Mike Mains: Mike Mains and The Branches is a pop-rock band based in Michigan. Since their conception in 2012, the group has built a reputation for their fantastical instrumentation and unforgettable live performances. Mains began writing songs early in his career between shifts at a casino, which is an apt illustration of Mains perspective on life: it’s a comedy, a tragedy, and a fairytale.

It’s that perspective that laces itself throughout the band’s catalogue, where the songs make you dance while lyrics make you cry. And while the juxtaposition of glitter and gloom should feel confusing, it renders itself joyfully therapeutic. And that’s their goal—particularly in their live shows—to strap you into a rollercoaster you never want to get off of.

Their boisterousness began when founding members Mike and Shannon fell in love, got married, and in doing so, minted the focal experience of the band’s music and lyrics; not just love, but the swirling highs and the bruising lows of choosing to live life together. After releasing an EP and two full-length albums, they chose to partner with Tooth & Nail Records on their latest release. The record, When We Were In Love, is their most honest yet. Although their agenda remains the same—to combat numbness with joy, pain, and wings to fly—this latest pursuit is more of an honest reflection in the struggle to love. The result is an infectious and colorful album full of tragedy, comedy, and the freedom to forget fairytales.

Young Mister: Steven Fiore’s career reads like a legendary round of two truths and a lie: co-writing with Art Garfunkel, singing with Jeff Goldblum’s jazz band, more than 17 million Spotify streams. But it’s all true – every word of it. This unfiltered honesty ultimately powers Fiore’s YOUNG MISTER to be more than just pretty melodies, but rather profoundly moving storytelling.

Fiore got his break as a songwriter for Universal Music Group Publishing in Los Angeles, securing cuts for artists like Howie Day and Ryan Cabrera, but Young Mister’s sacred sense of introspection has afforded him an artistic output that hits far closer to home. Since launching the project in 2016, Young Mister’s trio of albums (2016’s self-titled debut, 2019’s Sudden Swoon and 2020’s This Is Where We Are Now) have received acclaim from fans and outlets like American Songwriter alike for an adroit, dreamlike balance of folk, Americana, and pop – all unwritten with wistful sentimentality and swirling, meditative lyricism.

The only thing as good as the show? The drink you have after

GRAB A BITE, BEFORE OR AFTER

A few short steps from Midtown is One Twenty Three—our neighborly New American Tavern, serving hearty dishes with modern flare.