A John Craigie show can make you laugh until your sides hurt, break your heart with the very next song, and then send you home thinking about something he said when you least expected to be paying attention. That combination is his particular gift.

The Stranger may have captured it best, calling Craigie "...the lovechild of John Prine and Mitch Hedberg with a vagabond troubadour edge."

Craigie moves effortlessly between side-splitting stories, razor-sharp observations about the world around us and beautifully written songs that can sneak up on you with their emotional weight. Nothing feels overly rehearsed or polished for effect. He talks to the audience, follows the energy in the room, tells stories that wander into unexpected places, and somehow always finds his way back to the song.

Then there's that voice: warm, weathered and conversational, perfectly suited to songs about people, places, love, loss and the strange business of being alive.

His 2026 album, I Swam Here, opens another chapter. Much of it was recorded in New Orleans with musicians handpicked by Sam Doores of The Deslondes, including Doores on piano and organ, with longtime Craigie collaborator Anna Moss (recently at Caffè Lena with Sabine McCalla) appearing on nearly every song. Other tracks were recorded in Astoria, Oregon, bringing the musical pull of the Gulf Coast together with the quieter atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest.

The album follows Pagan Church, Craigie’s acclaimed collaboration with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, which spent six weeks at #1 on the Americana Albums chart. He has packed venues across the U.S., Europe and Australia, appeared at Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon and High Sierra, and shared stages with Gregory Alan Isakov, Jack Johnson, Sierra Hull and others.

But lists of festivals and famous names don't really explain John Craigie. You have to spend an evening with him.

Come prepared to laugh. Come prepared to listen. And don't be surprised if the funny guy who had the whole room roaring five minutes ago suddenly sings something that knocks the wind right out of you.

That's a John Craigie show.

And in a room like Caffè Lena, there isn't much distance between him and you.

Note: Caffe Lena does not permit ticket reselling above face value. Tickets purchased for the purpose of resale may be canceled without notice, and refunds for such purchases will not be granted.

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