Concerts

Join Courtney Barnett, Lucy Dacus, The Beths and more for ‘Here and There’ at Mass MoCA

The "boutique touring festival" hits North Adams on Aug. 13.

Courtney Barnett, The Beths, and Lucy Dacus will be among the acts at the Here and There festival at Mass MoCA. Ben Stas / Frances Carter/ Ben Stas

By Peter Chianca

1 minute to read

We’re not entirely sure what a “boutique touring festival” is, but if Courtney Barnett’s “Here and There” festival is any indication, we need more of them.

The celebrated New Zealand singer/songwriter, whose dry, clever lyrics and wry storytelling abilities have earned her comparisons to Bob Dylan, had to skip a solo stop at the Wang Theatre last month when she came down with COVID. But she plans to return to the area in August — this time to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, of all places — and this time she’ll be far from alone.

For “Here and There,” Barnett has recruited a revolving cast of some of the brightest faces in indie music, a collection of mostly female-fronted acts that include the likes of Sleater-Kinney, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee, Alvvays, and Wet Leg, among many others, with a different lineup for each stop. At the Massachusetts show, Barnett will host an impressive bunch: Lucy Dacus, Men I Trust, Faye Webster, The Beths, Bartees Strange, and Hana Vu.

“Here And There feels like a natural culmination of energy after years of touring, and 10 years of working on my label, Milk! Records,” Barnett said in a statement. “It’s something I’ve been forever daydreaming about, and part of an always evolving project to share spaces and build new platforms for art and artists that I believe in.”

Named after a lyric from Barnett’s 2012 track “Scotty Says” — “I got lost somewhere between Here And There, I’m not sure what the town was called” — this particular boutique tour sounds like it could be the beginning of a lot of beautiful friendships.