Sound Series: An Evening with Nellie McKay

Nellie McKay returns to The Warhol Theater on Thursday, November 12, for a retrospective set that pulls from across her catalog. Since her debut Get Away from Me in 2004, she's released nine eclectic albums that move between pop, jazz, rock, and folk, and this show is built around that range rather than any one record.

If you're not familiar with her work, that's a good place to start. She's spent two decades defying easy categorization, and her music has found its way onto radio, television, and film. She's appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and A Prairie Home Companion, and Rolling Stone once called her "a renegade songwriter with an ultraflexible Great American Songbook sensibility." That description fits the retrospective format well—the set is designed to look back over those nine albums and the different styles she's worked in.

There's more to her than the music, too. McKay has written and performed acclaimed one-woman shows about Barbara Graham, Rachel Carson, Billy Tipton, and Joan Rivers, and she's a dedicated advocate for animal rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmental protection. The evening is part of the museum's Sound Series, an ongoing concert program of internationally touring contemporary artists and bands, and it's presented as part of the "Warhol for All" initiative.

The show is on Thursday, November 12, at 8 PM, with doors opening at 7 PM. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for members and students. The Warhol Theater is at 117 Sandusky Street in downtown Pittsburgh.