Crooked Fingers come back to Richmond after 15 years, with Swet Deth in hand

Eric Bachmann's band last played here at The Camel in 2011, the same year as its last album before this one. Now a 300-capacity room gets the return.

The last time Crooked Fingers played Richmond was October 30, 2011, at The Camel. That was also the year Eric Bachmann put out *Breaks in the Armor*, the last Crooked Fingers album for a long while. Fifteen years later the band has a new record, and Richmond gets a stop on the tour behind it.

Crooked Fingers play Richmond Music Hall on Sunday, January 31, 2027, at 8pm, with Julia Barfield opening. The show was announced October 28. Tickets are on sale through eTix, which bills the run as the Swet Deth / Dignity and Shame Tour. Richmond Music Hall holds about 300 people, which is small and close, the right size for a band like this.

The new album is *Swet Deth*, released February 27, 2026, on Merge Records. The label's press release called it the first new Crooked Fingers album in 15 years. The lead single, "Cold Waves," features Mac McCaughan. Stereogum's announcement coverage also named Sharon Van Etten and Matt Berninger among the guests, and AllMusic adds Jeremy Wheatley and Jon Rauhouse to that list.

That's a lot of company for a project that went quiet for more than a decade, and it says something about how much goodwill the Crooked Fingers name still carries. No Depression framed the record as "the triumphant return of Crooked Fingers." Fifteen years after the last one, *Swet Deth* had to work as both a comeback and a new record, and the response suggests it did.

The timing lines up neatly. Crooked Fingers' last Richmond show and their last album before this one both date to 2011. Anyone who was at The Camel that night saw the band at the end of one chapter. The Richmond Music Hall show comes at the start of the next one, nearly a year into life with the new record. By late January, the *Swet Deth* songs will have had most of a year to settle in with listeners, and they'll have been played on the road for a while.

A room this size suits songs built on Bachmann's voice and lyrics. You won't be far from the stage anywhere in the place. With only about 300 tickets, this is the kind of show that's worth buying early, not the night of.

Julia Barfield opens, so plan to arrive for the start of the night, not just the headliner. Sunday at 8pm means a reasonable night out before the work week.

Some bands come back after a long gap and play only the old songs. Crooked Fingers are coming back with a new record people are talking about. For the Richmond fans who've waited since that night at The Camel, January 31 is worth circling.

Sources: Crooked Fingers announce first new album in 15 years Swet Deth (press release) (prescriptionmusicpruk.com); Crooked Fingers announce new album Swet Deth (Stereogum) (stereogum.com); Crooked Fingers biography (AllMusic) (allmusic.com); Founders Keepers: The Triumphant Return of Crooked Fingers (No Depression) (nodepression.org); Eric Bachmann Revives Crooked Fingers with New Album Swet Deth (indieisnotagenre.com); Crooked Fingers at Richmond Music Hall — eTix (etix.prf.hn); Crooked Fingers on Bandcamp (crookedfingers.bandcamp.com)