Whitney Brings Soul and Warmth to Nashville’s Blue Room
Nashville, Tennessee - May 12, 2026
Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich of Whitney (Photo courtesy of Grandstand Media)
To spend a night with Whitney is to experience a series of gentle transportations through time to old loves and past selves, leaving you a little softer, a little kinder, and a little more equipped to embrace the world and its challenges.
On a beautiful spring evening in Nashville, TN, Whitney played in front of a sold-out crowd at The Blue Room to open up the second leg of their North America Small Talk tour.
The Chicago duo is comprised of former Unknown Mortal Orchestra drummer Julien Ehrlich and former Smith Westerns guitarist Max Kakacek, who started the soul-infused indie rock band a little over 10 years ago. They are currently joined on tour by Malcolm Brown (keys), Ziyad Asrar (guitar), JJ Kirkpatrick (trumpet, keys), and Josiah Marshall (bass).
In a crowded and humid Blue Room with its trademark taxidermied elephant head (thanks, Jack White) and electric-blue walls, Whitney enveloped the audience in Music City in a warm glow, opening with a couple of tracks from their most recent album, Small Talk.
Immediately, the crowd was flooded by the beauty of Ehrlich’s voice, which is one of the most unique falsettos you’ll hear in contemporary music and one that is instantly recognizable.
Androgynous, enchanting, and serene, Ehrlich’s tone is the defining quality of Whitney’s music. It was on full display on Tuesday, a performance which meant even more to the band after they were dealt an unlucky blow in April: Ehrlich contracted laryngitis, forcing them to cancel a few shows. His gratitude for being back to full capacity was apparent, as he thanked the Nashville crowd a few times for showing up and being a great audience.
After over a decade making music together, Ehrlich and Kakacek’s ease with one another was palpable on stage, as the band seemlessly transitioned from beloved songs like “Polly” and “Golden Days” from their first album to new tracks like “Dandelions,” which felt just as lived-in as the songs they’ve been touring with for a decade.
Their first show back after a break in their Small Talk tour wasn’t without its hitches; about halfway through the set, the lights on stage went out along with a few instruments. But this didn’t disrupt the energy Whitney had been building all night. Instead, Marshall laughed along with the crowd, who oo-ed and ahh-ed comically as the power flickered on, and off, and then back on again, thanks to the quick problem-solving of the stage crew. Brown kept the crowd entertained in the meantime by asking for people to shout out their opinions on the latest season of “Survivor.”
Once back to full power, Whitney continued to captivate the crowd with their soul-filled, ’70s-inspired sound. Each member of Whitney had their standout moments throughout the set, like Marshall on “Dave’s Song,” whose bass line opens the track like a gut-punch and then mixes heart-wrenchingly with Ehrlich’s voice, full of longing and a grudging acceptance of a love lost to changes and time. Kirkpatrick was a crowd favorite as he delighted the audience with a couple of forceful trumpet solos throughout the night, especially on the poignant outro to “Polly.”
Whitney gave their opener, Lucky Cloud, a few shoutouts in between songs, who had primed the audience for the main act with a dreamy, stripped-down performance consisting of just singer Chet Zenor and his heavily reverbed electric guitar.
Zenor was charming and humble during his ad-libs in between songs, sharing that the Nashville show was his first solo performance. Any nerves for his inaugural show only seemed to enhance Zenor’s understated musical tone. Instead of clamoring for your attention with bells and whistles, Lucky Cloud invited the audience to sit quietly with his peaceful tunes that melded jazz, soul, and rock.
And Lucky Cloud is no stranger to Whitney. He has previously toured with the band, filling in for Marshall on bass, and Zenor expressed his gratitude for being asked to open for them on the second leg of their Small Talk tour.
The Blue Room was the perfect venue both for Lucky Cloud’s unadorned one-man set and for Whitney, whose soft, soulful songs were served well by the intimate and eclectic space located inside of Jack White’s label, Third Man Records.
Ehrlich noted during the set that Whitney is celebrating 10 years of their critically-acclaimed debut album, Light Upon the Lake, this year, to much applause from the Nashville audience. And they didn’t shy away from paying homage to their older discography; their encore consisted of three of their most popular songs (“Dave’s Song,” “Valleys (My Love),” and “No Woman”), bookended by two tracks from Small Talk. After a gorgeous live rendition of the latter that sounded almost indistinguishable from the recorded version, they wrapped up the set neatly with a song from Small Talk about accepting change, “Back to the Wind.”
Whitney is on tour in the U.S. through the end of May, and they will be back in August for a few festival appearances before opening for Caamp in the fall.
