Band Spotlight

Sally Barris PHOTO BY ADAM FREHM A Minnesota native, this class act singer and songwriter moved to Nashville many years ago and carved out a comfortable niche as a personality, performer and writer. With her songs covered by the likes of Martina McBride, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood and Kathy Mattea, as well as being […]

From her days as a teenage singer fronting Still Kickin’, the popular Midwest band based out of Springfield, Kelsey Hickman seemed poised for stardom. After Still Kickin’ split in 2013, Kelsey did what many aspiring country singers before her have done and headed for the bright lights of Music City, USA, Nashville, Tenn. After a […]

Native of the Asheville, North Carolina, Swannanoa Valley area, Reed Turchi grew up playing boogie-woogie blues piano, became infatuated with the slide guitar sounds of Northern Mississippi and just kept going into blues, rock and soul. From 2012 until 2014, his group Turchi rocked the blues world with solid releases plus hard touring in the […]

Rockin’ Johnny Burgin & Aki Kumar A true dynamic duo, Rockin’ Johnny Burgin and Aki Kumar come ready to play at the weekly Blue Monday jam hosted by our Illinois Central Blues Club. Johnny has graced us before with his peculiarly wonderful, expressionistic way of doing real Chicago blues. Now he brings along his pal […]

The Suburban Mystics Formed by friends interested in playing interesting music together, this local Springfield group includes members of such renowned area bands as The Aspect, Mr. Opporknockity, Winky and the Love Buddhas, Daddy$ Money, The LandSharks, The Emerald Underground, The Tongue Puppets and many more. Bandmates Lori McKenzie (vocals, percussion), Bill McKenzie (bass, vocals), […]

The Dead Hands PHOTO BY JENNIFER LUBBS These Chicago guys got a good start in the business by winning WGN’s Breakthrough Band competition in 2014 with their first single, “Grind Your Teeth.” After spending 2015 promoting and playing the latest release, Shiny Things, the guys headed back into the studio last February to start on […]

Joel DaSilva & the Midnight Howl Using Chicago and Florida as home bases, this traveling, genre-hopping roots rocker is calling the road home these last few months. Fresh from an Alamo Blue Monday show, Joel and the boys made a run to Canada last Sunday and now are working back south. With Joel manning the […]

photo courtesy of Scott Hammann / Clear Focus Photography Named after a blacktop south of town heading out to the country through New City, this band is like family to each other and plays to the crowd with the dedication and closeness of relatives. With the active stage presence and powerful lead vocals of the […]

Legendary Shack Shakers Celebrating 20 years as an entity on the scene, head Shack Shaker J.D. Wilkes (now an official Kentucky colonel as bestowed by the state’s governor) brings his fellow bandmates bassist Mark Robertson, guitarist Rod Hamdallah and drummer Brett Whitacre on a Midwest tour in May. The LSS released The Southern Surreal, their […]

When he was 15 years old, this North Carolina native bought a harmonica after asking his mom to take him to a music store, and, as they say, the rest is history. Several years ago Brandon Santini moved his music game to Memphis, adding the North Mississippi and Delta-blues feel to his Piedmont style. After […]