Band Spotlight | Thursday, October 18,2012

Chicks with Picks

What do you get when three of the best female guitar-playing and singing songwriters in town come together on the same bill? Chicks with Picks is the correct answer. Josie Lowder, Monica Morris and Sa

Band Spotlight | Thursday, October 11,2012

Porkpie & the Northend Allstars

By Tom Irwin

Born of a jam session as good bands often are, Porkpie & the Northend Allstars began when Hipbone Sam introduced Kirk Lonbom and Craig Wood at a last-Friday jam at Abe’s Southside Pub back i

Band Spotlight | Thursday, October 4,2012

Suit & Tie Guy

By Tom Irwin

This mysterious character lives in Chillicothe, Ill. quietly plotting intricate and intense electronic music while blithely being behind the mask of the ubiquitous suit and tie. Along with his persona

Band Spotlight | Thursday, September 27,2012

Eva Hunter Band

By Tom Irwin

A Fancy Prairie native and Athens High School graduate, Eva got her start in show business with a family band, singing with her sisters. As the emotive vocalist developed into a rhythm guitar player a

Band Spotlight | Thursday, September 20,2012

Mathien

By Tom Irwin

Began in Carbondale and molded in Chicago, the hard driving, pop-rock, soul-funk band Mathien comes back to town on the opening weekend for Donnie’s Homespun nightclub in the Vinegar Hill Mall.

Band Spotlight | Thursday, September 13,2012

The Hitmen and a Dame

By Tom Irwin

These guys have been playing the popular hits for awhile or, as the promo coyly states, “deez guyz been playing da hits of the 60s, 70s & 80s since 2001,” booking everything from bar g

Band Spotlight | Thursday, September 6,2012

Room 306

By Tom Irwin

Claiming to be “playing more musical styles than a department store soundtrack” and that the band “has musical ADHD,” Room 306 comes a-calling with an attitude ready to take li

Band Spotlight | Thursday, August 30,2012

David Berchtold

By Tom Irwin

When done well, fingerpicking a guitar looks so easy anybody could do it. But the task of convincing several digits to make music while moving simultaneously in different, yet coordinated directions a

Band Spotlight | Thursday, August 23,2012

Shelley Miller and Jeremiah Birnbaum

By Tom Irwin

As these two acclaimed singer-songwriters work through an eight-day Midwest tour, the music is not the only thing being celebrated. Birnbaum spent a good part of 2012 recovering from a vocal cord inju

Band Spotlight | Thursday, August 16,2012

Don Smith Band

By Tom Irwin

The Illinois State Fair has many long-running traditions and in the music department none is more incredible than the run of the Don Smith Band. This year marks 32 straight years of performances on th