Lead guitarist Robert Beam, an Atlanta, Ga., transplant who made a mark as a professional touring and studio musician over the last 30 some years, sets the tone for Bluesmattic, with bassist Greg Campbell and drummer Scott Henrikson laying down a strong blues foundation for the experienced and talented performer. Beam’s music history includes by […]
Tom Irwin
Tom Irwin, a sixth-generation Sangamon County resident, has played his songs and music for nearly 40 years in the central Illinois area with occasional forays across the country. He's contributed to Illinois Times since 2000 by writing Now Playing, a weekly music column, as well as features stories and other articles. He resides on the Irwin family farm in rural Pleasant Plains.
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Summertime blues
Eddie Cochran famously claimed in his 1958 classic rockabilly hit that, “there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues,” and from the looks of the upcoming blues events for central Illinois we’re in for an epidemic. From the Chatham Sweetcorn Festival to the Old State Capitol Blues & BBQs, with several Blue Monday jams tossed […]
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Red Letter Merchant
Putting together a band is easy. Turning it into a successful venture is not. Red Letter Merchant is determined to take the idea of becoming an all original, modern rock band and make it a reality. After coming together in early 2008 hoping to avoid further, “typical band drama,” Ryan Louis, (piano, vocals), Scott Neuweg […]
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The Remedy
Are you “Certified Remedy Rocked” yet? Be sure to get your official recognition from the band at The Remedy show this weekend. The fun-rocking, six-piece group, including Steve Simac (bass), Joey Cavatorta (guitar), Harlin Swofford (drums), Dan Gordon (rhythm guitar and vocals), Don Stimac (vocals), and Lynn Saputo (vocals), live and work in the Springfield […]
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Hail the Great American Taxi
Back in March of 2005, Vince Herman and Chris Staehly needed a band to play for a Rainforest Action Group benefit concert in Boulder, Colo. The two musicians put together Great American Taxi and have been riding in the cab with the meter running ever since. Herman, best known for his work as frontman for […]
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Brad Elvis of The Handcuffs
Honestly Abe, what an incredible selection of live music goings on are going on around Springfield this weekend. From shows around the lake and neighboring town fireworks shindigs, the downtown Capital City Bicentennial Celebration and American Music Stage to all the regular bar business bands, it’s a regular once in a 200-year gala event. Plenty […]
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The Aspect
Conceived by Bill McKenzie (bass, vocals) as a “collection of local musicians from different bands who get together now and again for recording projects of live performances around particular themes,” the Aspect is not your average, everyday band. Last seen presenting the Beatles catalogue, the Fab Four are so all-encompassing and so ingrained in the […]
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Rockin’ moms unite for a cause
When Anna Fermin and Becky Aud-Jennison decided it was time to act upon their humanitarian and philanthropic desires, everything just fell into place. Fermin, a popular singer-songwriter in Chicago and Aud-Jennison, a psychotherapist living in Springfield, describe the formation of MomsthatRock Productions, a homespun charitable organization, as a nearly spiritual convergence, bound to happen as […]
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Brainchild
Brainchild, a band quartet of two guitars, bass and drums, works in a fairly exclusive area of rock music. According to their Web site information, the Peoria-based group “integrates the feeling of jazz and soul with the intensity of shredding guitar solos” and declares that, “the best way to describe the sound is Brainchild.” On […]
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Fair play in New Berlin
The Sangamon County Fair is already underway, but if you’re a prompt and punctual Thursday reader of Illinois Times (why of course you are!) only one day of spectacular entertainment has passed you by. Peggy Lowder and Royal Pain at the Miller Rock beer tent and Hells Bells, the AC DC impersonation — excuse me […]
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Don’t miss Bluestone’s debut performance
I received an e-mail last week from Jacob Shane, better known to central Illinois music fans as Jake Shane, the young blues picker who represented the Illinois Central Blues Club at the 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Shane won the duo/solo competition in Springfield and performed during the annual contest, where players from all […]
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SOHO far, SOHO good
Not so long ago the fledgling SOHO Music Fest was an awkward but earnest attempt to raise funds for a local charity while presenting local rock bands to a somewhat uncaring and apathetic community. Now in its fifth year, the downtown block party held on June 5 and 6 keeps getting bigger and better, staking […]
