The Michigan alt-folk heroes talk about their studio work and touring with Local Spins, which also spotlights new music by American Rust, Mei Semones, The War and Treaty and more.
The Accidentals: Always sticking together in spite of multiple side projects. (Courtesy Photo)
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The Accidentals’ schedule as touring and recording artists isn’t for the feint of heart.
The alt-folk band that got its start in Traverse City juggles so many musical balls that keeping track of the musicians’ globe-trotting, collaborative and creative ventures is akin to watching a three-ring musical circus.
Multi-instrumentalist and founding band member Sav Madigan tours full-time as a “utility player” and backing singer with country superstar Lainey Wilson, co-founder and multi-instrumentalist Katie Larson is part of emerging country-pop act Brett Young’s band, and drummer/percussionist Katelynn Corll just returned from a European tour with blues-rocker Joanne Shaw Taylor.
Together as The Accidentals, the band just wrapped up “Time Out #3,” a new collaborative studio album with other notable singer-songwriters that gets released on Aug. 15, several days before the trio hosts a four-and-a-half hour concert extravaganza featuring female artists at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
The New Album: ‘Time Out #3’
The “all-female indie-rock concert” Aug. 19 for the Tuesday Evening Music Club series will feature appearances by friends and collaborators, including rocker Patty PerShayla, Americana’s The Burney Sisters, pop-punk’s Roxi Jane and electric country artist Emma Zinck. Tickets for this special 5:30 p.m. show are $21-$32, available online here. (Tickets are $10 for Meijer Gardens members.)
Oh, and The Accidentals are working on a new holiday record with Cleveland’s Kaboom Collective, at the same time that Madigan’s been forging songs for a solo album.
“We’re still continuing to co-write all the time, and Katie and I also write separately, and we also do session work,” Madigan added.
So, we’re kind of continuing what we have determined to be success for us, which is to have our hands in a lot of different jars and never getting our arms stuck in any of them. It’s just been fun to experiment and continue to explore and have the bandwidth and the energy and the space to do that.”
And despite the chaotic appearance of their monthly planners and their growing number of side project, they remain a tight-knit band of friends who relish their camaraderie in The Accidentals and all that they’ve experienced and endured over the past 13 years.
“We have a lot of gratitude for being able to get together when we can and I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon,” Madigan said of the trio, which has been based in Nashville for several years. “We’ll always get together and we’ll always play Michigan. I think that’s a guarantee.
“We are already together so often. It’s just kind of an inevitable thing. I see us continuing to put out music and continuing to write and continuing to be side players and session workers and just have the privilege and the honor of having music be our full-time job.”
Corll noted that she’s been “a hired gun professionally for a decade now” and loves meeting and collaborating with different musicians. That’s how it all started with The Accidentals as well, but it’s grown into a much closer bond.
“They’re like family now, so it’s a little different,” she said.
Larson noted that the band has spent more time in the studio together in 2025 than they have in years, sessions that included work on the third “Time Out” release.
“Those are all co-writes with people who’ve inspired us down here in Nashville,” Larson added. “We sat on those songs for a long time before we were able to put ’em out.”
VIDEO: The Accidentals, “Better Than Me” (from “Time Out #3”)
A ‘CRAZY YEAR’ BUT HUGE LOVE FOR COMING HOME TO MICHIGAN
The new album features collaborations with songwriters such as David Wilcox, Mary Bragg, Kim Richey, Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman. Bragg served as producer on half of the tracks, something the trio embraced.
Madigan said co-writing “has change me fundamentally as a songwriter. I’m way more intentional now with lyrics. … Every time I go into a co-write … it starts as a therapy session in a way and everybody kind of dumps what they’re feeling. And then you write from a very honest place, a very authentic place and raw place, and nine times out of 10, you walk away with a song you’re really proud of.”
Relishing Michigan Shows: The Accidentals (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
For the most recent “Time Out,” the band “came at it with a total sense of playfulness,” Larson said. “We really opened ourselves up to Mary’s production and her band members and everyone who she brought in.”
The album release comes as the band gets set for more shows in their home state. In addition to the Meijer Gardens concert, the band returns to Sparta for its annual “Concerts in the Park” appearance on Sept. 3.
And Madigan returns to Michigan for concerts with Lainey Wilson at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston on Sept. 26 and Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Sept. 27.
“It’s been a crazy year already and a crazy summer, too,” Madigan conceded.
“But we love not only getting together when we have the chance to … because they’re all shows in Michigan, which we consider our home state – which we love going back to in the summertime for a million reasons. It’s just special to come back home over and over again.”
For this week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase, The Accidentals spotlighted the “Time Out #3” tracks “Better Than Me” and “It Keeps the Lights On.”
The show also featured new music from American Rust, Mei Semones, The Wire Monkeys, Matt McCalpin, Al Wesley, Thornetta Davis, The War and Treaty and Tony Manfredonia. Listen to the show podcast below.
The Michigan Music Showcase airs at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and on Interlochen Public Radio at 7 p.m. Saturdays.
PODCAST: Michigan Music Showcase (8/1/25)
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