{"id":169,"date":"2026-04-21T19:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/?p=169"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:32:51","slug":"peter-mcpoland-the-coolest-uncool-folk-singer-youll-ever-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/?p=169","title":{"rendered":"Peter McPoland: The Coolest Uncool Folk Singer You\u2019ll Ever See"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Madeline Jones<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 24, 2026 at the 9:30 Club, Peter McPoland returned not as a newcomer with something to prove, but as a self-proclaimed \u201cnot cool\u201d folk singer fully in command of a room that quite literally vibrated with excitement. The last time he played the venue was on his 2023 Piggy tour, and early in the set he shouted out the returning fans who had been with him since that debut album. \u201cThis uncool folk singer is on his way back to town,\u201d he joked, as cheers drowned him out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after he took to the stage, McPoland beamed about his long-standing love for D.C. As a child, he said he used to make regular trips down to the city to visit his Aunt Paula, and on this night she stood proudly on the balcony, waving as he pointed her out to the crowd. At one point she flashed him a heart sign, and he waved back, less touring frontman and more grateful nephew. Shortly thereafter, he praised the opener, Americana\/folk duo DUG, commenting, \u201cYou guys are gonna love DUG, I already know you love DUG.\u201d Here, the crowd got a glimpse of the personal, playful, and generally unguarded nature that McPoland embedded into the rest of his show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He opened with \u201cDead Air,\u201d alone on acoustic guitar, his three bandmates\u2014Josh Suarez (keys and guitar), Landon Laney (guitar), and Joe Curtin (drums)\u2014huddled behind him on back-up vocals. Dressed uniformly in all black, they looked like a minimalist indie group, with the intimacy and comfort that comes with practice. This is perhaps unsurprising given that Laney and Curtin have been with McPoland since the early days, when they performed as Peter McPoland and the Haps. \u201cGood Day\u201d followed, giving each member a vocal solo that showcased just how strong the ensemble\u2019s voices really are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the set, McPoland switched effortlessly between acoustic intimacy and brash electric energy. \u201cWhat Do You Do To Me?\u201d from Big Lucky<\/em> and \u201cA Place Like This\u201d from Friend<\/em> leaned into glossy indie-rock, while \u201cSlow Down \/ Mary Anne\u201d\u2014probably my favorite performance of the night\u2014felt tender yet warm enough to fill the room. With \u201cBlue\u201d from Piggy<\/em> and the nostalgic anthem \u201cShit Show,\u201d McPoland found the crowd shouting every word back at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The balcony floor shook during \u201cRomeo & Juliet,\u201d making it feel as if you were on stage with him, the energy buzzing up through even the cushioned seats of the balcony bar. \u201cMold,\u201d recorded live at the 9:30 Club on his last tour, was a wildcard, with one remarkably dedicated fan apparently DM-ing him since October to play it. \u201cWeird pick,\u201d he laughed, but nonetheless he obliged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the moments of angst and pure adrenaline, there were moments of pure sweetness, too. Before \u201cI Love The Animals,\u201d he shouted out a young fan named Levy in the crowd. Later on, a fan tossed him clover-shaped glasses in honor of \u201cBig Lucky,\u201d which he wore with theatrical flair I might add. And before covering \u201cBruised Orange,\u201d he delivered the night\u2019s most memorable quote: \u201cJohn Prine is kind of the whole reason I got into music\u2026I stopped listening to him when I thought he wasn\u2019t cool, but then I woke the fuck up.\u201d The cover, sung between McPoland and Laney, was folksy, reverent, and raw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For \u201cRoll Away My Stone,\u201d McPoland took to the keys, with his bandmates providing interspersed backing vocals. By the time \u201cDigital Silence\u201d ended, he was sweaty and out of breath, dancing with a jittery joy reminiscent of 9:30 Club alum indie pop project Dayglow\u2014jumping back and forth like someone who can\u2019t believe that this is his job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The set closed with \u201cSpeed of the Sound (of You),\u201d punctuated by a curtsy. There was no encore (as McPoland apparently hates the pageantry of encores), just a very content McPoland enthusiastically shouting out every band member, his tour team, and even the humble penny (\u201cFor exact change, making wishes, and exact change,\u201d he said).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncool? Maybe. But at the 9:30 Club, Peter McPoland proved that sincerity, sweat, and a floor-vibrating set are cooler than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Madeline Jones On February 24, 2026 at the 9:30 Club, Peter McPoland returned not as a newcomer with something to prove, but as a self-proclaimed \u201cnot cool\u201d folk singer fully in command of a room that quite literally vibrated with excitement. The last time he played the venue was on his 2023 Piggy tour, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgetownradio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}