news, fans: Though Strings’ several headliner shows this summer in the Midwest are sold out, he’s extended the tour with a stop at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Halloween.

Playing on repeat: Home’s “Must Be Seven,” Renewal’s “In the Morning Light” and Me/And/Dad’s “Long Journey Home.” —L.T.W.

Joseph Beyer is a writer, cinephile and idea agitator raising chickens on Old Mission Peninsula. cinejoe.medium.com

Ross Boissoneau is based in Empire and writes about culture and business for a number of print and online publications. rossboissoneau@gmail.com

Lynda Twardowski Wheatley is an award-winning writer specializing in stories that showcase Michigan travel and recreation, history and the passionate folks who make this place so extraordinary. ltwriter.com