Singer Dawn Landes to bring ‘The Liberated Woman’s Songbook’ to Cambridge ahead of Glastonbury date
American folk/rock/country singer-songwriter Dawn Landes is to bring her The Liberated Woman’s Songbook project to Cambridge this month, before taking it to the Glastonbury Festival.
Her upcoming gig at The Portland Arms follows her performance of The Liberated Woman’s Songbook – an album of the same name released in 2024 – at The Barbican last autumn, where she captivated audiences with a powerful set celebrating women’s voices.
Folk icon Peggy Seeger, who appeared with Landes at The Barbican, said of the shows: “Dawn Landes has conceived and carried out a stunning programme of selections from The Liberated Woman’s Songbook and is touring with it, using only female singers plus a band, all sourced from wherever her next programme will take place.
“I was part of it in September 2024 at London’s Barbican and would gladly do so again wherever it travels.
“A must-see, must-hear, must-applaud, vigorously wonderful evening for men and women of any age. An about-time happening.”
The Liberated Woman’s Songbook reimagines music from the women’s liberation movement.
Inspired by a 1971 songbook of the same name, Landes and producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman, Bob Weir, Cassandra Jenkins) breathe new life into 11 songs spanning 1830-1970, amplifying the voices of women from history.
Recorded in Upstate New York and Chapel Hill, NC, the album features contributions from the likes of Emily Frantz (Watchhouse), Kanene Pipkin (The Lone Bellow), Rissi Palmer, Charly Lowry, Annie Nero, and Lizzy Ross (Violet Bell).
It was first brought to life on stage in July 2023 at the Newport Folk Festival, where Landes and Kaufman delivered a performance hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the best things we saw at Newport”.
Now Landes is set to bring these songs to UK audiences with a full summer tour – for a concert which Americana UK described as: “No normal gig this, more of an event”.
Reflecting on the power of the music, Landes told Uncut magazine: “There was always going to be plenty of room to roam within these centuries-old compositions…
“When we do the full show, it’s just so powerful, because there’s that great feeling of solidarity between women.”
Dawn Landes is a North Carolina-based singer-songwriter who has penned original songs for TV, film, and musical theatre. She has toured internationally and supported artists such as Nick Lowe and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Catch her at The Portland Arms on Thursday, 26 June. Tickets, priced £18.20 in advance (including booking fee), are available from theportlandarms.co.uk/wp/. For more on Dawn, go to dawnlandes.com.
