Chicken Wire Empire
Representation and Touring Formats
Representation: Exclusive – North America
Touring Formats: Quintet
Educational: Residencies, workshops & school events
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Chicken Wire Empire is a Wisconsin-based bluegrass band known for their dynamic musicality, thorough arrangements, and true-to-life songwriting. The band emerged in 2016 with their debut self-titled album and have since released a prolific catalogue of studio projects and live performances. Their sixth and latest album, Growing Pains, released June 1st 2025, is a veritable culmination of the band’s growth through the past decade.
CWE continuously captivates audiences with thoughtful, energetic performances. Their high-level musicality turns up a fresh conversation with each show, like a brainstorm of creative musical substance. Americana Highways writes “These musicians must enjoy what they do because their joy translates through their instruments. The energy, fingering techniques are all proponents that deliver substance with a modicum of joy. There aren’t any low points, missteps, loss of heat in any of these melodies.”
The band has been recognized worldwide for their performances and recorded works, with Americana UK calling their latest album “a variety which transcends genre and rewards careful listening.” Capturing the ever-evolving sights and sounds of the road through the lens of their Midwestern roots, the band’s catalog of songs is ever-growing and CWE continues to be acknowledged for their pensive attention to detail in writing and crafting deeply engaging songs.
Chicken Wire Empire has partnered with dozens of artists from all corners of the bluegrass genre, from Sam Bush and Peter Rowan to Vince Herman and Keller Williams. Their forthcoming album features guest appearances from Grammy-winning artists Jerry Douglas and Kyle Tuttle. The long list of collaborators has lent a lifetime of taste and knowledge to CWE’s musical journey while the band has grown into its identifiably authentic yet original sound.
Notable Performances:
Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (NY), 3 Sisters Bluegrass Festival (TN), Huck Finn Jubilee (CA), Ozark Mountain Music Festival (AR), John Hartford Memorial Festival (IN), Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival (PA), Harmony Park Revival Fest (MN), The Station Inn (TN).
Verry Garcia is Chicken Wire Empire’s tribute to the songs of Jerry Garcia, played the way the Milwaukee bluegrass band hears them: on strings, with room to stretch.
In March 2023, the band released the Verry Garcia EP. Its version of “Friend of the Devil” starts from Grisman’s descending mandolin line on the 1970 original and folds in a full pass of the fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” pulling a Garcia classic back toward the traditional music he loved.
Onstage, Verry Garcia moves from stripped-down string band arrangements to the psychedelic end of Garcia’s catalog. Chicken Wire Empire has shared stages with Old & In The Way’s Peter Rowan, and these shows are built for Garcia fans and bluegrass fans in the same room.
Andy Dunnigan, founder and frontman of The Lil Smokies, is now performing select dates with Chicken Wire Empire as his backing band. The project pairs Dunnigan’s songs and dobro with the Milwaukee quintet in a six-piece lineup.
Andy Dunnigan grew up in Whitefish, Montana, the son of longtime Flathead Valley performer John Dunnigan. In 2009 he founded The Lil Smokies in Missoula and spent the next fifteen-plus years leading the band as its dobro player, lead singer and primary songwriter. The Lil Smokies won the 2015 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, earned an IBMA Momentum Band of the Year nomination, and went on to headline rooms across the country.
For this project, Dunnigan is backed by Chicken Wire Empire, the Milwaukee bluegrass quintet that has toured the U.S. and Europe for more than a decade. CWE has released six albums, most recently Growing Pains (2025), and has shared stages and studios with Sam Bush, Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien and Infamous Stringdusters. Festival credits include Grey Fox, 3 Sisters, Huck Finn Jubilee and the John Hartford Memorial Festival.
The six-piece show puts Dunnigan’s songs and dobro in front of a tight, harmony-driven string band, with a set drawn from Lil Smokies favorites, CWE originals and bluegrass standards.
“These musicians must enjoy what they do because their joy translates through their instruments. The energy, fingering techniques, are all proponents that deliver substance with a modicum of joy. There aren’t any low points, missteps, loss of heat in any of these melodies.” –Americana Highways February 2022
Grateful Web, December 2021
“The new Chicken Wire Empire record is a technically proficient, well-crafted mixture of modern original songwriting and time earned classics. They seem to have taken on some wonderfully exciting elements of modern progressive bluegrass while also retaining their original character, born of their greater Milwaukee town roots.” -Adam Greuel of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
THE BEST MILWAUKEE ALBUMS OF 2019 (SO FAR)
“Impressive musicianship and compelling narratives.” -Milwaukee Record 7/2019
20 MILWAUKEE BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR RIGHT NOW
“This modern bluegrass band combines musical chops with skillful songwriting.” –Milwaukee Magazine 5/2019
“The band is a tight unit instrumentally with a lot of intertwined picking between members. The vocals and harmonies are strong, and they play with a high-energy blend of traditional and modern approaches to their music.” –Bluegrass Unlimited 5/2019
“Chicken Wire Empire… bridges traditional bluegrass with aggressive jam band tendencies.” –Isthmus 4/2019
“A local band ‘Chicken Wire Empire’ is releasing a song about Milwaukee.” –Fox 6 News 3/2019
Named one of “Five Wisconsin Bands to Watch in 2019” –Journal Sentinel 3/2019
“Chicken Wire Empire Shakes Up the Boundaries of Bluegrass” –Shepherd Express 3/2019
Nominated for a Wisconsin Area Music Industry award for Bluegrass/Americana Artist 2019 –Journal Sentinel 2/2019
Named in 57 “MILWAUKEE RELEASES (PROBABLY) COMING YOUR WAY IN 2019” –Milwaukee Record 1/2019
“Between intriguing lyrics, rich harmonies, and excellent musicianship, Chicken Wire Empire climbs to even higher ground in its sophomore release.” –Milwaukee Record 12/2018
Chicken Wire Empire original “Still in Love” -premiered by Bluegrass Situation 12/2018
Madison WI performance chosen as an Isthmus Picks –Isthmus 12/2018
“What Moves Mountains,” Chicken Wire Empire: Coming out the first day of 2019 — as if daring other artists to make a more spirited album this year — the progressive bluegrass band’s latest is so infectious it had me hollering out loud by the time fiery finish “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” was blasting from my car speakers. – Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/2018
Date | Venue/Lineup | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10/10/2026 | The Livery | Benton Harbor, MI |
| 11/12/2026 | LuCille Tack Center for the Arts | Spencer, WI |
| 11/13/2026 | The Historic Auditorium | St. Croix Falls, WI |
| 11/14/2026 | Fifth Ward Brewing 9th Anniversary Party | Oshkosh, WI |
| 2/06/2027 | Lutcher Theater | Orange, TX |
| 2/27/2027 | Polsky Theatre, Midwest Trust Center | Overland Park, KS |
| 2/28/2027 | Dyck Arboretum of the Plain | Hesston, KS |
| 4/01/2027 | McMillan Memorial Library | Wisconsin Rapids, WI |
| 4/03/2027 | The Philmore | Grand Rapids, MI |
| 4/23/2027 | The Old Theater | Oriental, NC |