Show Review: I’m With Her & Mason Via at Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul
The Americana supergroup and Grammy-nominated Appalachia-roots opener turned in a rousing, stunning set at the regal Minnesota venue.
I’m With Her, Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, June 14, 2025. Photo credit: Doyle Turner.
Being a dedicated fan of listening room, acoustic music, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a larger venue to see a national touring act. But I was there when I’m With Her and Mason Via packed The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul on a Saturday night in June.
The opener, Mason Via, kicked off the show with what amounted to an old time hootenanny amidst the regal surroundings of the Fitzgerald. Via brought bass player Aaron Smith and fiddler Cole Wesley Ritter, and the three-piece band surged forward, feeding on the energy of an audience eager for respite from a day of shocking news in Minnesota. The trio took the venue to a frenetic space; their momentum reached the audience and was returned tenfold. Spontaneous hollers and uproarious clapping erupted throughout the velvet-seated and theater-box-adorned auditorium.
Mason Via, Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, June 14, 2025. Photo credit: Doyle Turner.
Nearly every song, fast or slow, slipped into double time at some point as Via raced around the stage, jamming with his bandmates. His voice dripped with a fast-talking, friendly Southern charm throughout the entire set, starting with his promise that “We’re going to get to know one another better.” He shared his musical upbringing of bluegrass jams and competitions and as a son of chart-topping Americana songwriter David Via. He sang one of his dad’s songs that spoke to Minnesota’s day of traumatic political violence.
Via had the crowd singing:
We only have one life, let someone live it
Why don't we give up intolerant ways
We only have one world and others live in it
Why don't we give love instead of hate
He brought exactly the right feeling and song to that moment, and in the audience singing as one, there was a shift towards healing.
In one of the most adept moves of the entire night, Via led the crowd from that deeply touching moment encouraging tolerance to a sing-along that he stated, “You wouldn’t want to tell your grandma about.” Within minutes, he had the crowd shouting, “cocaine!” at the top of their lungs to a rousing cautionary song about the problems of using such a substance.
The Grammy-nominated former member of The Old Crow Medicine Show’s set gained momentum as he threw the song to Ritter’s fiddle breaks by shouting, “Play it lonesome now!” and flat-picked his guitar with alacrity and speed. Via finished the set by bringing out Corey Flick for harmonica solos that drew even more cheers from the fired-up crowd. It was a hoedown we were all delighted to be part of.
I’m With Her, Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, June 14, 2025. Photo credit: Doyle Turner.
The Fitzgerald was a return of sorts for I’m With Her, all three members being frequent guests of Chris Thile’s past “Live From Here” radio program. The trio of bluegrass and Americana superstars—Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan—provided a perfect foil to Mason Via’s dizzying speed and showmanship with their confident, meticulous, and stunning set. I’m With Her’s performance was vocal-forward: every syllable clear and perfect, every harmony as close as a shadow, innovative and beautiful. The Fitzgerald’s fine acoustics were on display as every note, vocal or instrumental, carried clearly and precisely to every corner, even when instruments were muted for tuning between songs.
The poise and composure of this group radiated from the stage as brightly as the Edison bulb spotlights that glowed and shone out on the audience—yellow to phosphorus white along with the mood of the song. There is a fine art to playing in such a pinpoint-focused way, so in the pocket, and so dynamically aware, the way Watkins, O’Donovan, and Jarosz did that Saturday night. Each player brought just the right amount of touch and tone to support each moment. Each picked up the musical narrative and added or subtracted as the telling of the story of the song required, and propelled the sonics out to the audience.
The beauty was palpable. Each player was so rooted in knowing their instrument and their voice, from the breathy and conspiratorial vocals of Watkins, to O’Donovan’s sure-footed soft-edged singing. Sara Jaroz’s vocals were a strong bluegrass clarion call. The dance of voices and instruments was intricate and ethereal, wide-ranging and magnetic. The harmonies and the trading of the melody lines belonged so certainly to this trio, that I believe no one else could replicate them.
I’m With Her brought the listeners to their wavelength, certain in the knowledge that we were following their every playful swerve. There was no stepping, no reaching, no lunging. There was only self-assuredness in presenting music that was incredibly complicated in dynamics, arrangement, rhythm, and chord changes. There is a magic to a perfect pairing of musical acts. That magic spellbound everyone in attendance that night.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doyle Turner. Photo credit: no_aesthetic_stills.
Doyle Turner loves words. Whether it is shaping syllables into songs, poems, early morning journals, handwritten thank yous, lists, or album reviews, he is in a deep and abiding relationship with his college-ruled paper, Uniball Signo 207 .7mm pens, and mostly his keyboard. A good day is spent taking pictures, mailing things, making the words convey the precise meaning, driving, and singing.
