We’re changing things up in 2026! We’ve got TUNES ON TAP live music in the front taproom with David Powell. David will be warming up the taproom and your spirits this winter with some tunes! Join them from 2-4pm. No cover charge.
David Powell is an Americana artist with a broad musical lens, blending folk traditions with rock grit, country twang, and the raw energy of folk-punk. Rooted in storytelling and shaped by years of playing, writing, and wandering, his music carries the soul of backroads, barrooms, and busking corners.
David picked up the guitar in fifth grade thanks to his dad, and he hasn’t put it down since. Raised near Washington, D.C., he cut his teeth playing bass in a prog-rock band that mostly haunted church basements and all-ages shows—“we weren’t very good, but we were loud,” he says. Frequently grounded during middle school, guitar became both outlet and obsession, laying the foundation for the songwriter he is today.
In college, David turned to busking instead of clocking into a day job—staking out a corner in the bar district from 10 PM to 2 AM, serenading passersby and collecting tips from tipsy generosity. That experience sharpened his ability to connect with audiences on the fly—something that continues to shine through in both his solo sets and band performances.
His first band, Outside Eliza, released two studio records: an alt-rock debut followed by a country-leaning second release, Shame. The standout track, “Hairdo,” was featured on Pittsburgh’s WDVE as a highlighted local artist. David's current project, The Laurel Lowlifes, has played key regional festivals including Three Rivers Arts Festival and Boom on the Bridge, and is slated as second billing for WYEP’s Neighborhood Concert Series at Settler’s Cabin Park this September. With The Laurel Lowlifes, David released a home-recorded folk EP and is preparing to drop three new studio singles—taking lead vocals on one.
A student of American roots music, David finds inspiration in artists like Old Crow Medicine Show and Trampled by Turtles, but also pulls influence from jazz standards, folk-punk, and everything in between. A major creative turning point came from working through Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time—learning classics by ear, and letting them reshape his approach to both covers and songwriting.
Today, David is focused on continuing to create original music with close collaborators while expanding his work as a solo cover artist. His dream project? A big-band standards album in the spirit of early Emmylou Harris—where genre bends, but feeling stays true.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6pZpA38vaYJCUeSnBbQxuM?si=ksnIv8eBT1-aEWfznMxtQA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelaurellowlifes/?igsh=cWhibG15eHV4a3g1
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@outsideeliza5119