Here we come a-wassailing, among the leaves so green – no, wait a second – it’s much too early for that song. Let’s please get through Thanksgiving first, which is nearly as late as it can be with another week remaining before Turkey Day happens. Then we can plunge into all the hoopla surrounding the holidays. But first, let’s see what’s shaking now.
Thursdays this season are settling down to be open mic nights with acoustic hosts Casey Cantrall at The Wakery and Mike Metz at The Bird Tavern, plus Kortney and Friends full-band jamming at The Blue Grouch. In the not-an-open-mic category, look for a “Show & Glow” night at Crows Mill Pub featuring “live, original, local hip hop” with Kennon Penn and Jefe Dahooligan, something very apt to get the old club floor bouncing, for sure.
We can always count on Fridays to be loaded with all kinds of live music from jazz, acoustic, retro-rock, pop covers, country and about everything in between and out beyond, with this pre-Thanksgiving weekend being no different. Let’s start where we often do, at Boone’s for the weekly Friday Night Jazz & Blues series sponsored by our Springfield Area Arts Council featuring central Illinois groups.
This week is super special with the debut of “jazz piano phenom” Adrian Russo with his dad, Craig Russo, taking on the percussion and drums while Max Beckman gets the bass barking. In another generational show, how about stopping by the Route 66 Hotel on South Sixth Street to catch up with The Kitchens performing a night of music by Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline – joined by the one and only Allan Harris on guitar – for a ticketed show in the ballroom. Proud papa Al and daughter Kathy have decades of performances together and this tribute show, from what I hear, is something special. I better jump on the bandwagon since I’m playing bass with my son, guitarist Owen, as we back up Elvis Himselvis at Harvest Market along with Ryan Napier on keys and Andrew Stoutenborough on drums, with, of course, Rick Dunham doing E.P. proud.
In non-family get-togethers from bands on Friday, Off the Wall (definitely an unrelated family band, don’t you think so, Kip?) bounces into Danenberger Family Vineyards for a three-hour non-stop, rock-pop show, Chris Camp & His Blues Ambassadors line up for Lime Street (Saturday as well), Grounded lifts off at Weebles, Wolf Crick Boys head up a hoedown at George Rank’s, Hipbone & the Joints get smokin’ at Pier 55 and Birds of a Feather fly the coop at the Curve Inn.
Moving on to Saturday, we’ve collected an offbeat collection of live music spectacles including country music man Ryan Montgomery at Boondocks, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Jaik Willis with Jobe Shores at Broadgauge in Petersburg, Revel in Red hitting the hits at Motorheads, Michael Burnett & the Suns of Circumstance rising to the occasion at The Stadium, Blues Deacons traveling from Champaign to do Harvest Market, Soul Experience laying it down at Casey’s Pub for a big pre-Thanksgiving celebration and Mississippi Leghound humping it up at Goodfellas.
Making the mad dash to Sunday, a happy assortment of music awaits, especially in the small towns around with Thornhill at Hill Prairie Winery near Oakford, Robert Sampson at Trails End in Curran, Jaigh and Josie Lowder at Lucky’s on the Square in Petersburg, Kilborn Alley at Pop’s Place in Decatur, Frank Powell and Rick Carson at South Fork Pub in Kincaid, Not Petty at Buckhart Tavern and John Drake at Slauterhouse Brewing in Auburn.
Please check our listings for more goodies as we move onward to Thanksgiving week where there’s an extraordinary amount of live music cooking in the oven.
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