On Saturday afternoon and evening, the fourth floor of the Chauncey building in downtown Iowa City rang with acoustic twang, laughter, and rich voices.
As part of the Mission Creek 2025 lineup, The Tuesday Agency hosted a series of free performances to the public. A variety of nationally and locally recognized musicians were featured, including Ryan Joseph Anderson, Nadalands, Golden Birds, and Alexis Stevens.
First to take the carpeted stage in the small, wood-paneled space was Anderson, armed with only a guitar and a microphone, similar to his fellow performers. Beside him sat his partner, Jen Donahue, who offered lilting harmonies to his vocals for a few songs.
Ryan Joseph Anderson is a Chicago musician whose latest album, “The Weaver’s Broom,” has been hailed as one of the best Americana records of the year. This album launched his solo career in 2014, which was also the first year he performed at Mission Creek, and he has been participating every year since.
Anderson and Donahue carved silhouettes against the sun-white skylight pouring in through floor-to-ceiling windows behind them as Anderson lulled the audience into a melancholic reverie. Most of the songs he played were from a new record that had not been played in public before, and their stripped-down production lay bare before the audience the bones of lyric poetry.
Throughout his set, Anderson, along with his friends and fellow musicians, expressed appreciation for everyone involved in Mission Creek.
“It’s a huge group of friends that always come here, playing or hanging out, putting on a concert,” Anderson said in an interview with The Daily Iowan. “So, the community is the real fun thing.”
Breaking the audience out of their haze as Anderson left them with the haunting words “Coming home to leave again,” Nadalands crafted a dystopia with his guitar and a production kit he skillfully operated with his foot while performing.
Nadalands is the solo project of Colorado-based songwriter John Lindenbaum, who is also a member of the Distances and the Lonelyhearts, a local group. Lindenbaum’s sound is highly experimental and atmospheric. The songs he performed created a sense of wandering vagrancy, amplified by a sound effect like howling wind and tinny guitar strumming.
During his cover of a song by the Lonelyhearts to close out his act, Lindenbaum brought Andre Perry, vocalist and keyboardist for the Lonelyhearts and executive director of Hancher Auditorium, to the stage to sing with him. Many audience members knew the song and added their voices to the harmony.
Claire Barrett, administrative services coordinator at Hancher, and Jen Knights, marketing manager of performing arts at Hancher, attended the event to support Perry and the other musicians. They were two of the people who helped make the festival happen.
“There is always a situation where people in Iowa City have an opportunity to see new and up-and-coming bands, things that wouldn’t normally come to Iowa City, but they’ll route through here at the festival because the festival has this sort of cultural presence,” Knights said. “A lot of the artists in the industry are also continuing to be connected and back to Mission Creek, and there continues to just be this thread through all of it.”
That thread is what Knights said she hoped was emphasized with the 20th anniversary of the festival, bringing back many alumni performers like those hosted by The Tuesday Agency.
After Lindenbaum finished his set, the spotlight passed to a member of the Golden Birds, a Brooklyn-based band. Their music transformed the already intimate space of the venue into an even friendlier environment by opting for a completely unplugged guitar with nylon strings and no microphone. The audience fell still to hear every word and chord progression.
The Golden Birds bandmember played a mixture of originals and cover songs. He sang a few songs with a hushed voice and light strumming, so the music enveloped the room in soft warmth like the flickering flames of a campfire, precisely the vibe the artist told the audience he was aiming for. The act concluded on a tearful note with the resounding lyrics: “We got the world in our hands.”
Last but luminous in the lineup was Alexis Stevens. This Nashville-based singer-songwriter enraptured the audience with her incredible vocal control and pure tone. Her songs were filled with raw emotion, reflecting on love, loss, and goodness. For her last few pieces, she was joined onstage by Samantha Blickham, whose soprano harmonies added an even deeper dimension to Stevens’ vocals.
Blickham’s first show in Iowa City years ago was opening for Stevens. The full-circle moment brought tears to both women’s eyes as they closed out the set.
Stevens’ cousin, John Stevens, attended the event in support. This was his first opportunity to see his cousin perform in public and his first introduction to the festival. He echoed one of Alexis Stevens’ sentiments she had made between songs, emphasizing how important it is today for Mission Creek to showcase artists.
“I think we need the arts right now more than ever,” he said. “And like Alexis said, we have to fight for the arts.”
Just before the event concluded, surprise guest William Elliott Whitmore was announced. Whitmore is an American blues, country, and folk singer who has performed around the world, from Carnegie Hall to Italy. He opened later Saturday night for RAEKWON at The Englert Theatre.
Whitmore played a few fast-paced tunes on a banjo with lightning-quick strumming, and after only a couple of notes, he had everyone in the audience bouncing their knees. His performance was bursting with love for Iowa City, the joy of music, and the spirit of the people, noting the “Hands Off” anti-Trump protest he passed downtown.
By the time the event ended, the sun was lurking over the west side, and The Tuesday Agency venue was packed to the brim with people milling about, basking in the remaining musical ambience.
Des Moines resident and attendee Chelsea Cox visited Iowa City for Mission Creek and praised its increasing availability to the public and the way it reconnects friends.
“I enjoy that Mission Creek, in general, brings together many different facets of the community in Iowa City,” Cox said. “I used to live here a long time ago and graduated here, so I’m coming back to see friends and Iowa City in the context of local artists and national artists and international artists.”