Flannel Fest
A celebration of music benefitting the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund
The 13th Anniversary Edition of
Flannel Fest
Featuring: Dawes, The Mascot Theory, Beth Kille Band, Tae & The Neighborly
November 20 @ 6:00 pm
Entry:
Box Office: 4:15 PM
VIP Doors: 4:45 PM
GA Doors: 5:00 PM
Show: 6:00 PM
Flannel Fest has become an annual celebration of Americana music, with all proceeds supporting the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund. Bust out your favorite flannel attire and join the fall-inspired party! Featuring Dawes, The Mascot Theory, Beth Kille Band, and TAE & The Neighborly (DUO).
We are proud to once again partner with the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund, the non-profit beneficiary of Flannel Fest. The Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund (KWW/CF) is a statewide non-profit initiative dedicated to providing essential heating and cooling services to thousands of elderly, disabled individuals, veterans, and working families with young children in crisis. Through the generous support of the public, private sectors, businesses, and individuals, KWW/CF offers preventative services and financial assistance to prevent energy-related emergencies. The fund serves as a crucial safety net, ensuring that those most in need can remain safely in their homes. Flannel Fest has raised over $225,000 for the Keep WI Warm/Cool Fund thanks to generous sponsors, matching grants, and all the amazing event attendees! Thank YOU for helping us keep our Wisconsin neighbors in need safely in their homes!
LINEUP:
Dawes
For the first time in almost a decade, brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith grace the cover of a Dawes record. It’s just the two of them this time, and as such, Oh Brother marks a distinctive new chapter for the California rock band — one that is both introspective and accessible, all while maintaining their beloved sense of sincerity. Oh Brother steers Dawes decidedly forward, honoring 15 years of Taylor and Griffin’s musical relationship, as well as the next era of their band. Each of the nine songs began with just Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums. They initially tracked each one live together, before adding in additional instrumentation and collaborating with touring guitarist Trevor Menear in the studio. Additionally, Oh Brother is the first record the brothers have co-produced, working alongside longtime friend Mike Viola. At this point in the Goldsmith’s career, Dawes has cemented itself as one of the most earnest, no-bullshit musical acts out there. They’re a band that can move seamlessly between folk rock, piano ballads, and sprawling jams while maintaining both an immediately recognizable sound and a freedom from expectations. Even as the Goldsmith brothers navigates new chapters in their personal and professional lives, Oh Brother shows how they remain creative, ambitious, and inspired — what it means to be lifers in a band together.
The Mascot Theory
The Mascot Theory is a Wisconsin-based Americana-Rock band known for emotionally honest songwriting, soaring harmonies, and a sound that moves fluidly between introspective folk-rock and full-throttle, heartland anthems. Centered around the reflective songwriting of vocalist/guitarist Erik Kjelland and brought vividly to life by the dynamic interplay of Cory Swadley (lead guitar), Nick Fry (bass), and Paul Metz (drums), the band creates music that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. Their chemistry fuels a live energy that’s intimate, explosive, and always evolving. Whether on stage or in the studio, The Mascot Theory crafts songs anchored in melody, driven by heart, and wide open to the unknown. Their newest album, Cosmic Hit And Run, was written in the shadow of loss and mortality. In the midst of grieving his father’s passing, Kjelland was diagnosed with a rare and potentially fatal brain condition that required invasive surgery. Unsure what would remain on the other side—memory, speech, music itself—he wrote through the fear, the waiting, and the aftermath. The result is a deeply cinematic collection of songs shaped by survival, perspective, and the fragile beauty of still being here.
Beth Kille Band
At first glance, you may not know what to make of them. The farm boy, the intellectual, the ex-Marine, all backing up a wild-haired, acrobat. But then, the show begins, and you know you’re about to be wrapped in the arms of a cohesive unit, bonded in the kinship of music. The four members of the Beth Kille Band – Michael Mood (bass, backing vocals), Tony Kille (drums), Michael Tully (guitar, backing vocals) and Kille herself (guitar, mandolin, vocals) – have amassed some impressive accolades. In addition to the numerous songwriting recognitions, Kille grabbed one of her 30 Madison Area Music Association (MAMA) Awards when she was named “Artist of the Year” in 2010 and Tully snagged the highly-competitive “Guitarist of the Year” Award in 2014. Their style can best be described as Americana-Rock but these dynamic performers can play everything from folk to funk to in-your-face rock.
TAE & The Neighborly (DUO)
Tae & The Neighborly, a Wisconsin based Soul-pop R&B group, found themselves playing music together in a very unconventional way. They were all neighbors, each one living alone on one floor of a five-story flat. Cake baking is a shared passion of the five member group, but in the sugar shortages early in the 2020 pandemic, they found themselves so continually knocking on each other’s doors asking for a single cup of sugar that a group decision was made to all move in together and share cake-baking resources. And since everyone knows all good rhythms begin in the kitchen, it wasn’t before long that the group began to write and perform together across the nation. Critics hail the group as “having more kick than a bagged-up mule” (Rotary Times) and their live show “…going down smoother than a can of [beans] warmed on the campfire” (Cowboy Gazette). All in all, if you are looking for a dense show that will give you more inspiration fuel for self lovin’, world changin’, and consideration havin’ meet them where the music is made to be shared.