David Huckfelt & The Unarmed Forces

David Huckfelt is a singer/lyricist/folk-activist whose poetic sensibilities and songs of no-spiritual-surrender have earned him a cult following in the darker hollows far off the beaten path of the music business’s rushing roar. An Iowa native and former theology student, Huckfelt attended the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop before dropping hold of academic and theoretical pursuits and turning his attention to songwriting and performing. With improvisational mastery and a stubborn insistence on remaining in the moment with his audience, Huckfelt’s folk shows have earned him a devoted following from small-town opera houses & theaters to national festival stages like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Edmonton and Calgary Folk Fests, and the legendary First Avenue Mainroom.

Sharing stages with artists as diverse as Mavis Staples, Bon Iver, Emmylou Harris, Arcade Fire, Calexico, Gregory Alan Isakov, Iris Dement & more, Huckfelt’s roots run deep as a folk singer steeped in the tradition of performing other artists’ songs. An early encounter and collaboration with legendary Native American poet John Trudell introduced Huckfelt as friend & ally to an array of Indigenous artists & activists, including Keith Secola, Louise Erdrich, Winona LaDuke, Quiltman & more. He also served as musical director and performer at “Water Is Life” Music + Resistance Festival in Duluth, MN, and his songs appear in the AMC TV series Dark Winds, produced by Robert Redford & George R.R. Martin. A founding frontman of Minneapolis indie-folk cult favorites The Pines, with roots in the same Midwestern soil that produced legendary folk singers like John Prine and Greg Brown, David's new solo work preserves a rugged optimism that blasts through layers of darkness in real time with songs that speak volumes, soft & clear.