ALICIA WITT: BUILDING DREAMS ON TOUR

BUILD ME A DREAM: Beloved composer, keyboard virtuoso, vocalist and stage and screen veteran ALICIA WITT returns to the concert stage and to Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking People in celebration of her just released two-LP set, Between Heaven And Earth. She is pictured above in a 22 September 2026 live appearance at suburban Detroit's Dearborn Music, and with Blitz Magazine Editor / Publisher Michael McDowell after that performance. Photos by Michael McDowell, C&P 2026 Blitz Magazine. (Click on above images to enlarge).

BETWEN HEAVEN AND EARTH:

ALICIA WITT BUILDS UPON

THE DREAM OF THE DIRECTOR

By Michael McDowell

Grace under pressure.

Such is the atmosphere in which renowned composer,  keyboard virtuoso, vocalist and stage/screen veteran Alicia Roanne Witt tends to flourish. This attribute was particulary in evidence during the early stages of her whirlwind tour in support of her just released Between Heaven And Earth album for the Thirty Tigers label. 

"I just drove in from Cleveland," she said; a journey of about three hours' time. 

"I performed there last night".

The occasion at hand was a live performance at suburban Detroit's renowned Dearborn Music on the twenty-second of September. Often referred to as the Amoeba of the midwest (in deference to the vaunted west coast record store chain of the same name), Dearborn Music has flourished as a leading light among music retailers since 1943; In particular, since the late Phil LeAnnis opened the store's flagship outlet in downtown Dearborn in 1956. 

"For a store to make so much great music available to the public for so long, that's really special", Witt said. 

In any case, with its rich history in support of independent artists, Dearborn Music provided an ideal showcase for the acoustic keyboard setting that currenty defines an Alicia Witt performance. Indeed, with such moving examples of high drama as Freeze Frame and The Director, Witt's latest two LP set (recorded in New York City) finds the artist at her most candid. Between Heaven And Earth is her tribute to director David Lynch, who passed away in January 2025.

Structurally, much of the material lends itself sublimely to the carnival / cylinder-era hybrid that characterizes the intricacies of her keyboard work, That notion prompted one audience observer to astutely suggest that an academically-themed mission statement may have availed itself from the onset in Witt's career. 

"I was home schooled", she offered, in deference to that suggestion.

A byproduct of Witt's grounding in that perspective has also been the ongoing presence in her travels of Ernest, her faithful rescue dog, who was named in honor of  author and journalist Ernest Hemingway.

"Ernest is good! He's just getting some rest", she said.

With that, the aforementioned grace under pressure once again came to light, as Witt was reminded of the rigours of the road ahead.

"I live in Nashville", she said.

 

"But I haven't been there that much lately. I've just been really busy!"

To that effect, a return engagement at The Ark in neighboring Ann Arbor that was slated for October has been reschedued for next Spring.

"The Ark show has been rescheduled for the 30th of April", she confirmed. 

With that change of date comes a crucial and related adjunct to her itinerary, in the form of an appearance at the city's fiftieth Folk Fest at Hill Auditorium in January. Combine that with a dizzying array of live performances in the interim in New York City, Birmingham, London, Portland, Los Angeles and Seattle, and the notion of grace under pressure becomes all the more relevant.

In the process, there has been some question about the content of the showcases themselves. To that effect, over the past couple of years, Witt has devoted much of her live performance schedule to the celebration of her acclaimed 2024 I'm Spending Christmas With You album.

"No Christmas shows this year", she said.

"I'll be filming!"

With so much emphasis on the activities of the moment, there has also been some concern about the ongoing availability of the highlights of Witt's esteemed catalog. It includes such richly diverse essentials as Live At Rockwood, The Conduit, Witness and the extraordinary Revisionary History. The latter album features the utterly stupendous and endearingly snarky Consolation Prize.

"You might not find them in the record stores", she said.

"But all of the catalog is in stock! I've got them all".

Another example of grace under pressure, to be certain.

'i'm actually at my most relaxed right here on stage", Witt said during her 2024 appearance at The Ark. 

Ticket availability for many of Witt's upcoming performances is limited. True to the grace under pressure maxim, she maintains up to the minute status on those and other key issues at aliciawittmusic.com. To be certain, attendance at any such event is anything but a Consolation Prize.