RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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On Saturday night, Aug. 23, in Nashville, fans arrived to Big Thief 's show at the Ryman Auditorium prepared for a standard (but no less great) evening of songs. Instead, they were in for a pretty epic surprise: the band would be playing their new unreleased triple album, Horsepower , in its entirety, alongside some of the people who helped create it. And those people? An incredible array of Americana and roots icons including Iris DeMent , Gillian Welch , and Lucinda Williams , as well as a renowned cast of players.
There were signs on the way into the venue that something was up: the curious lack of an opening act, the posters around the venue asking to refrain from phone use, the stage set with enough seats for a band three times their size, the fiddles waiting on stands. As soon as the trio of Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia, along with touring bassist Joshua Crumbly, took their seats around a mysterious wooden table — and stayed seated for almost the entire show — the audience realized something very unusual was in store.
Lenker, in a pair of jeans and patterned shirt, explained that Horsepower was made in Nashville last May (Welch is the co-owner of Woodland Studios alongside David Rawlings, but the band did not mention whether or not that was the site of the recording). She also told the crowd that, while the album would be played in its entirety, it would not be in sequence — and those coming to hear tour staples like "Not" and "Simulation Swarm" or tracks from 2025's Double Infinity might be a little bit disappointed.
"If you had some hopes of hearing some of the songs you might know, those could be discarded," Lenker said, explaining there would be two sets with an intermission in the middle. "But if you're all open to it, it could be a really unique night of music."
She wasn't wrong. As she played the first song solo on acoustic guitar and slowly welcomed more and more players to the stage, it felt like a culminating moment for a band that has always integrated folk and country influences into their unique corner of indie rock. Here are our five takeaways during this special night with Big Thief. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
Though the band didn't explicitly name all of the 29 songs that will appear on Horsepower as they played them, many are not completely new to fans. Songs like the title track, "Happiness," "Baby Honey Sweet Darlin," "Spatchcock Chickenshit Bingo," and "Muscle Memory" have been performed live onstage before, and another, "Sadness Is a Gift," was previously recorded on Lenker's solo album, Bright Future. In fact, almost two-thirds of Horsepower has already been debuted on the road, often in much different configurations. One (known initially as "Bloom" and now "21") was even the first song, Lenker said, that she and Meek wrote together.
It was DeMent who first took the stage to join the band, which makes sense with their origin story. "When Buck and I first met, we bonded over Iris DeMent ," Lenker once told Rolling Stone . "It's a deep part of us." Welch joined next, picking up the acoustic guitar and banjo, and Williams came to the stage for the very last two songs. Lenker, DeMent, Welch, and Willaims' voices all made for perfect folk harmonies, and DeMent, in particular, looked like she was having an absolute blast, clapping and dancing in her seat the entire time — only stopping to give Lenker, who admitted to being nervous, a rub or two on the back. Related Content Holly Humberstone Unwinds on Her Tour Bus By Spinning Tom Petty, Van Morrison, and Big Thief Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation' Inducted Into Grammy Hall of Fame: It ‘Fights Bigotry and Promotes Understanding’ Lucinda Williams Delivers a Political Message for Brutal Times on ‘World’s Gone Wrong’ Lucinda Williams on Trump-Bashing New Album: ‘Should I Be Afraid?’
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