River Glen brings his playful, poignant folk-pop to Live From the Gilded Palace on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.

Born at home and homeschooled in Dubuque, Iowa, River is a festival child turned musical storyteller. His songs pair evocative, intellectual, heart-centered lyrics with a clever rhythmic flow, delivered through powerful, dexterous vocals.

Using a looper pedal, River layers guitar, mandolin, and violin into arrangements that feel expansive while remaining personal. A natural entertainer, he uses both musicianship and storytelling to create a genuine sense of connection with the audience.

https://riverglenmusic.com/

Luke Fox brings his hard-traveled blend of folk, country, rock, and Americana to Live From the Gilded Palace on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

Recently nominated for the Maverick Award by the Midwest Country Music Organization, Fox is a purist at heart, cut from the cloth of the troubadours and balladeers who built their names one song and one room at a time. He carries songs of old forward, shines a light on the new, and continues carving out a sound rooted in tradition without being confined by it.

With guitar, harmonica, kick drum, and a voice marked by the character of an old crooning storyteller, Fox creates a full, road-worn sound from a spare setup. His songs unfold in vivid imagery, painting landscapes where devils and angels roam, collide, and reckon with the consequences. Drawing from personal heartache and triumph, he can get a room moving, bring it to silence, and leave a lyric hanging in the air long after the final note.

Fans of Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Ray LaMontagne, Uncle Lucius, Colter Wall, Zach Bryan, William Elliott Whitmore, Gregory Alan Isakov, Shakey Graves, The Avett Brothers, and The Lumineers will find plenty to connect with in Fox’s grounded storytelling, weathered vocals, and restless mix of country and Americana.

Fox has been selected as local support for national touring acts including Uncle Lucius, Riley Downing, Charley Crockett, Ward Davis, Joe Stamm Band, William Clark Green, Kendell Marvel, Josh Meloy, Willie Watson, Whiskey Myers, William Elliott Whitmore, Gasoline Lollipops, Jack Van Cleaf, Fifth on the Floor, Justin Wells, Hellbound Glory, Porter Union, Courtney Patton, Joe Nichols, and The Nadas.

https://www.facebook.com/mangledroot/

Jordan Messerole brings his gritty, deeply rooted Americana to Live From the Gilded Palace on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

A multi-award-winning songwriter from west-central Minnesota, Messerole draws from the landscapes, working lives, and contradictions of the Great Plains. With guitar, thoughtful lyrics, an engaging stage presence, and often rack harmonica, he tells distinctly American stories shaped by the flora, fauna, and wild lives of the Midwest.

His songs move naturally across the lines between love and loss, success and failure, and life and death. One moment may be grounded in tall grass, wildflowers, and open country; the next may turn toward heartbreak, hardship, resilience, or the uneasy distance between where a person started and where they hoped to end up. The result is Americana that feels lived-in, observant, and emotionally direct.

Messerole’s work has earned repeated recognition. Kingsnake’s Bite was named the Rural Roots Music Commission’s 2016 Contemporary Folk Album of the Year, followed by Traditional Folk/Americana Album of the Year honors for Halfway Home in 2017. Greetings From Rock Bottom reached No. 6 in the 2018 Americana Highways Readers’ Poll, and Iowa Public Radio named him its Artist of the Month in May 2022.

His extensive catalog includes Darling of the Western Sky, Halfway Home, Kingsnake’s Bite, The Old Hawk & Me, Greetings From Rock Bottom, Crossroads Motel, Where the Honest Men Reside, Summer Thunder Strange Bird Tapes, St. Something or Other, and the 2025 release The Blue Collar Tragedies.

Bob Everhart of the National Traditional Country Music Association wrote that Messerole carries a definite “touch” of Bob Dylan and praised him for helping keep real folk music alive. Bryan Vanderpool of Golden Bear Records called him “one of Iowa’s greatest voices.” Those comparisons place Messerole in the company of songwriters such as John Prine, Jason Isbell, and John Hiatt, but his voice remains firmly tied to his own Midwestern ground.

http://www.jordanmesserole.com/

Iowa blues guitarist, songwriter, and roots-music veteran Matt Woods performs at Live From the Gilded Palace on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.

A native of Iowa and a longtime force in its music scene, Woods has spent more than two decades developing a distinct style grounded in traditional American music. His work reaches across Delta blues, hill country blues, urban electric blues, gospel, country, and folk, carried by commanding vocals, deft songwriting, and the slashing slide guitar that has become central to his sound.

