$20 cover at the door / 10pm doors / 10:30 start
an intimate acoustic set from touring Nashville based alternative folk musician Melanie MacLaren. Known for her tongue in cheek writing style, ethereal finger style guitar and ability to blend threads of past and present folk music, Melanie’s lyrics have been described as “haunting yet humorous” and possessing a “sentimental cynicism.”
Melanie’s lyrics have been described as “haunting yet humorous” and possessing a “sentimental cynicism” that “oozes with Gen-Z relatability.” This duality shines through in all aspects of her music— she’s a classic finger-style guitar that grew up playing classical, but uses ambient beds and distorted trad instruments to punctuate her compositions. A realist, with a gift for language that extracts beauty from even the darkest reality, Melanie has a unique ability to blend a tongue-in-cheek sensibility with timeless folk style.
She released her stunning debut EP “Kill My Time” in 2022 independently to enthusiastic critical reception before gaining the attention of Tone Tree Distribution in Nashville. Within a few months of the release, she had signed with Tone Tree, landed several coveted playlist spots (most notably Spotify’s Best of 2022 Fresh Folk Finds), and released a second EP of duets entitled “Tadpole Emporium" with Dublin songwriter Lorkin O’Reilly (DUG) which they toured together in the UK and Ireland.
Melanie released her second solo EP “Tourist” in April 2023. With tracks featured on multiple editorial playlists (most notably Spotify Fresh Finds and Spotify’s Best of 2022 Fresh Folk Finds) she garnered over 2.5 million streams across platforms.
Following the release, Melanie went on her first US headline tour with Northeast and Midwest runs, playing 25 shows. Melanie has shared bills with both established and rising folk artists like Caleb Caudle, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Charli Adams, Joshua Burnside, DUG, Lorkin O'Reilly, and June Henry. In 2024, she had the opening spot on Charlie Starr’s (Blackberry Smoke) solo acoustic tour in January and played to several sold out audiences.
After touring extensively in 2023 and early 2024, Melanie released a live to tape EP of her early work this May entitled “Songs are Ghosts” and an EP “Bloodlust. Coming out of a period of life marred by grief, loss and illness, the project is an ode to seeing things as they actually are— without mythology, without manmade glory. Melanie delicately lifts the veil of poetry and interpretation away from death, loss and love and demythologizes everything from the American landscape, to hot dogs, to the Space Race, to the afterlife.
In 2025 Melanie completed her third headline tour, performed at SXSW unofficial showcases and was selected as one of the finalist in the Troubadour Contest for Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She was also an official artist at Salmonfest in Alaska in August marking her first major festival appearances. She continues to write music and work on new projects.