David Wilcox, Jean Rohe

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Lynne Harty

David Wilcox with guitar in the woods.

David Wilcox

There’s no better place to enjoy the music of veteran singer-songwriter-guitarist David Wilcox and his friendly baritone than in an intimate venue like The Bur Oak. He will be fresh off teaching at the Americana Song Academy and performing at the Sisters Folk Festival, both in Oregon, and he can draw from a deep catalog of nearly 20 studio albums to fill his setlist. His latest release, 2018’s The View From the Edge, included “We Make the Way By Walking,” which earned top honors in that year's prestigious USA Songwriting Competition. Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Jean Rohe will open. She won the 2022 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriting contest for the poignantly personal “Animal.”

Doors: 7 PM / Show: 8 PM;  Seated Show; $25adv $30DOS

media release (by Mario Tarradell): Folk singer-songwriters have long been recognized for creating music that plays like hearts hanging on the sleeves of love, life, and everything in between. They are observers of the human condition, of the world around them, and of the intersection between the two. As listeners and even admirers, we frequently see ourselves in those lyrics. Their music is indeed universal. 

Veteran folk singer-songwriter David Wilcox certainly has the pedigree. The Ohio native with the warm baritone first came to the attention of audiences and critics when he won the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival in 1988. Thirty-plus years and twenty-plus albums later, Wilcox won top honors in the 23rd annual USA Songwriting Competition in 2018 for his effervescent “We Make the Way by Walking” from his most recent album release, The View From the Edge. In between, he’s earned praise in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone, to name a few. 

And like all folk singer-songwriters worth their lyrics and melodies, Wilcox shines before an intimate audience. He returns to the stage October 7 at 8pm at The Bur Oak, 2262 Winnebago Street in Madison, WI.  Tickets are $25-$30; all ages are welcome.  To purchase tickets, click here.

It is music, whether performed live before an audience or recorded for posterity, that Wilcox deems cathartic, even medicinal. In fact, if you check out his website, you’ll find a “Musical Medicine” section that features songs ready to heal heartbreak, depression, and addiction. But also, there are songs to appreciate life, beauty, and “enjoying the bliss of the moment.” 

That, in essence, is the power of original folk music. Wilcox taps into the reveries of humanity and turns out vignettes that we can all relate to. But most importantly, these are tunes that make us feel, think, laugh, and cry. And even at its most deeply personal, Wilcox’s songs are universal. 

“I'm grateful to music,” he says. “I have a life that feels deeply good, but when I started playing music, nothing in my life felt that good. I started to write songs because I wanted to find a way to make my life feel as good as I felt when I heard a great song. I don't think I'd be alive now if it had not been for music.”