WALDOBORO — The Waldo brings singer-songwriter Brett Dennen with special guest Chance Emerson to The Waldo on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8 p.m.

“Brett Dennen is telling us to get out and see the world at a time when we need it more than ever,” said The Waldo, in a news release. “Flame-haired, six-foot-five, and with a singular gift for meditating on life's most meaningful subjects with equal parts innocence and razor sharp wit, you know Dennen from his decade-plus career as a singer/songwriter. With a successful string of albums and four Top Ten AAA singles like "Make You Crazy," "Wild Child," and 2018's "Already Gone," which achieved his highest chart position yet, Dennen has cemented himself as a fixture in American folk music.”

Before all that, he was a painter — a skilled visual artist with a well-honed perspective and a style very much his own, according to The Waldo.

“Perhaps it is not so surprising, then, that his lyrics have always seemed to bloom before one's eyes, somehow both stark and colorful, intricately constructed and sweeping in their scope,” said the release.

And before all that he was a young, avid outdoorsman who spent his childhood camping with his father in and around the Sierra Nevada Mountains, learning the intricacies of the natural world in his native California. Dennen's greatest passion then and now has perhaps been the earth — and it was only as a camp counselor, in front of a roaring campfire with the wilderness unfolding in the background, that he fell in love with the idea of playing music.

An avid skier and surfer as well as a conservationist, Dennen works with local organizations to spearhead beach clean-ups and educate young people to become climate stewards, driving awareness through his music and marrying just a few of his many sides in one effort to help drive positive change.

Somewhere in all of that, there is still very much the music. Dennen's new release, See The World, was released on July 23 on Mick Music. Like the man himself, the new album is potpourri of experiences and sometimes seeming contradictions. In the album opener and title track, Dennen sings of "diamond beaches'' and "prism streams," and reminds us that "You don't have to be rich to get around / There are mansions growing out of the ground." In the refrain, he urges "Days go by / Get out and see the world with your own eyes."

Chance Emerson is a Taiwanese-American folk-rock singer-songwriter from Hong Kong now based in the Northeast. Emerson plays almost everything you hear on The Raspberry Men, his latest album mostly recorded in a wooden shed in Maine. The album received praise from American Songwriter, The Providence Journal, Spotify’s Indie Shuffle playlist, The South China Morning Post, Atwood Magazine, Ditty TV, The Deli and was selected by Earmilk as one of its best indie/alternative albums of 2020.

Concessions, including beer and wine for those 21+, will be available at the show.

Doors open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $30 in advance online and $35 in person the day of the show. A limited number of front row seats are available.

Having reopened in 2021 after decades of closure, this vibrant, beautifully restored 1936 theatre serves once more as a local cultural hub offering theater, music, film, and a wide array of performing arts to our Midcoast community. Through programs like youth arts education, after-school activities, master classes, workshops, and other events, The Waldo seeks to expand arts participation for residents of all ages and enhance the quality of life for all.

To purchase tickets and for more information about The Waldo, parking and other upcoming events, please visit: thewaldotheatre.org.