When Adam Weiner sits down at the piano at Davenport’s Raccoon Motel on March 6, audiences expecting a hot and sweaty Low Cut Connie (LCC) show are in for a surprise. This performance will be quite different: quieter, riskier, funnier, angrier, and, if he has his way, more communal. This is not a band show—just Weiner and his piano.
Weiner’s solo appearance is part of a limited 14-date tour he’s calling “Livin in the USA.” This gig is not the usual party. It’s something more intimate. “There’s a clarity with the solo shows that helps me get my messages across,” Weiner explained. “We are getting together and sharing in music while talking about non-violent resistance, protest, and community building. These solo shows also tend to be extremely funny. It’s the classic ‘one person with a microphone’ stand-up format. I’m looking forward to trying to have a laugh with people when and how we can.”
Weiner might speechify at times, but he does so from the heart and funny bone. “I am an entertainer above all things,” he said. “But entertainment and social commentary are not mutually exclusive. In fact, for me, the best art sheds a light on our society and lived experiences while entertaining the f*** out of us all. Some of my favorite musicians—like Prince, James Brown, Aretha, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Sly & the Family Stone—they do this cocktail so well. Aretha’s ‘Respect’ changed the world, but it’s still a thrilling, sexy, fun song that we all love to dance to. We can do both,” he said.
Previously, LCC addressed America’s social ills in song, especially topics related to race, gender, and economic disparities. This tour just puts these concerns more in the forefront.
“Livin in the USA” is also the title track of LCC’s new album, set for release July 3 on Contender Records. “I always work fast with recording songs, but this was the fastest and most direct recording I’ve done since the debut Connie album, Get Out the Lotion, in 2011. These songs were recorded very fast on a one-inch tape, and before the musicians even knew what they’re doing, it was done. It’s a very risky way of recording and completely out of fashion for the way people have done things for many decades,” he said. “It’s my comfort zone. Quick and dirty, lighting in a bottle.”
The single was originally released on Groundhog Day 2025 as a stripped down acoustic number. Controversy ensued. “After the acoustic version came out, I got a bunch of blowback, including threats of violence,” he said. “A certain number of people would get up and walk out of our shows when I’d play the song. A county commissioner cancelled our performance in Pennsylvania and called my music ‘propaganda.’ Some people suggested to me that I should just stop playing that song.”
Weiner’s response was to turn up the volume. “So I decided to play it louder,” he said. The version on the album is a full-band arrangement, raucous and unmistakably defiant. “I recorded it loud as f*** with the band and decided to build this whole new album around it.” The song addresses policies such as ICE raids and the larger climate of fear many Americans feel.
“I have been talking about my concerns with the direction of our country for many years, but now so many people I know are suffering in different ways and fearful for the future and the well-being of their families,” he said. “Our current administration, the tech companies, corporate America are all in so many ways against the people of this country and have abandoned any sense of morality. I am so pissed off, and I felt I needed to activate with my music and my performances.”
Weiner has politically been in the public eye for at least the past year. He was one of the first musicians to cancel his scheduled performance at the Kennedy Center back in February 2025, citing concerns about how the institution had changed under the current administration.
After many others followed Weiner’s lead, President Trump eventually shuttered the building for what was described as “renovations.” Weiner said, “I have zero regrets about cancelling. They ruined what had been a nonpartisan community-building arts institution for so many decades. In just one year, they completely destroyed it.”
He continued, “I just feel sad for the loss of another great American institution. It’s a great loss, amongst so many other great losses. . . . But—we persist.”
Given the themes of the new album and the politically charged reactions to his recent work, it might seem surprising that Iowa has become one of Weiner’s strongholds. Weiner and LCC have played a slew of gigs across the state over the years, including venues in Iowa City, Des Moines, and Davenport.
“People in Iowa have soul,” Weiner noted. “That’s what I’ve discovered and loved about performing there over the years. It has nothing to do with politics.” It has to do with a deeper connection. “I truly love Iowa crowds,” Weiner says. “And I can’t wait to perform there in Davenport.”