PREVIEW: The Crane Wives @ The Sylvee

Interview by SOLEIL RUMPIT AND ALLIE HOFFERT

Clockwise from left: Kate Pillsbury, Dan Rickabus, Ben Zito and Emilee Petersmark (Loren Johnson)

Though The Crane Wives speak fondly of their open mic night roots, they’ve since graduated to headlining sold-out venues without losing the vulnerability that unfolds in those fledgling-era intimate spaces. In just over a week on Aug. 16, we’ll be able to hear their intricate harmonies and folklore-rich storytelling at The Sylvee for the third act of their 2026 tour. 

In anticipation of their Madison stop, EMMIE spoke with the band about their life on tour and shift in sonic identity. The four-piece has transcended any single genre since their formation well over a decade ago, and they tease a kaleidoscope setlist built from a wide range of their work, from their earliest projects to their most recent release Beyond, Beyond, Beyond.

Q: You guys have been touring a lot, especially for the album release cycle for Beyond, Beyond, Beyond. Do you have any kind of pre-show rituals or pastimes to help get you ready for another cycle of touring?

A: Emilee Petersmark
Yeah. I'm sure we each have our own little pre-show traditions, but before every show individually, we like to get in a circle, put our hands together and say, “don't suck.” I feel like this summer we’ve really locked in the pre-show routine. We've got the fastest load in and load out in the West, so we're good.

A: Ben Zito
This is our third tour of 2026. And this is actually explicitly not a Beyond, Beyond, Beyond tour. We're playing a little bit of everything. We're playing the new stuff, playing the old stuff. We got five albums worth of material over here.

Q: You’re currently touring about five albums worth of material — how do you work with adapting songs that are more folky-acoustic to the kind of indie rock sound and the audience that you’re playing for now?

A: Kate Pillsbury
You know, we've been a performing band for about 16 years and a lot of that was spent with acoustic instruments. And then Emilee and I transitioned over to electric guitars, and honestly, the switch for some of the songs to just playing them electric has been a very natural and organic transition.

A: Dan Rickabus
We brought back “October” for this tour. That's a good example of one where it's like, whichever one of these two is singing lead usually plays more of a rhythm part and whoever's singing harmony also does lead guitar, which I just think is really cool. Some of the songs evolve, and there's little textures and flourishes we might not have in older versions.

A: Kate Pillsbury
We always kind of evolve the music naturally because once you play it so many times, you start to feel like, oh man, this part's boring. Let me like, amp it up a little bit.

Opening their Sunday night show is Nashville-based indie-pop artist Brye whose third studio album Cycle Breaker dropped in June. EMMIE will have more from The Crane Wives soon, unpacking their creative process and rise to an indie folk-rock mainstay, but first, this performance is one we can’t wait to catch.