Iowa City Songwriters Festival year two: Lucinda Williams, Bill Callahan and a downtown full of free sets

The Englert's songwriting festival returns Nov. 5–7 with big names in the big rooms, Craig Finn in residence, and a lot of Iowa writers playing for free at The Black Angel.

Iowa City has always been a writers' town; the joke is that you can't throw a coffee cup downtown without hitting someone working on a manuscript. Last year the Englert Theatre asked the obvious question — what about the people writing songs? — and launched a festival to answer it. Next week the Iowa City Songwriters Festival comes back for its second year, and the lineup says the answer landed.

The festival runs Thursday, Nov. 5, through Saturday, Nov. 7, presented by The Englert across downtown Iowa City as a three-day music festival and conference built around the craft of songwriting. The bill lists 27 acts. Passes and tickets are on the Englert's site.

The names at the top. Lucinda Williams headlines; Englert pages place her both in a Thursday-evening conversation and in a Friday headline slot, so check the schedule for which night is which. On Saturday, Nov. 7, the Englert hosts Hurray for the Riff Raff in a duo set with Bill Callahan on the same bill. Mary Gauthier plays The James Theater that Saturday with Iowa's own Awful Purdies, and Fred Eaglesmith and Groundwater are also on Saturday's bill.

The resident. Craig Finn of The Hold Steady is this year's artist in residence. He'll perform and mentor 20 aspiring songwriters selected as ICSF scholars, and on Thursday he shares a passholders-only show at Trumpet Blossom with Samantha Crain. If you're deciding whether a pass is worth it, that's the argument.

The Black Angel sets are free, and that's where this festival shows what it's for.

Who to catch early. The free sets at The Black Angel are where the festival shows what it's for. Thursday opens with Joel Worford, Denny Richards and Kane Kyrie Edwards in the round. Friday brings Joel Sires, Stephanie Catlett and Win Miranda F in the round, then Nathan Graham and Todd Partridge. Saturday has James Tutson, Jeni Grouws and Annalibera in the round, plus Creekbed Carter Hogan and Jordan Sellergren. In-the-round is the format songwriters love and audiences don't see enough: three people trading songs, explaining them, occasionally playing on each other's. It costs nothing to walk in.

On Friday at The James, Dan Wriggins and Olivia Ellen Lloyd split a bill that's an easy pick for anyone who wants something between the free sets and the theater headliners. Bo Ramsey and Chicago Farmer are also on the lineup; watch the Englert schedule for their slots.

What it means here. The lineup leans hard on Iowa writers — Bo Ramsey, the Awful Purdies and Jordan Sellergren among them — and puts them in the same weekend, and often the same rooms, as artists who usually fill bigger stages. That's the bet the Englert made last year: that a town built on workshops would show up for songwriting treated as a craft, not just a concert. Spreading the festival across the Englert, The James, Gabe's, Trumpet Blossom and The Black Angel also means the weekend feels like downtown rather than one building.

Plan around Lucinda Williams and the Saturday Englert bill, buy a pass if Craig Finn's residency appeals, and leave room for at least one free set at The Black Angel. That's where you'll hear the song you end up telling people about.

Sources: ICSF — The Englert Theatre (englert.org); ICSF Lineup — The Englert Theatre (englert.org); Iowa City Songwriters Festival — The Englert Theatre (englert.org); Englert tickets — ICSF (purchase.englert.org); Englert announces 2026 Iowa City Songwriters Festival lineup — The Gazette (thegazette.com); New Iowa City festival hopes to bring songwriting more into the spotlight — KCRG (2025) (kcrg.com); Category:Englert Theatre (Iowa City, Iowa) — Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org); A Conversation with Lucinda Williams - Iowa City (englert.org)