Katie Dahl

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Kelly Nicolaison

A close-up of Katie Dahl.

Katie Dahl

This Madison Folk Music Society show features Door County singer-songwriter Katie Dahl fresh off a five-night holiday stand at Fish Creek's Northern Sky Theater and in the midst of an upper-Midwestern mini-tour. Dahl is the prototypical singer-songwriter-guitarist, and she has songs about places you'll recognize, like Valmy (it's on the quiet side of the Door peninsula), Sheboygan, and even Minnesota. More info: madfolk.org.

media release: Katie Dahl is a songwriter and playwright whose work is as expansive as Lake Michigan and as deeply rooted as its rocky coastal bluffs. A small-town celebrity on the Wisconsin peninsula where her family has lived for 175 years, she is now a radio-charting folk artist who tours around the world. Clear-eyed and tough-minded, fresh and funny, Katie “delivers razor-sharp lyrics with a hearty, soulful voice” (American Songwriter).

Katie’s four albums of original songs showcase her creamy alto and trademark wit, as well as her unflinching authenticity. Her recent work finds her exploring more vulnerable territory than ever before, from anxiety to body image to the challenges of growing up queer in an evangelical church. Richly steeped in the American songwriting tradition, Katie navigates the muddy waters between the personal, public, and political with tenderness and dexterity.

Katie is also a playwright; her latest musical The Fisherman’s Daughters (2021) tells the story of two sisters in 1908 who fight the state of Wisconsin’s efforts to take their rural homestead via eminent domain to make a state park. Victory Farm (2012; co-written with James Valcq and Emilie Coulson) is a fictionalized account of the real-life German POWs who came to Wisconsin to pick cherries during World War II. Both plays were made into live cast recordings.

“Katie Dahl’s songs aren’t just melodies and words, they’re journeys that are firmly grounded in a sense of place—beautiful, real landscapes that help you feel places that you may have never been before. That’s the very best kind of songwriting.” —Dar Williams

Thanks to WORT-FM for sponsorship of this event.

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For over forty years, the non-profit Madison Folk Music Society has fostered folk and acoustic music in the greater Madison, Wisconsin area. Funded entirely by members, concert ticket sales, and donations, we keep the light of folk music shining! Mad Folk hosts six to ten concerts a year featuring some of folk music's finest national touring acts. We also publish a monthly newsletter -- Mad Folk News -- featuring album reviews, a calendar of area folk music and dance events, and articles of interest to regional folk music fans! Become a Mad Folk member to receive the newsletter!

Learn more at our website: https://www.madfolk.org