Celebrate The Freight Gala: Rickie Lee Jones, Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn, Mia Pixley

Creative black tie attire encouraged.

Rickie Lee Jones is an American musician, storyteller, two-time Grammy winner and eight-time nominee who has been inspiring pop culture for decades, beginning with her star-making self-titled debut and the seminal Pirates. Named the “premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation” by The New Yorker and “The Duchess of Coolsville” by Time magazine, Jones released her Grammy-nominated album Pieces of Treasure in 2023, a reunion with Russ Titelman, who produced her first two records. Jones’ celebrated memoir "Last Chance Texaco" was named Book of the Year by MOJO and on Best of Year lists by NPR, Pitchfork, and many more. The Independent writes, “There has always been something defiant about Rickie Lee Jones . . . a voice from a dream, elusive yet familiar, transcendent, a messenger from another place.”

Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn’s duo project is as unlikely, perhaps, as it was inevitable—a manifest sonic consequence of politics and vibrations commingling across continents.

Wu Fei is a classically trained composer, a renowned master of the guzheng — the 21-string Chinese zither – and a vocalist.

Abigail Washburn is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player based in Nashville, TN.

Austin, Texas native Mia Pixley, Ph.D. is a psychologist, composer, performer, conservationist, mother, and water lover who often has more ideas than time. Mia enjoys exploring the resonance between ourselves, the natural world, and the underworld. She has performed on Grammy award winning records and alongside Grammy nominated artists (Fantastic Negrito, Will Ackerman, Barbara Higbie). Mia has also opened for Valerie June, Hauschka, and Holly Near.

Delighting in interdisciplinary exploration and discovery of all kinds, Mia recently released her second full-length album, Love. Dark. Bloom., an exploration of the fertile beauty of darkness — an attempt to free the dark from its long-held association with evil.