The Englert is proud to be a part of Free Week this year, with a free performance from Elizabeth Moen, who has Iowa City roots. She attended the University of Iowa and started her music career performing here in Iowa City.

Elizabeth Moen’s voice doesn’t just fill a room: it draws you in, letting every note land like a conversation you didn’t know you needed. Born in small-town Iowa and now based in Chicago, her songwriting blends the familiarity of rural life with the movement of the city, offering a sharp, tender lens on human connection. Her music feels like catching up with a friend – confessional, self-aware, and clever, unafraid to lay bare the parts of ourselves we’d rather keep tucked away.

Moen weaves indie-rock textures with the timeless feel of American folk, crafting songs that are raw, wry, and achingly real. Her 2022 album Wherever You Aren’t earned praise from American Songwriter and No Depression for its mix of vulnerability, humor, and vocal dynamism. It marked a turning point: arrival into a sound both grounded and expansive.

Her new work steps even further into that space of emotional clarity and risk. These songs live in what Moen calls “the middle space” – loading the car but not yet on the road, holding your past gently before setting it down. Rather than waiting for the story to resolve, she chose to write and record while the questions were still alive. The result is a record that breathes in uncertainty but exhales with a newfound sense of security, confidence, and resolve.

“I’ve spent years searching for the right sounds, the right team, the right way to tell this story,” Moen says. “With this record, I finally feel like I found it, a producer who understood the heart of these songs, bandmates who feel like brothers, and people I trust to fall apart in front of and help me back up when the truth finally comes out.”

What emerges is Elizabeth Moen at her most open, most intentional, and most sure of her craft. A songwriter standing in the in-between, finding meaning and melody in moving forward.