Band Spotlight

In an amazing career that spans four decades, Tret Fure began singing professionally at 16, worked with Spencer Davis at 19, soon after signed with MCA/UNI Records and released her major label debut in 1973, produced by none other than legendary Little Feat founder, the late Lowell George. After several years in the industry as […]

St. Louis-based band Alabaster Brown spent a good deal of 2010 traveling the country, especially in the Midwest and up and down the East Coast with festival stops at Springjam at Camp Zoe in Salem, Mo., Summercamp in Chillicothe, Ill., Mountain Jam in Woodstock, N.Y., and North Coast Festival in Chicago. The rockin’ roots quartet […]

Considered one of the most prolific and profound artists in the Americana genre, Alejandro Escovedo quite simply is legendary. From his early days with punk/country/rockers Rank & File in the 1980s through a brilliant solo career nearly cut short by a serious bout with Hepatitis C in 2003, the Austin-based artist plays blistering electric guitar […]

The Hired Hands moniker originated from an offhand comment by local music guy Sean Burns about the shifting musicians in Tom Irwin’s groups of the early 2000s. With the added descriptive adjective “Notorious” distinguishing them from other accompanists, the name stuck on this combination of Tom “Dooley” Woolsey (guitar), Raoul (guitar), Keith Voegele (bass) and […]

About five months ago, Mike Williams, former guitarist in the Lost Boys and Misspent Youth, devised a strategy to form a band. He invited fellow central Illinois music “vets” Kortney Leatherwood (Sleepwalker, 808, Stone Giants) on guitar, Perry Zubeck (Cats on Holiday) on keyboards, Steve Gragert (Dirty Ernies) on bass and Shaun Tobin (Lost Boys) […]

Look who’s coming to Norb Andy’s. It’s none other than Greg Ginn, founder of Black Flag, one of the most influential and important American punk bands. Ginn, chief songwriter and organizer of the group, worked along with Henry Rollins, the more visible frontman, from 1976 to 1986. After disbanding the band, Ginn continued playing guitar […]

Singer-songwriters belong to a special group of performers, those who not only entertain, but also edify and enlighten, espousing their personal beliefs to a hopefully appreciative audience. For Julie Schurr the all-original, self-described “indierockbitchfolk” songs she performs in a brilliant voice supported by her acoustic guitar, inform listeners of the world of lesbian music in […]

What do you get when you take a fired-up blues band of veteran rockers, add a tastefully sweet horn section of exceptionally talented players, then top it off with a vibrant, soulful front man entertainer? A really good band called Reggie Britton and the Sofa Kings, that’s what. In the beginning, Britton, drummer and vocalist […]

From humble beginnings in southern Illinois as a rockin’ country cover band, Sable now charts on the record listings and performs at major festivals while making the march toward music stardom. Known best locally as the house band at Fast Eddie’s near Alton, the group, fronted by Jeff Sable on guitar and vocals, keeps climbing […]

Since her appearance on the music world stage at a young age, Yvonne Gage has set high standards for vocalists in the world of jazz and R&B. Signed early on by RFC/Atlantic Records and later by CIM/CBS Records, Gage primarily focused on the European dance music market where her distinctive voice propelled many a Euro-dance […]

Nary a band around can compete with the flexibility and diversity of the Dan Rivero Trio set list. For more than 15 years, Rivero as drummer, booker and organizer (and namesake as well) has steered his group through every kind of gig scenario one could imagine. With the variety of material available to the well-schooled […]

You can count his 24 recording releases, four Grammy nods or countless performances since starting guitar at age five, but it all adds up to a great career of fantastic music for Australian bluesman Michael Charles. Twenty years ago Buddy Guy invited the Aussie to the U.S. to play at his Legends bar in Chicago […]