Fancy this. my fellow February friends. Suppose you live in a world that offers live music at a reasonable price (often free) in varying venues (generally well-kept) on a regular basis (more than one show nearly every night of the week) and all you need to do to participate is to participate. Yes, this described world exists right in your area and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Now let’s go find out about all the what, when and where. Why not?
Let’s begin with a heads up for Sunday, Feb. 15, when friends and family of Bobby Hoyt – known to many as “Tequila Bob” – will gather at The Alamo (thanks, Barry!) for a second annual celebration of the life and times of this idiosyncratic icon and former staple of the local bar scene starting at 1 p.m. and going until it’s over. See you there, handsome, or haircut, or whatever else Bobby called you.
Our Thursdays are thawing out with a few happenings including a performance by acclaimed bassist, musician, arranger and spoken word artist William B. Hart at Stella Coffee and Tea from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. while the acoustic duo of Aasne Daniels and Jerry Setnicky – known as After School Special – delivers a batch of original tunes and unusual covers at Mother Road Diner in the evening.
Next up we have a cool concert happening at a special space when Joshua Reilly teams up with Roc Helton this Friday at the Bullard Country Chapel in Buffalo for an evening of original music from these two talented singers and songwriters. Our hometown guy Josh, who has lived near Tampa for many years, created a songwriter space down there for himself while helping Roc (and many others) bring new music into the world. Listen to their tunes on most digital platforms, buy your tickets at Eventbrite and shuffle out to Buffalo to enjoy the vibes in this 120-year-old church coming back to life as a vibrant music venue.
Let’s stick with the cool concerts this Friday as Dumb Records downtown hosts a night of really good, area-based original bands featuring Attic Salt, The Lovelorn, Sweetmelk (from Champaign) and Scarlet’s Darling. All these groups produced studio recordings available online (and some physical copies) in the last few years, which is really awesome, incredible and downright wonderful. So take a moment to peruse and use the internet by typing in the band names and listening for a bit (or longer) and reading up on what’s what. Then when you show up for the concert be sure to request a favorite song and purchase all the merch you can carry to support your local music-making, song slinging, out-there-performing band of choice.
Concert time continues on Saturday with Sunshine Daydream going “Springfield Sphere” on us at Motorheads using the mighty big screen, Lateralus turning on the Tool at Danenberger Family Vineyards, TobyMac, Crowder and Jeremy Camp playing at the BOS Center for the Hits Deep 2026 Tour, Illinois native Craig Gerdes singing a solo show at The Stadium and modern country star Josh Meloy turning on the “Porch Light” at Boondocks, just in case you were wondering if there were any other goings on going on around town.
Sunday Funday will be a super day to go bowling, if you know what I mean, but there’s plenty of music to take in before the big game including Matt Mifflin at Crafted Stag Supply and Craig Russo Quartet with vocalist Alex Manfredo at It’s All About Wine.
Please visit our listings for all the other good stuff going on.
This article appears in February 5-11, 2026.
