Along with an excess of inclement weather this past week, our music listings are flooded in the upcoming weekend with an assortment of styles, acts and genres raining down upon our glorious community scene. Let’s wade through the puddles, wet our whistles and see what we have on tap.
After hoping here last week for more Thursday shows to occur, lo and behold (and I am not taking credit), the tide is rising. Curt Smith launches the outdoor season on the comfortable patio area (weather permitting!) at Casey’s Pub, as he succinctly and sincerely puts it, “playing the songs you like to hear” on acoustic guitar and vocals. The Backroom Lounge in Riverton lands a set of talented artists doing solo acoustic shows when Kayla Ray with Melissa Corbett and Daniel Johnson play the intimate listening room, while Danenberger Family Vineyards goes full-speed ahead on the Grateful Dead with tribute band Terrapin Flyer mooring the WineRocks stage. The open mics surge at varying times, starting with The Railyard (4-6 p.m.), heading into John Drake’s once-a-month spot at Ad Astra Wine Bar (7-9:30 p.m.) and washing ashore with Kortney and Friends at The Blue Grouch (7-11 p.m.). Then to top it all off, The Art of Jazz, downtown at the Pharmacy Gallery, pours it on with the UIS Jazz Band (7-8 p.m.), followed by a set from guitarist Jose Gobbo and his fellow Brazilian, saxophonist Raphael Ferreira.
Friday forecasts a deluge of live music making, including Liz Fitz Band drizzling at Bloom Wine Bar and Blue Note Trio mizzling at Harvest Market Farmhouse Brews. Rod Grant drops into HyVee Wahlburgers while Tom Beverly and Geoff Ryan plop into Pease’s at BUNN Gourmet.
The bigger bands make a splash as the ever-popular Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters reign at Motorheads with an all-new show, Jeff Young and the Bad Grandpas float downstream into Long Bridge Golf Course, Mike Burnett and the Suns of Circumstance with special guest Joe Dawkins go up the creek at George Rank’s, The Collective navigate The Curve Inn and Branded rows into Weebles. How’s that for an outpouring of local music?
Wait, there’s more on Saturday night when the torrent continues with the Voodoo Exiles drowning in the Rolling Stones at Goodfellas as Dead Letter Office drips REM at Danenberger’s, while Off the Wall hits the beach at VFW Post 755, Broken Stone submerges into The Blue Grouch and Angel Brown’s Smooth N’ Blue Band drifts into Lime Street Cafe.
If going to small towns around our town floats your boat, paddle your way to Beckerman & Dirks at 1st & 3rd Boutique and Wine Bar in Petersburg and War Road Gypsy at The Range Bourbon & Brews in Chatham, then dock with Beige Desperados at DeCamp Station in Staunton and Jason McKenzie at The Filling Station in Rochester. Jacksonville overflows on Saturday with The Longmeyer Band at The Hangout Bar & Grill and The Four County Band at Kuhl Tyme Korner, while the cascade keeps coming with Midwest Revival at Locals in Pawnee and Jonnie Concaroo Band in Morrisonville’s K of C Hall.
Sunday is awash with more music as the cloudburst continues with solo shows by Dallas Whittaker at Brookhills Golf Club, Matt Combs at It’s All About Wine and Timo Arthur at Hill Prairie Winery. The Fantastical Folk Jam, a gathering of acoustic instrumentalists and fans of old-time music – once anchored at Buzz Bomb – has sailed its first and third Sundays get-togethers to Harvest Market Farmhouse Brews, jamming there from 4 to 6 p.m.
Now, as ol’ Hank Williams said, “If the good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise,” see you next week as we dive deeper into the pool of hometown music.
This article appears in Talking trash.
