Every year, Revue has the pleasure to pore through West Michigan’s overflowing musical landscape to find the artists poised to take the next stage. Our 2026 Bands to Watch list shines a spotlight on 10 acts turning heads, sharpening their sound, and putting in the work from basement practice spaces to packed local venues.
If there’s one theme that has always surrounded Grand Rapids-based musician Izzy Reign, it’s Halloween.
The first time Dan Tyminski got onstage, he was six years old. His parents had taken him to the You And I club in upstate New York, where Smokey Greene, a regional country musician, was playing.
For Lindsay Lou, the past is never far behind. Michigan-born and Nashville-based, Lou’s music is deeply rooted in the people, places, and traditions that came before her—from her late grandmother to Michigan’s historic bluegrass scene.
Now a father of two, Isaac Brock—frontman of Modest Mouse—has gained a new empathy for what his parents were going through when he was a child.
With her debut solo album Destroy Everything (due out Oct. 3), singer-songwriter Emilee Petersmark embraces her Korean identity, confronts illness and self-doubt, and discovers that sometimes breaking everything apart is the only way to become whole.
There was a time when The Red Clay Strays measured success by much smaller milestones.
For years, Jameson Botwinski saw Grand Rapids the way too many young people do: as a place to leave.
Ever since 2020, live music has been on a rollercoaster. The dip during the pandemic was so bleak, it felt like concerts as a whole might just be over, forever. Six years later, it’s clear how silly that fear was.
Every great road trip starts with the right soundtrack. Whether cruising the Lake Michigan shoreline or heading out in search of something new, this annual playlist celebrates the best of West Michigan music in 2026.
