From local awards (including decades worth of “Best of Springfield” honors in Illinois Times) to opening for Willie Nelson at the Illinois State Fair, Tom Irwin has been around for a while but still manages to stay busy. His upcoming shows include a run to Nashville next week for the Americana Festival, two performance on […]
Music
Posted inMusic
Music labors
Here we are approaching and directly running into September 2017, with the Labor Day weekend upon us like nobody’s business. What should we do but enjoy all we can. Let’s take a moment on this Labor Day holiday weekend to remember all those who sacrificed their livelihoods – and sometimes their lives – to create […]
Posted inMusic
Gracia Harrison
Gracia Harrison vaulted to national prominence with her astounding appearance on the third season of “The Voice.” Although she didn’t win it all, her relationship with Blake Shelton and the ensuing publicity ensured her a way to continue with a career in music. Long before her “The Voice” performance, Gracia had dedicated her life to […]
Posted inMusic
Ending August blast
Well, we made it through the state fair, survived a solar eclipse, and now we’re preparing to wrap up a very exciting and busy August 2017. Don’t stop now, folks, this week and the weekend are chock-full of more stuff than you can shake a stick at. On Thursday the Nashville-based, Southern rock-influenced band The […]
Posted inMusic
Harpeth Rising
A delightfully talented trio of young women, Harpeth Rising is an amazing string band with intensely good harmonies, intricate instrumental work and singer-songwriter songs. Jordana Greenberg (violin, lead vocals), Michelle Younger (banjo, vocals) and Maria Di Meglio (cello, vocals) bring classically trained musicianship to folk and new-grass styles of music, bridging a gap between the […]
Posted inMusic
Sounds fair enough
We’re closing in on the final days of the 2017 Illinois State Fair, and from all reports, all has gone fairly well. Soon the dust will clear, the flies will fly away, and our entertainment scene will return to normal as the memories of fun times carry us through until next year. As always, there […]
Posted inMusic
The Lucky Losers
Heads up, folks! Here comes the best from the west, as Cathy Lemons (vocals) and Phil Berkowitz (vocals, harmonica) bring The Lucky Losers in from San Francisco by way of a Midwest tour. Known as the top male/female-fronted blues band from the Bay Area, the duo is joined by a killer (as they say) band […]
Posted inMusic
Indie rock legends invade Bloomington
Next week, two of the music world’s longest-standing, most influential and consistently popular indie rock bands will be performing at the Castle Theatre in Bloomington on consecutive nights: Canadian art-pop super-group The New Pornographers on Wednesday, Aug.16, and Dayton, Ohio-based low-fi veterans Guided by Voices on Thursday, Aug. 17. Built to Spill. The Mountain Goats. […]
Posted inMusic
More than fair
Yessiree, folks, it’s that time of year when the state fair comes to town, whether you like it or not. Along with the all the fair doings, here are a few other happenings in our fair city that might get lost in the shade of the bright lights of the Illinois State Fair. Tonight (that’s […]
Posted inMusic
New City Road
Named after a country blacktop heading south out of town that could tell some tales if it could, this band is full of authentic local country musicians that could (and do) tell some tales of their own, but prefer to let their music do the talking. Melanie Finley (vocals, guitar, tambourine) fronts the modern country […]
Posted inMusic
August with gusto
August in Springfield is ruled by heat and the events of the Illinois State Fair, which runs from August 10 through August 20. In the week before, here are a few doings to do (or not). Tonight (Thursday) at Bar None (I hope you got your Illinois Times today) another hopping Bedrock 66 Live! concert […]
Posted inMusic
Midnight River Choir
This Texas quartet (they’re really from New Braunfels, but people just say Austin) got their name from an incident on the first night they met. While floating together down the Guadalupe River, they bonded by harmonizing and singing songs through the night. The next day, folks were talking about the “midnight river choir” mysteriously heard […]
