Music

I first met Michael “Supe” Granda about 2:30 in the morning at Bruce’s Tavern in August of 1990. Or was it ’91? Anyway, the Illinois State Fair was in session, bars were open until 3 a.m., and I was playing a bunch of old, country songs wringing the last delights out of a late-night performance […]

This week we’re working on an assortment of related music here at Now Playing World Headquarters. It just so happens in the next 10 days Springfield plays host to a collection of top-notch, world-class entertainers from the traditional singer-songwriter and bluegrass genres. Maybe I dwell on this style of music too much for some folks’ […]

Boo! Here comes Halloween weekend when the bars get loaded with plenty of costume contests, lots of live music and general all-around weirdness, which adds up to one frighteningly good time. Check the IT Pub Crawl listings for a favorite fright night location and have some fun on this hoot of a holiday. Then around […]

Blues music, a major influence on jazz, rock-n-roll, rhythm & blues, rock, soul, and country, and the source of the many variations of blues styles, is alive and well in Springfield. Much of the local credit for supporting this foundational music goes to the Illinois Central Blues Club for staying focused on keeping blues in […]

What could be better than winning an Illinois Times Best of Springfield award? Being recognized by peers within your community is an honor and delight, to be accepted with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, under normal circumstances and within the parameters of voting and tallying the votes, there is only one number one, regardless of how […]

Untitled Document Here is a striking example of the incredible and profound talent floating around the universe that occasionally ends up on our doorstep, as three good songwriters stop by Springfield in one weekend. First let’s discuss our local product, a legend-in-the-making, and all-around swell fellow, John Walter. Known as Walty to his national fan […]

Untitled Document After conducting an informal survey, I found very few people knew the name of the original drummer for the Beatles. Pete Best played with John, Paul and George (and some with Stuart Sutcliffe, but that’s another story) during their formative years in the early ’60s. Best got the boot after the band signed […]

If you’re wondering (and you’re probably not) how a theatrical musical found its way into a column about live music happenings, it is simply this: Roger Wainwright, composer of the play’s songs, is a musician. A well-respected, veteran keyboardist of several local bands, Wainwright now spends his days writing songs about specific subjects intended for […]

Untitled Document Oh me, oh my! With so many excellent events and great goings-on this week I feel professionally unable to place one above the others. Therefore I’ve decided to take the easy way out and list, in one long, Now Playing breath, as many of the delightful deeds as I can muster. First here’s […]

Untitled Document I must admit a strong weakness for writing about any locally inspired and produced, live music series. Last week it was the Bedrock 66 Live! and this column through the years (that would be eight of them with this issue or the next, thank you very much) has enjoyed supporting the efforts of […]

My recent interview with Eric Taylor, a legendary songwriter and irascible character, got off to a lovely start. While explaining I wasn’t a real journalist, just a musician writing a column for much fun and little profit, he told of a recent exchange with a genuine professional writer. “Some other journalist from your town called […]