Duncan Coker likes to leave a little distance between himself and the characters that narrate his songs. That way he’s free to imagine himself as a long haul trucker, a cowboy or a young singer with dreams of a Nashville music career. He can put himself back a decade, feign an accent or wind up on a different side of the continent. Whatever it takes to move the story forward. What else is songwriting but real feelings channeled through fiction? Every character a sideways version of its author but in another multiverse.

Still, Coker’s songs are true-to-life. He keeps his antenna up, always looking for the signals in the noise. He is a stenographer of the human condition. You might even catch him in the dairy aisle, thumb-typing a phrase he overheard into his phone, destined for a spot in his next verse. Coker’s songs also grapple with the realness of life—the loss of his father or his love for his wife Julie. He enjoys the puzzle of conveying big emotions with a few choice words that rhyme.

Catch him on our beer garden stage on Saturday, August 30th from 3-5 PM.