PUTNEY, Vt. – Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present swamp-Yankee music one-man-band the Suitcase Junket and Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rachael Kilgour at Next Stage, on Saturday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m.
The Suitcase Junket, the internationally touring project of artist Matt Lorenz, developed in the tension between the grand and the solitary– grand in imagery, sound, and staging, solitary in thrift and self-reliance. NPR calls Lorenz a “master of musical imagination.” What instruments he requires Lorenz builds from scratch and salvage. What parts five players would perform, he performs alone. The spectacle of the one-man show bears comparison to legends of showmanship, brilliance, madness, and invention.
While audiences are captivated by that solitary form and the show itself, Lorenz, who homesteads in Western Massachusetts, is most serious about the songs. The world he writes into existence is crowded with characters, narratives, voices, imagery, and sounds as wide and varied as mountain throat singers and roadhouse juke boxes, plus newsreels of the planet’s destruction and salvage. Lorenz’s most recent album, “The End is New,” was released at Renew Records/BMG. He has been in the studio in recent months recording toward a new release.
Singer-songwriter Rachael Kilgour writes in hopes of finding a truth she can live with. Her intimate live performances radiate with sincerity and humor, as she expertly balances her poignant, literate songs with her quick wit. She was awarded a prestigious McKnight Music Fellowship in 2025, was an official showcasing artist at the Folk Alliance International Conference (2025), and was a winner of both the Kerrville New Folk Contest (2017) and the Newsong Songwriting and Performance Competition (2015). Kilgour’s oft-noted “unapologetic lyrics” (Rolling Stone) and “master crafted indie folk” sensibilities (Billboard) are on full display in each of her delicately woven songs.
Next Stage is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney, Vt. Advance tickets are available discounted at www.nextstagearts.org. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar. For more information, call 802-387-0102 or visit the website above.