The next Barn Concert is coming up on Friday, and Barn co-founder Steve Ellis said it’s one that he’s been waiting for since the early 90s.

“I first heard Jonatha Brooke in 1991 when she was part of a duo called ‘The Story,’” Ellis said. “Since she started her solo career in 1994, I’ve followed her closely. Her songwriting and voice have made her one of my all-time favorite performers.”

Ellis isn’t alone in his praise of the artist. The San Francisco Chronicle said, “Jonatha Brooke has one of the most distinctive voices of the crowd of singer-songwriters, both as a writer and as a vocalist,” and Billboard Magazine said, “Jonatha Brooke is one of the most gifted and unique artists of the decade.”

Parking and dinner begin at 6 p.m. for all concerts at the Mac Davis Road location of The Barn. The music starts at 7 p.m. and usually ends around 9 p.m. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased online at barnconcertseries.com.

From Brooke’s debut solo LP Plum in 1995 to her most recent collection “The Sweetwater Sessions,” she has 11 solo albums and has also written and performed in an Off Broadway play. After taking time off from her career to care for her ailing mother, Brooke returned to the scene in 2014 with a highly celebrated, Off-Broadway production of her one-woman musical, “My Mother Has 4 Noses.” The story-filled show chronicles her relationship with her mom while she was battling Alzheimer’s disease. Its 12 week run at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street in New York opened the door to a new creative outlet in the theater world.

Since its opening, Brooke has been tapped to co-write more musicals, including “Death and Venice” and “Hopper” with Anton Dudley; “Quadroon” with the late, legendary Joe Sample; “Switched” with Geoffrey Nauffts; and, currently in progress, “Tempus” with Jaclyn Backhaus.

Brooke’s concert at The Barn is the first date on her fall tour which takes her up the East Coast to New York before finishing up in California.

Opening Friday’s concert is Wyly Bigger. Growing up along the edge of the murky waters of the Mississippi River, it is no surprise Bigger chose the path of blues and rock n’ roll music. Hailing from Marion, Arkansas, just across the water from Memphis, Tennessee, Wyly started his journey on the piano at only four years old, teaching himself songs by ear and following in the footsteps of those from all over the southern delta.

Spending a lot of his time between Memphis and Clarksdale, Mississippi, Wyly learned the blues from several mentors, including Pinetop Perkins and Bob Margolin. Now in  his late 20s, he’s been taking over the Memphis music scene, keeping the spirit of rock n’ roll alive through the walls of downtown dive bars, Beale Street clubs, midtown hot-spots and many other local haunts.

Not only has Wyly m Not only has Wyly made a name for himself in Memphis, but his music has carried itself internationally, bringing the Memphis sound as far as Canada, Germany, The Netherlands and Norway. Splitting his time between touring and providing session work for local Memphis artists, Wyly’s debut album “Broken Telephone” (the title track of which made Wyly a finalist for the Memphis Songwriter of the Year in 2021) brings the buried spirit of rock n’ roll piano back to life.

Most Barn concerts take place on Thursdays, but this show will be on a Friday due to the artists’ schedules. At each Barn concert, the audience is treated to free dinner and beverages and a donation jar is set out for the crowd to make donations to a local charity. The proceeds from this show’s donations will benefit the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

At the Sept. 18 concert, the audience contributed $2,463 for The Rowdy Foundation.

“Raising money for local charities is one of the main goals of what we do at our concerts,” said Kay Ellis, Steve’s wife and the other co-founder of the series. “We’ve not only been able to raise those funds but also inform the audience about a number of charities that they might not be familiar with otherwise.”

The free dinner for the concert will be a Birria Taco Bar with all the fixin’s, provided by Bulley’s Lodge Butcher Shop and Deli in Caledonia.

“You really shouldn’t miss this show,” Steve Ellis said. “Jonatha Brooke, in my opinion, will be one of the most varied and talented artists to have ever played in Columbus!”]