Erik Vincent Huey – Fort Defiance Album Release w/Starbelly and Eric Ambel at Pearl Street Warehouse
in Washington DC February 13, 2026
The Friday the 13th before Valentine’s Day 2026 was about three years since now-Austin-based Erik Huey performed at Pearl Street Warehouse in DC in support of his first solo album Appalachian Gothic. His return to this venue heralded the much anticipated arrival of Erik’s new album Fort Defiance. You can watch Americana Highways’ premiere of video for the title track here: Video Premiere: Erik Vincent Huey “Fort Defiance“.
Erik Huey left nothing on the Pearl Street stage. He came out swinging with four rockers from Fort Defiance to lead off a largely up-tempo thirteen song set. While the show drew heavily from Fort Defiance, Erik saw to it that his long-time fans got a generous helping of covers and songs from previous albums. The label “Americana” is a nebulous one, and there was more of a rock vibe to this show than there was for the Appalachian Gothic shows.
Supporting Erik on stage was Baltimore-based band Starbelly, augmented by producer and guitarist extraordinaire Eric “Roscoe” Ambel. This team of musicians, who played together on the live shows for Appalachian Gothic and in the studio for Fort Defiance, easily matched intensity with Erik, who handed his soul over song by song to the enthusiastic pre-Valentine’s Day crowd in attendance. Erik is a dynamic performer who takes every opportunity to connect with his audience, and he certainly delivered every ounce of energy he had – every song – every note.
I hope the Austin scene gives Erik many opportunities to play his songs live, and I hope that it won’t be another three years before we have the chance to see Erik Huey in DC again.
Starbelly (Bryan Ewald, Cliff Hillis, Dennis Schocket and Greg Schroeder) opened the show with a nearly hour-long, tight, energetic set of their own songs. Eric Ambel also played a couple of songs in between.
Find more information here: https://www.erikvincenthuey.com/bio; here: https://www.ericambel.com/goods; and here: https://starbellyfour.bandcamp.com
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Show Review: Erik V. Huey/Starbelly at Pearl Street and here: Show Review: Sarah Borges w/Eric Ambel at Pearl Street and here: Key to the Highway: Eric Ambel