Don’t look now, but February (though the weather feels more like April!) is creeping right by us with Valentine’s Day around the bend. Good music keeps making the good times even better and there’s no end in sight, which is a mighty nice thing. Let’s take a peek at what’s happening ’round town and give that happy Valentine heart a big hug.
In keeping up with the recorded output of our scene, here are some tidbits from local music-makers putting out the tunes into the big world beyond Springfield. Charles Tiner, known in music land as Mr. N’Treble, just released a new single called “Don’t Be a Fool Too Long,” now available on his website as a purchasable video and soon to be out there on all digital platforms. Square of the Roots put together a cool video for their new single, “Sister Georgia,” and you can check it out on YouTube, purchase the song and more on those same digital platforms that appear a lot these days. David Lumsden’s 2022 album, Rooted in the Blues, made a good showing on the year-end Roots Music Report charting system, coming in at No. 27 for the entire year, right up there with some heavy blues hitters, plus Hurricane Ruth (LaMaster) rolled in on the RMR close to Dave at No. 24 for her release, Live at 3rd and Lindley. Let’s take a moment to give these two central Illinois native artists some well-deserved, hearty congratulations.
In the combined live music and recorded output connection, Wayward Motel drops a new single called “Beauty Queen” on Friday, then hits George Ranks with pals Go! Tsunami on Saturday to let it all hang out. Just remember that you can “buy local” with music, just as you can other items, so look up these folks and open up that digital wallet.
BUNN Gourmet hops on the live music bus big time this week with the Samba Llamas delivering authentic samba music on Thursday, the inimitable Johnnie Owens singing on Friday (both shows are 5 to 7), The Tangents playing on Saturday (3 to 5) and Tom Beverly and Geoff Ryan cleaning up on Monday (5 to 7).
And while we have The Tangents up and going – just so you know, that’s Tiffany Riech-Cantrall and Casey Cantrall – the still fairly new newlyweds are all over the place this weekend. After the Saturday BUNN Gourmet gig, they pop over to Harvest Market’s Farmhouse Brews (6-9), then round out the busy weekend with a visit to It’s All About Wine on Sunday (3-6). Congrats, you two, on finding a sweet way for a gigging couple to spend time together and spread the love as we come up on Valentine’s Day.
There looks to be some fun happening at the Curve Inn on Saturday night when Tyler Landess gets it going with an acoustic show called Ty and Friends, including Zack Fedor opening up the shenanigans. I remember when they had a band together called Young Luck and released a CD called Springfield City Limits back in 2014. Zack’s been up in Chicago for a while hosting open mics, plus writing and recording, all while getting his feet wet in the big city waters. Tyler spent years with Lick Creek, got voted Best Guitarist in our Best of Springfield thing for 2022 and now kicks out the jams with Ty and the Family Foundation. Brian Graham will be on the playing guest list Saturday, along with a few others we won’t know about until they show up and the music starts.
Until next week, won’t you be mine?
This article appears in The museum built on Native American burial mounds.