Woods has performed regularly since 2002, averaging more than 100 shows a year as a solo artist while also playing with roots-oriented bands, backing some of the Midwest’s finest songwriters, and contributing guitar to a wide range of studio recordings.

He has won the Iowa Blues Challenge and represented the state at the International Blues Challenge an unprecedented three times. His 2006 solo debut, If I Was a Fish, finished in the top five of The Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD competition. His first all-original solo album, Sawdust and Gasoline, earned extensive airplay in the United States and Europe, reached the competition’s top five again in 2015, and received a Blues Blast Magazine nomination for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year.

Woods has also released two albums with his band, The Thunderbolts. Dirty Linen described Be My Friend as “blistering,” while Living Blues called Matt Woods and The Thunderbolts “a smoking amalgam of Hound Dog Taylor and Freddy King.” Blues Revue praised the album as “raw, hypnotic and very appealing.” His fifth studio album, Tired and Dirty, continued that tradition with entirely original songs, powerful vocals, and cutting slide guitar.

Across his career, Woods has shared stages with Hubert Sumlin, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Louisiana Red, Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, John Primer, Delbert McClinton, Dr. John, Joe Price, and many others. In 2010, Matt Woods and The Thunderbolts opened for Pat Benetar and REO Speedwagon at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand before more than 10,000 people—the only local band, before or since, to perform on that stage.

https://mattwoodsmusic.com/bio/

Robert Deitch brings his heart-worn songs and gritty, soulful delivery to Live From the Gilded Palace on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.

Raised in a “Three Church Two Tavern Town” in southeastern Iowa and shaped by years on Nashville’s Music Row, Deitch writes for people who have been there and seen some things. His songs give voice to working-class lives, balancing hope, regret, love, resilience, humor, and heartbreak with vivid detail and uncommon honesty.

A former staff writer for Murrah Music Publishing, BMG Chrysallis Music Publishing, and Dan Hodges Music Publishing, Deitch has written more than 300 songs, with over 30 recorded by other artists—including Country Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare. He has also received repeated recognition from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, earned a Top 5 song on the Inspirational Country Music Chart, and was nominated for Inspirational Country Song of the Year and named a finalist for the John Lennon International Gospel Song of the Year for “The Shadow of My Steeple.”

His third album, Legacy, has drawn acclaim in the United States and the United Kingdom. Texas NPR called it “worthy of a Grammy,” while Americana Highways described it as “one of the very best albums in recent memory.” Critics have compared his songwriting and delivery to Chris Stapleton, Guy Clark, Bruce Springsteen, and Jason Isbell.

Hall of Fame songwriter Hugh Prestwood has praised Deitch as “a gifted songwriter, who mixes vivid storytelling with a powerful, soulful delivery,” while Roger Murrah called him “one of Nashville’s best kept secrets...but not for long.”

Splitting his time between Nashville and Polk City, Iowa, Deitch carries both places into his music: the craft of a veteran songwriter, the perspective of a blue-collar Midwesterner, and a voice smooth yet gritty—like fine bourbon with a trace of gravel dust.

https://www.robertdeitchmusic.com/

The Night Lights bring their intimate, harmony-rich folk songs to Live From the Gilded Palace on Wednesday, October 21, 2026.

The Iowa trio features lifelong friends Abbie Sawyer, Katharine Ruestow, and Sarah Cram. Together, they write and perform heartfelt songs shaped by motherhood, growth, friendship, and the emotional turns that come with moving through life alongside the people who know you best.

Their introspective, folk-inspired sound centers on storytelling and close vocal harmonies, creating music that feels personal without losing its connection to a wider community. The project makes space for creativity, reflection, and the complicated beauty of everyday experience.

The trio released its debut album in 2023, and a sophomore album is expected in 2026 with support from a grant from the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

https://www.facebook.com/thenightlights/

Jeni Grouws brings her powerful voice, driving roots sound, and deeply felt songwriting to Live From the Gilded Palace on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.

Blending blues, soul, and roots rock, Grouws has built a reputation for commanding vocals, magnetic stage presence, and an unmistakable warmth that creates an immediate connection with audiences. Her solo songwriting journey began with the 2008 EP Scenic Route before she spent nearly a decade writing for and fronting Avey Grouws Band.

During that time, the band released two Top 10 Billboard Blues albums: The Devil May Care, which reached No. 10, and Tell Tale Heart, which climbed to No. 7. Grouws also earned top honors in the 2020 Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition and the 2021 International Songwriting Competition.

