W&L Presents ‘Wild Wild East’ with Musician and Composer Sunny Jain Jain and his band will perform their self-titled album on Feb. 5.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
January 22, 2026

Editor’s note: The following release was written by Allison Munck ’27 for W&L’s Lenfest Center for the Arts.

The Lenfest Center at Washington and Lee University presents a performance by Sunny Jain and his band, Wild Wild East, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5 in the Keller Theatre.

Tickets are required and available online or in person at the Lenfest Center box office.

Jain is the band leader and drummer for Wild Wild East, whose self-titled album (2020) is a daring musical investigation that challenges American myth and global identities. The album defies words and genre, creating a kaleidoscope of global sounds and serving as an expression of American spirit that honors the multitudes of cultures, people and stories the country contains. The surf guitar and bansuri flute accompany the dhol (a double-headed drum widely used throughout the Indian subcontinent) in a musical migration from east to west — a modern cowboy’s journey. The Feb. 5 performance of the album will allow audiences to travel with the band across the borders of uncountable genres, guided by expertly interconnected global sounds.

A composer, jazz drummer and dhol player, Jain uses his music to put varied sounds into conversation with each other. Each of his albums pays homage to his own diverse background and experiences as a first-generation South Asian American from Rochester, New York. Jain has brought his energy to stages across the world, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the London Paralympic Games.

“Wild Wild East” first took shape in 2016, and, through the album’s development, Jain challenged the classical notion of the American cowboy. He suggests that the traits typically associated with the cowboy — the courage to leave a homeland and move west, the bravery of learning to find your place in an unexplored world — belong to the immigrant.

“I think what shines through doing this album is the coming forward of the multiple identities of an immigrant, in my case being Indian American,” Jain said. “There is not just this longing for South Asia and India, but there’s the fact that I am American, and there are many complex interactions within that.”

Order your tickets online today or call the Lenfest Center box office at 540-458-8000 for ticket information. Box office hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The cost is $35 for adults, $32 for seniors, $29 for W&L faculty and staff and $8 for students.

This performance is sponsored in part by the Class of 1964 Performing Arts Fund.

For a full list of performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies, the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.