Giles Corey opens his first solo tour at Higher Ground on Tuesday

Dan Barrett of Have a Nice Life brings his long-dormant solo project to the Showcase Lounge on Nov. 3, the first night of an eight-date run.

Before Brooklyn, before Philadelphia, before a London date at Bush Hall in the new year, the tour starts here. Giles Corey plays the Showcase Lounge at Higher Ground on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with Kathryn Mohr opening. Doors are at 7 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $25–$30 through Higher Ground.

It's the first of eight dates in our records and the first time we've had Giles Corey on the books in Burlington. From South Burlington the run heads south fast: The Space Ballroom in Hamden, Connecticut, on Nov. 4, Market Hotel in Brooklyn on Nov. 5, Philadelphia on Nov. 7, Providence on Nov. 8, then Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12 and Raleigh–Durham on Nov. 13. A UK leg follows in February, with Glasgow's Cottiers Theatre on Feb. 9 and Leeds' Howard Assembly Room on Feb. 11.

If the name means something to you, you already know why this is a big deal. Giles Corey is the solo project of Dan Barrett, the Connecticut musician who is also one half of Have a Nice Life. Giles Corey is the quieter, more inward side of that work, and for most of its life it has existed on record rather than on stage.

That's what makes this run unusual. Higher Ground describes the live set as sparse vocals and acoustic instruments combined with unstable electronics. For a project that people have mostly lived with alone, on headphones, late at night, hearing it in a room with 300 other people who feel the same way is a different thing entirely.

For a project people have mostly lived with alone, late at night, hearing it in a room with 300 others is a different thing entirely.

Kathryn Mohr is a smart pairing to open. The Oakland-based songwriter and field recordist is on several dates of the run, so Tuesday is a chance to hear both before the tour finds its legs.

The Showcase Lounge is the smaller of Higher Ground's two rooms, holding about 300, and it's the right size for something this delicate. Higher Ground has been the center of gravity for touring music in the Burlington area for years; it is often called Vermont's biggest music venue, and the plan a few years back to move it into a Burton warehouse on Queen City Park Road, approved by the city and then abandoned after neighborhood appeals, was a reminder of how much people care where it lives. For now it is still on Williston Road, and on Tuesday its smaller room gets the opening night.

A Tuesday in early November in Vermont is not an easy sell, which is fine; the people who want to be there will be there. Get a ticket, get there for Mohr, and stay quiet when Barrett starts.

Sources: Giles Corey (Higher Ground) (highergroundmusic.com); Higher Ground calendar (highergroundmusic.com); Dan Barrett (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Giles Corey, Nov 12, 2026 (Union Stage) (unionstagepresents.com); Giles Corey, Hamden, Nov 4, 2026 (Eventworld) (eventworld.com); Giles Corey, Cottiers Theatre Glasgow (Ents24) (ents24.com); Giles Corey, Howard Assembly Room Leeds (Ents24) (ents24.com); Giles Corey at Bush Hall (Discotech) (app.discotech.me); Burton Snowboards (Wikipedia) – Higher Ground relocation plan (en.wikipedia.org)