Hi Reader...

I write to you from a very messy living room, where I've been tinkering with gear and instruments outside my comfort zone. I'm working on three projects at once: recording an EP of beloved rarities like "Pencil Sketch"; an event concept blending new songs with a climate solutions "tasting party" (yes, I'm directly riffing off Alex Wong's amazing Permission Parties); and the first lurching, grasping sonic experiments for a new full-length album. Oh, plus tomorrow's Patreon livestream.

Suffice to say, a blissful month on tour in Germany and Austria has put me in a generative mood, and I'm trying my best to give it time & space to play - in the face of relentless headlines, inboxes, and you-gotta-post-regularly! algorithms. (Many thanks to Amy Cox, Bob Whitfield, and Michele Santiago of Team VT for holding down the fort.)

Fall 2025 tour

It's going to be a busy fall on the road!

We'll kick things off in Bryn Mawr with a late-summer outdoor show, with one of my favorite Folk Alliance discoveries Brittany Ann Tranbaugh opening. A long-overdue jaunt to Texas is on the books for September (yesss!), followed by a Midwest run including the Clark State show rescheduled from last fall.

Then during Stanford's Homecoming weekend, I'm joining the brilliant Viano Quartet for a very special collaboration at Bing Concert Hall: Viano will play Beethoven's "Harp" quartet, and we'll premiere creative arrangements of several of my songs that speak to similar themes.

Speaking of very special events, there are just a few cabin rooms left for Multitudes, the retreat Alex Wong & I are hosting in the Smoky Mountains in early November. The people who've signed up already are a mighty group - they've already organized a book club! Can't wait to see what we cook up together.

I'll be up & down the Eastern seaboard this fall as well, so check out if I'm coming your way. Also - stay tuned for an early December run in California to close out the year: Mill Valley, Santa Monica, and San Diego. We're close to confirming those and will announce soon!

• Sat 30 Aug @ 19:00 EDT - Bryn Mawr (Philadelphia metro) PA - Twilight Concert Series with Brittany Ann Tranbaugh​
• Fri 12 Sep @ 20:00 CDT - Dallas TX - Sons of Hermann Hall
• Sat 13 Sep @ 20:00 CDT - Austin TX - The 04 Center
• Sun 14 Sep @ 19:30 CDT - The Woodlands TX - Dosey Doe
• Thu 9 Oct @ 19:30 EDT - Springfield OH - Clark State Performing Arts Center
• Fri 10 Oct @ 19:30 EDT - Kent OH - The Kent Stage
• Sat 11 Oct @ 20:00 EDT - Ann Arbor MI - The Ark
• Sun 12 Oct @ 19:00 CDT - Evanston IL - SPACE
• *SPECIAL COLLABORATIVE CONCERT WITH VIANO QUARTET* Sun 19 Oct @ 14:30 PDT - Stanford CA - Bing Concert Hall - part of St. Lawrence Legacy Series (public onsale Fri 6 June @ 12:00 PDT)
• Thu 23 Oct @ 20:00 EDT - Natick MA - The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN)
• Fri 24 Oct @ 20:00 EDT - Fall River MA - The Narrows Center for the Arts
• Sat 25 Oct @ 20:00 EDT - Portland ME - One Longfellow Square
• Sun 26 Oct @ 17:00 EDT - Cambridge MA - Club Passim, early show (public onsale 29 May)
• Sun 26 Oct @ 20:00 EDT - Cambridge MA - Club Passim, late show (public onsale 29 May)
• *MULTI-DAY RETREAT* Thu-Mon 6-10 Nov - Sevierville TN - Multitudes II: A Gathering For Multifaceted People with Alex Wong​
• Thu 20 Nov @ 20:00 EST - Annapolis MD - Rams Head On Stage
• Fri 21 Nov @ 20:00 EST - Philadelphia PA - World Cafe Live
• Sat 22 Nov @ 17:00 EST - New York NY - The Loft at City Winery, early show
• Sat 22 Nov @ 20:00 EST - New York NY - The Loft at City Winery, late show
• Sun 23 Nov @ 19:30 EST - Alexandria VA (DC metro) - The Birchmere
• Thu-Sun 4-7 Dec @ TBD - Mill Valley (SF metro), Santa Monica (LA metro), San Diego

Other bits & pieces

The biggest response I've gotten to a social media post recently wasn't about music - it was a photo diary of climate solutions I saw in action in Freiburg, Germany. I think we're all a little hungry for signs that maybe we can, in fact, have nice things.

In honor of Earth Day last month, I refreshed my climate action resources doc (someone recently called it "an anti-despair Rolodex") to include new info about bike infrastructure, Right to Repair, the Ecosia browser, and more. It's linked from a new section of viennateng.com that we'll keep building out over time.

I also spent an afternoon hosting "office hours" to help people one-on-one with their climate involvement. It was such a productive and uplifting couple of hours that I've added another upcoming session.

Still, these are bracing times. I did an ICE raid watch shift at Arcadia's school yesterday (PSA: agents need a judicial warrant, not just agency administrative warrants, to enter private spaces, such as school buildings beyond the reception/lobby area). Climate organizations that Jacob & I love are cutting staff because their fully granted funding is being clawed back by the EPA. Our neighborhood is coordinating mutual aid for devoted public servants newly out of a job. And of course that's just what we've happened to have brushed up against personally.

I'm grateful to those who're organizing to meet this moment and inviting people to do something productive, like Chop Wood Carry Water and Democracy Forward. And MILCK's new song "Sisters of Winter" written with Raye Zaragoza and Anna Schulze is giving me life in the ongoing tumult. God is change; at dawn we ride together.

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How are you doing?

As always, I'd genuinely love to know. How are you responding to...[gestures around]? What's found you right as you needed it most?

Love,
VT