Wednesday's Karly Hartzman opens her solo tour at The Burl on December 1

The Asheville songwriter starts an eight-date December run in Lexington, playing a 300-capacity room with Verity Den opening.

When a songwriter who usually fronts a loud band picks the first stop of a solo tour, the choice says something. Karly Hartzman picked Lexington, and she picked The Burl.

Karly Hartzman plays The Burl on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, with Verity Den opening. Doors are at 7pm and music starts at 8pm. Tickets are through The Burl's ticketing page. The date was announced October 14.

It is the first night of a short December run. JamBase's tour announcement lists eight shows, starting in Lexington on December 1 and moving through Chattanooga, Opelika, Hattiesburg, Memphis, Athens and Greensboro before ending December 11 in Boone, North Carolina. It is a Southern loop of small rooms, and Lexington is where it starts.

Hartzman is best known as the songwriter and leader of Wednesday, the Asheville band that has made a name by putting country storytelling inside guitar noise. The Creative Independent describes her as an Asheville-based songwriter leading a genre-bending band. On a Wednesday record the details of her songs, small-town characters, specific places and names, sometimes have to fight their way through walls of feedback. A solo show takes the walls away. What is left is the part that made people pay attention in the first place: the writing.

That is why The Burl is the right room. The Burl holds about 300, which is close enough to hear every line without a band behind it. It has been the place this town goes to hear songwriters up close, and it suits an artist whose songs reward listening. A Tuesday in early December is also exactly the kind of night The Burl does well: no festival noise, just the people who wanted to be there.

The Needle Drop also covered the solo run when it was first floated. Lineups on tours this size can shift between first word and the final bill, but the Lexington bill as it stands has Verity Den in the opening slot.

On tickets: with 300 spots and a first-night slot, this is not a show to leave for the week of. Fans of Wednesday from Louisville and Cincinnati are within an easy drive, and a Tuesday is not much protection for a room this small.

A solo show takes the walls away. What is left is the part that made people pay attention in the first place: the writing.

So put it on the calendar now. Get there early, grab a drink, catch Verity Den, and then stand close enough to hear a songwriter you probably know mostly through amplifiers start a tour with nothing but her voice and her songs.

Sources: JamBase: Wednesday's Karly Hartzman announces December 2026 solo tour (jambase.com); The Needle Drop: Wednesday's Karly Hartzman to tour solo in December (theneedledrop.com); The Creative Independent: Karly Hartzman (thecreativeindependent.com); The Burl tickets: Karly Hartzman (theburltickets.com); Wednesday (disambiguation) - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)