In September 2024, she relocated to Omaha after receiving a songwriting residency at The Music House through the Catalyst Foundation, led by Playing With Fire founder Jeff Davis. That residency helped open the door to her next chapter as a solo artist.

Her debut solo album, Music House, is slated for release September 4, 2026. Written entirely by Grouws and recorded at Purple House in Nashville with Grammy-winning producer Casey Wasner, whose credits include Keb’ Mo’, TajMo, and Robben Ford, the album brings together Brian Allen, Mike Hicks, Johnny Duke, and special guests Drew Smithers, Emmanuel Echem, Roy Agee, Evan Cobb, Matt Fuller, Nick Vasquez, Kyshona, and Anne Harris.

With soul-deep vocals, powerful songwriting, and a sound grounded in blues and American roots music, Jeni Grouws brings both force and generosity to the stage.

https://www.jenigrouws.com/

Jordan Beem brings his high-energy acoustic country show to Live From the Gilded Palace on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Beem has quickly become a familiar presence in the Midwest country music scene. Known for his powerful vocals, commanding stage presence, and ability to connect with audiences of any size, he moves easily from intimate rooms to festival stages without losing the directness that makes his performances feel personal.

Beem’s original music, including the single Drinking with the Devil, highlights his songwriting ability and authentic country roots. Whether opening for national touring acts or headlining his own shows, he brings the same passion, momentum, and crowd connection to every performance.

His growing list of honors includes a 2025 Josie Music Award nomination for Male Country Artist of the Year, 2024 Iowa Music Awards Country Artist of the Year, two 2024 Midwest Country Music Organization nominations, 2024 Des Moines Cityview Best Local Musician, and the 2023 Midwest Country Music Organization New Artist of the Year award.

https://jordanbeemmusic.com/

Day Ashworth brings her rich voice, layered arrangements, and heartfelt storytelling to Live From the Gilded Palace on Monday, November 23, 2026.

Originally from Tennessee, Ashworth is a classically trained vocalist whose music carries the warmth of her Southern roots. Her original songs explore identity, loss, resilience, and the difficult truths that shape a life, delivered with a soulful voice and an emotional directness that draws listeners into every story.

Using vocal, percussion, and guitar loops, Ashworth builds a full-band sound on her own. Her performances blend original music with modern and classic rock, pop, and country favorites, moving easily between reflective moments and upbeat, crowd-friendly energy.

Ashworth has opened for The Pork Tornadoes, Not Quite Brothers, Alisabeth Von Presley, and The Schmidt Brothers. Her performance history includes the McGrath Amphitheatre, Bridge View Center, World Food and Music Festival, Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Lantern Festival, LunaFest, The District Stage, Q Casino, Laramar Ballroom, Okoboji Mainstage, Ames Auditorium, and the Des Moines Festival of Trees and Lights.

With a powerhouse voice, inventive looping, and songs grounded in lived experience, Day Ashworth creates performances that feel expansive without losing their intimacy.

https://www.instagram.com/days.live.music/ https://www.facebook.com/DaysLiveMusic

Kris Lager brings more than two decades of road-tested soul, blues, roots, and rock to Live From the Gilded Palace on Wednesday, December 9, 2026.

A Lincoln native now based in Omaha, Lager has spent his career crisscrossing the country as a true musical journeyman. His songs are emotionally rich, rhythmically alive, and grounded in a simple but powerful philosophy: Celebrate Life.

That spirit runs through every performance. Lager’s shows are less like traditional concerts and more like communal gatherings—full of dancing, clapping, “soul clappin’,” honest lyrics, and the kind of stage-shaking charisma that turns a room of listeners into a shared experience. He connects through songs that are deeply human, uplifting without losing their grit, and built to move both body and spirit.

Rather than chasing the traditional music-industry ladder, Lager has grown his audience through heartfelt songwriting, relentless touring, and a commitment to meeting people where they are. Grammy-winning producer Jim Gaines, who mixed Lager’s Love Songs & Life Lines and Spectrum, called him “a great voice with great songs,” while Blues Rock Review praised him as “a fantastic songwriter.” Paste Magazine described his music as “the kind of toe-tapping rhythm that sometimes you just need to make it through a day.”

Lager’s songwriting has also reached beyond his own catalog. He co-wrote Tumbleweed with Andy Frasco, and the country-rooted song was later released by Frasco and legendary swamp-rock singer J.J. Grey.

The intimate Gilded Palace setting offers a fitting room for Kris Lager’s soul-stirring voice, road-earned songs, deep grooves, and joyful belief in the power of music to bring people together.

https://www.krislager.com/