A Rare Night with Mason Jennings

Singer-songwriter Mason Jennings will perform at 707 Sports Bar & Nightlife on Friday, July 24.

Rapid City musician Abbey Leach will open the evening. The show comes just two weeks after the release of Dark Wings, Jennings’ 18th studio album, giving Black Hills audiences one of the first opportunities to hear songs from the new record performed live.

Recorded with drummer and producer Scott McPherson, Dark Wings builds on the quieter approach of 2025’s Magnifier while bringing additional musicians into the studio. Across its eleven tracks, Jennings explores themes of family, faith, grief and hope through the direct songwriting that has defined his work for nearly three decades.

Jennings first emerged from Minneapolis in the late 1990s with a self-recorded debut that quickly earned a devoted following. Since then, he’s released 18 solo albums, collaborated with Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard in Painted Shield, and continued to tour independently while many of his contemporaries faded from view.

Even people unfamiliar with his name have likely heard his music. Jennings’ songs have appeared in films including The Last Kiss and Dear John, and on television series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Friday Night Lights and How I Met Your Mother. His catalog has quietly become part of the soundtrack for a generation of indie and folk listeners.

Opening the evening is Rapid City singer-songwriter Abbey Leach. Since moving to the Black Hills, Leach has become a familiar face on local stages with a folk-inspired style that blends original songs with carefully chosen acoustic covers. Sharing the bill with Jennings gives local audiences the chance to discover one of the region’s emerging songwriters before the headliner takes the stage.

For longtime fans, Friday’s concert offers one of the earliest chances to hear songs from Dark Wings performed live. For everyone else, it’s an opportunity to catch an artist whose career has influenced modern independent songwriting while seeing him in one of the Black Hills’ best venues.

Know Before You Go

• Date: Friday, July 24
• Venue: 707 Sports Bar & Nightlife at The Park
• Opening Act: Abbey Leach
• Jennings’ songs have appeared in films and television watched by millions, including Grey’s Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, How I Met Your Mother, The Last Kiss and Dear John. Friday’s performance comes just two weeks after the release of his newest album, Dark Wings, making it one of the first opportunities to hear the new material live.