Exploring the 2026 Blissfest Lineup, Part IX

Tracing the Threads of Music

Blissfest has built a legacy on having a big umbrella and genres that burst beyond Folk & Roots, but we always bring it home, right? We also have an unspoken rule that anyone who gets on these stages must be not just an exceptional musician but an exceptional performer. This can be achieved in a number of ways, and it doesn’t always have to include fireworks and strobe lights, but that’s fun too.

While we won’t ever be able to afford a Phish show at Bliss (known for such fireworks and strobes), we don’t skimp on great performances. Headlining our Main Stage on Friday night is someone who first made splashes in Michigan with the group My Dear Disco (later named Ella Riot). Members of that band would go on to be a part of Vulfpeck, a band that sold out Madison Square Garden purely with their own marketing, without a label or manager. Theo Katzman has played drums, guitar, piano, and sung vocals with Vulfpeck. Some of the most iconic Vulf parts come from his remarkable vocal range like “Back Pocket” and “Christmas in LA.”

Theo doesn’t know this, but one of the best musical nights of my life was a night at Earthwork Harvest gathering where Seth Bernard had curated non-stop back-to-back performances by Vulfpeck, Theo Katzman, Joey Dosik, and Tyler Duncan’s project at the time, The Olllam. I had truly never been so entertained and wowed. It seemed everyone on the stage just changed instruments and roles seamlessly throughout the night and kept the energy high. We are lucky because Theo is focusing on his solo career this summer and he is bringing a killer band with him to Blissfest. We can’t wait to give him the stage.

So how about that guy Seth Bernard we mentioned? Seth has been the glue and a lighthouse for the community for decades. The Detroit Free Press says, “Michigan folk-pop artist Seth Bernard blends music with activism, but doesn't forsake fun.” They wrote this about his 2018 album “Eggtones for Fun,” and it still rings true. Seth has the ability to hold many truths at once, and he knows that a life well-lived includes the highs, the lows, the injustice, and the repair, the fun, and the hardship. In recent years, Seth has made his passion for community organizing official through the founding of Title Track, a non-profit whose mission is “Engaging creative practice to build resilient social-ecological systems that support clean water, racial equity, and youth empowerment.”

Seth is not the only artist who blends their creative life with their advocate life. Vienna Teng is such a delight to see on stage. Few artists really know how to carry a message without alienating their audience. Vienna’s work centers around climate, energy, and community building, and she has found a way to blend that message with her classically trained piano playing and her studies at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Vienna Teng has performed with the likes of Joan Baez, Duncan Sheik, The Indigo Girls, and Brandi Carlile. Her bio says, “Some songs are the life of the party. Vienna Teng's are the back-porch conversation you still remember years later.”

At the core of her artistry is the piano, both as a compositional foundation and as a storytelling instrument. That same piano-forward approach shows up in a very different but equally compelling way within the Michigan music scene through Charlie Millard. Within that community, it feels like we watched him grow up. Not only as a songwriter, but as an exceptional piano player whose instrument is just as central to his storytelling as his voice. Charlie takes that back-porch piano conversation to the front of the stage where you wonder, “Where in the world did he learn to sing and play like that?” Well, that “where” happens to be 30 minutes from the Blissfest in Alanson. Charlie has always been ahead of his time, and you wonder if he met Tom Waits somewhere at a crossroads in Toronto and sold him his soul. Embodying this Waits-esque “Small Movies for Your Ears,” Charlie’s music and performance might make one regret taking that office job instead of taking it to the stage.

If Charlie Millard pushes piano performance into something theatrical and larger-than-life, The Claudettes take that same energy and take you to the dark-lit rooms of Chicago where you’d find piano boogie, punk, blues, and a mini cabaret. Johnny Iguana, who has recorded with Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Derek Trucks, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and composed the score for the Emmy-winning smash FX/Hulu series “The Bear,” holds down the dramatic piano stylings while Rachael Williams carries the lead with vocals reminiscent of Florence + The Machine.

Whether it’s the collaborative DNA that connects My Dear Disco into Vulfpeck, Theo Katzman’s fluid musicianship, Seth Bernard’s fusion of art and community building, Vienna Teng’s message-driven piano storytelling, or the theatrical and boundary-pushing approaches of Charlie Millard and The Claudettes, each artist treats the stage as a place to connect stage to audience. Different genres and aesthetics aside, they are all part of the same continuum as artists who actively shape the experience of being in the room (or at the festival) together.