“Brrrrrr and boooo,” says the little guy inside me. And you know what, he’s right, though we did get a break from the cold stuff in time to somewhat enjoy last weekend. This upcoming one gives us Friday and Saturday with considerably higher temps, hopefully tempting you to live a little with some live music. Let’s see what’s on the books.
Thursdays bring on the clatter as a music day that matters with The Kitchens (Dad Al and daughter Kathy) cooking up country classics and more at Mother Road Diner, Casey Cantrall hosting the once-a-month open mic downtown at The Wakery, Kortney and friends jamming the most excellent Blue Grouch weekly open mic and some guy named Creed Fisher from the “storyteller and rising outlaw country musician” world laying it on us at Boondocks.
Friday not only delivers warmer weather (and possibly rain, making for a mushy mess of the remaining snow and ice), but an exceptional night of live music made in the moment just like we like it. In the burgeoning acoustic market, we have Dan Grover at Wahlburgers in Hy-Vee, Dan Wilson at Farmhouse Brews in Harvest Market, Joel Honey at Locals in Pawnee and Laila Smith at the Buckhart Tavern, plus a triple bill of Joe Dawkins, Rick Mari and Mike Burnett at Brookhills Golf Club.
In a music scene sidenote, Rick Mari, who underwent surgery on his septuagenarian vocal cords last year, says this on his Facebook band page: “Salutations, Good Friends! My voice is 100% and maybe even a little better? You decide this Friday night,” so come on out and critique the soaring vocalizations of Mr. Mari as requested while congratulating him on the fantastic health report.
Friday special events include Hipbone and The Joints downtown at DH Browns doing comedy skits and bits of fun stuff interspersed between the bursts of classic rock tunes, while St. John’s Lutheran Church hosts The Rock!, described as a “family-friendly rock concert” played by local musicians with proceeds supporting Springfield’s Sojourn Shelter.
Over in Jacksonville at the very cool venue, Twisted Tree Music Hall, we have a couple of hot shows upcoming including the wonderful Webb Wilder with Clint Park on Friday and Whitey Morgan with Wes Shipp and Addison Johnson next Tuesday, Jan. 21. Our local hero and Nashville-based songwriter, Lyman Ellerman, has a cut called “Let Me Roll” on Whitey’s latest release, so when you go to the show, yell for that one and mention Lyman.
As they say, you gotta start in the morning if you want to listen to live music all day, so this Saturday get yourself to Stella Coffee & Tea for a dose of Nodal Nim presenting original songs of the quirky flavor on vocals and mandolin starting at 10 a.m. Then you can take a break until 3 and either catch John Drake at 1st & 3rd in Petersburg or Jade Horton at The Range Bourbon & Brew in Chatham or hurry up and do both. To continue your live music binge, at last count we have five acts starting at 6, five more at 7 and another 10 hitting around 8, plus a couple bands stretching start times until 9 on Saturday night, all spread across central Illinois, but mostly in Springfield.
Now if you’ve recovered from that, prepare yourself for another 13 combos playing on Sunday Funday starting with Ricarda Rosalina at the Harvest Market coffee spot at 10 a.m. and Kortney Leatherwood’s open mic at Weebles finishing up at 10 p.m.
Okay, it’s time to rest until next week. Don’t forget to check our listings for all the other stuff going on.
This article appears in A critical loss for District 186.
