Band Spotlight | Thursday, June 24,2010

New Goat Ensemble

This Sunday, the New Goat Ensemble celebrates 20 years of making the most marvelous and mischievous music this side of Pan himself. Always perpetrators of off-the-wall cover songs, the Jacksonville-ba

Band Spotlight | Thursday, June 17,2010

Kentucky Knife Fight

By Tom Irwin

With a name only a southern Illinois band mother could love, Kentucky Knife Fight arose from a raucous open mic night at the legendary Stagger Inn Again in Edwardsville to become one of the hardest ro

Band Spotlight | Thursday, June 10,2010

Max Allen Band

By Tom Irwin

Fresh from their Springfield debut at last week’s SOHO Music Festival, the Max Allen Band (MAB) drops into Marly’s on June 17 for a night of funk-blues-jam-jazz-rock songs. A seasoned grou

Band Spotlight | Thursday, June 3,2010

Dan Hubbard and the Humadors

By Tom Irwin

Based in not-so-faraway Normal, Dan and the gang list themselves as an original rock and roll band, which is pretty cool when you think about it. No hyphens or hype, invented categories or inverted ge

Band Spotlight | Thursday, May 27,2010

The Emerald Underground

By Tom Irwin

Normally this space is reserved for “Springfield’s Celtic house band” during the week of St. Patrick’s Day festivities, but the show at Celtic Mist’s monthly “Hoole

Band Spotlight | Thursday, May 20,2010

Kurt Crandall

By Tom Irwin

The harmonica surely must be the easiest instrument to learn and the most difficult to master, thereby giving the world a glut of mediocre harp blowers and a handful of skillful players. Kurt Crandall

Band Spotlight | Thursday, May 13,2010

The Breathing Process

By Tom Irwin

Hailing from a region of Connecticut and western Massachusetts called Connectivania by this six-member rock band, the group claims to “introduce elements of epic ambience and melody unseen by mo

Band Spotlight | Thursday, May 6,2010

Mr. Opporknockity

By Tom Irwin

This rock quintet dominated the band scene in Springfield around the turn of the century with energetic live shows, exciting original songs and an incredible base of friends and fans. Originally an ac

Band Spotlight | Thursday, April 29,2010

Shelley Miller

By Tom Irwin

Please notice this is not until next Thursday, but something as good as this deserves a heads up. Shelley Miller is a fantastic singer and songwriter as well as an accomplished guitarist. She calls Ch

Band Spotlight | Thursday, April 22,2010

Frank Trompeter Quartet

By Tom Irwin

For a couple of decades now, saxophonist Frank Trompeter has continually leveled a creative blast upon the local landscape. From involvement in several popular bands, including elevator shoe and Razin