Peter Mulvey and Jenna Nicholls Present: Floyd Mercantile
Schedule
Thu, 28 May, 2026 at 08:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
The Bur Oak | Madison, WI
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Doors 7PM / Show 8PMSeated show
$20ADV / $24DOS
21+
On sale: April 3
In April 2025, Peter Mulvey and Jenna Nicholls, along with guitarist Ross Bellenoit, traveled to Floyd, a small mountain town located in the Blue Ridge Highlands of Southwest Virginia, for five uninterrupted days of recording. What emerged is Floyd Mercantile— a record that feels both intimate and timeless.
The makeshift studio was a decommissioned general store called (you guessed it!) Floyd Mercantile — a weathered wooden building standing across the road from an open pasture where cows wandered and grazed in the gentle early spring. (One cow even volunteered to be on the album cover.) Inside those old walls, the trio recorded the album live — no isolation booths, no heavy overdubbing — just three musicians in a room, listening closely and letting the songs unfold in real time.
The sessions were recorded by Jeff Oehler and filmed in their entirety by partner Sue Bibeau and their associate Skylar Locke. Together, Sue and Jeff comprise Beehive Pro, an audio, visual, and design collective famed for their intimate recordings and thoughtfully considered visuals.
They captured not just the sound, but the atmosphere — the wood floors, the daylight through the dusty windows, and the creak of the porch boards could all be considered session players on this album.
The repertoire bridges eras. Mostly comprised of songs Peter and Jenna wrote separately, there are a few gems from the Great American Songbook: “Skylark" (Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer), “Them There Eyes" (Maceo Pinkard/Doris Tauber/William Tracey), and “I'll Be Seeing You" (Sammy Fain/Irving Kahal).
The visual and sonic tones of the project reflect the periods these songs evoke — even the newly composed tracks feel in conversation with another time. The goal was not nostalgia, but continuity: to stand inside the lineage of American song and add something honest and present to it.
Floyd Mercantile is not just an album. It’s a document of place. Of three musicians in a room. Of songs — old and new — allowed to breathe in the quiet of a Virginia afternoon.
Peter Mulvey is among the most celebrated American singer-songwriters of his era. Raised in Milwaukee, he sharpened his craft busking on the streets of Dublin and in the subways of Boston before touring nationally and internationally. Known for his intense percussive guitar style, wry lyricism, and eclectic influences (jazz, poetry, Tin Pan Alley), Mulvey has thousands of live performances under his belt, released over twenty albums, led bicycle tours, written a popular children’s book, given a TEDx Talk, launched/hosted Lamplighter Sessions, and collaborated widely across the indie folk scene. Mulvey. Never. Stops!
Jenna Nicholls is a genre-blending singer-songwriter whose music evokes the golden age of the American Songbook, laced with the spirit of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. With four albums under her belt—including a debut featured in film and television sound tracks—Jenna’s latest album, The Commuter, produced by three time Grammy-winner Larry Campbell, delivers vintage Americana with a fresh, cinematic feel. With Campbell’s masterful touch and Jenna’s unmistakable voice at the helm, the record is a modern classic—a love letter to American music in all its dusty, dreamy glory.
Hailing from the small town of Irwin, PA near Pittsburgh, after college Jenna set her sights east to test her wings as a songwriter and performer. Initially trying Boston, she ultimately gravitated to the creative hotbed of Manhattan’s Lower East Side forging lasting friendships with other like-
minded artists and musicians. Her early albums revealed a restless muse and a theme that would be a constant for Nicholls: a love of vintage music–anything from classic music films like “Singin’ in the Rain” to Bessie Smith.
A winner of the multiple songwriter competitions, Jenna has toured with Ingrid Michaelson, Glen Hansard, Lucius and Joan as Policewoman, performing at iconic venues including the Beacon Theater and Carnegie Hall. With every note, Jenna Nicholls invites you into a world where old souls speak, hearts break, and stories live on in song.
“Her songs land like a freight ship into the harbor of hearts and ears... The air changes. Pure mastery.” — Glen Hansard
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Where is it happening?
The Bur Oak, 2262 Winnebago St,Madison,WI,United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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