Lied United am 14. Mai 2026

In the organizer's words:

Striking voices and plenty of emotion

May makes everything new. But some things have to stay the same. For example, the quality of the musical guests at the monthly Lied United concert series, which as usual brings the finest indie songwriters to the atmospheric stage of Schankwirtschaft Loreley.

Downey Chase is the solo folk project of American songwriter Nic Lussier. Inspired by the quiet wilderness of the Colorado mountains, his songs evoke the tranquility of Gregory Alan Isakov and the raw fingerstyle intimacy of Adrianne Lenker. With a gentle but powerful voice, Nic writes about nature and the feeling of searching for something just out of reach. In 2025 he released his second album "a room in motion" - a collection of songs shaped by long drives on mountain roads and nights alone in the woods. For Lied United, he brings these songs exclusively to the stage in Cologne.

Joachim Uerschels is a Cologne singer/songwriter with ska DNA. Uerschels a.k.a. Joe Scholes was the singer and guitarist of The Braces, with whom he toured at home and abroad between 1984 and 1991, including at the first London International Ska Festival. Since 2007, Joe Scholes has mainly been touring solo as a singer/songwriter, and since 2023 he has been performing several programs that focus on stories. "Terry, The Specials and Me" is about how Terry Hall and the Specials have shaped Joe's life. In "Ska Explosion Juke Box", he talks about the rise and fall of his band at a time when the world was changing rapidly. Joe Scholes is currently working on a new album with producer Victor Rice. He is also using the live performance at Lied United to put these new songs to the live test.

The series will be opened in May by Markus Apitius as a permanent member of the Lied United crew. Apitius is just as happy to give free rein to his fable for psychedelic sounds as he is for folky ballads and beatlesque harmonies, always carried by intelligent songwriting and a touching, extraordinary voice.

As always, the evening will be hosted by Cologne musician, artist and presenter Wolfgang A. Noethen, who, alongside Apitius and Robert Gasper, is part of the Lied United organizing team.