Band Spotlight

Bourbon Street Rhythm & Ribs, better known to old-timers as Bruce’s Tavern, recently began hosting rock bands every Friday and Saturday night. This Friday becomes more than a wild, rocking show and turns into a fundraiser with the $5 cover going to assist the Access 4 Producers Group in setting up a new production studio […]

Only a few years ago Brooke Thomas sang plenty, but without performing in a traveling band. Now in 2011, after fronting the Blue Suns for about a year, she is releasing a CD, Live from the Capital City, this weekend, won the local 2010 International Blues Challenge solo/duo contest and performs regularly at venues all […]

As area bands go, Area 51 just keeps going. Now in their second decade of performance as a unit, Jeff Loftus (drums, vocals), Larry Dupont (vocals, sax, bass), Larry Crowley (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Rod Vansandt (guitars, vocals, bass) continue to play the top shelf shows in central Illinois. With all the best fests, […]

A guitarist and songwriter since his youth, Chris Mathien began playing as a solo act during his college years at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He hooked up with bassist Mike Schiff and drummer Aaron Bouslog then released the CD Head, Heart and Hands which caught the attention of Chicago’s Midwest Music Group management organization. Another […]

The Illinois Central Blues Club features Philadelphia’s Deb Callahan on the Fourth of July for a Red, White and Blue Monday. The blues and soul-soaked singer and songwriter released Tell It Like It Is, her fourth CD, in October of 2010.  Produced by Deb with Philadelphia musician Chris Arms and recorded at Studio 4 in […]

Less than a year after forming, KFD is now firmly established as one of the top notch cover bands in central Illinois with an imposing list of big gigs lined up for this summer. Along with headlining the prestigious Chatham Homecoming the group, consisting of local music veterans Perry Zubeck (keyboards, vocals), Mike Williams (lead […]

Originally formed about a year and a half ago with music industry up-and-comer Jonathan Cour as singer-songwriter and front man, Prairie State Heartache garnered interest from major label producer Rick Beato (Shinedown, Need to Breathe) and seemed poised to make some big noise. But alas, it was not to be, as the band found itself […]

This St. Louis-area-based duo sports a music pedigree of incredible caliber, from stints as members of the last touring configuration of the Byrds with original drummer Michael Clarke, on to stellar careers ranging from local legends to international stars. Terry Jones Rogers and Scott Nienhaus, working separately as established professional musicians, got together through the […]

Born and raised in Slaughters, Ky., Chris Knight went from aspiring songwriter to a major force in the country field in a few short years, scoring major hits with big-name Nashville artists (Randy Travis, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry) while keeping integrity intact and gaining respect from the critical world of particular listeners within the alt-country […]

When four, decades-long, friends hooked up in the spring of 2008 for a “fun side project” band, no one dreamed someday they’d be celebrating and promoting a third anniversary show. Sleepwalker cohorts Keith Dunlap (guitar, vocals), Kortney Leatherwood (drums, vocals), Rusty Koehler (bass, vocals) and Ted Russell (guitar, vocals) describe the group as “four friends, […]

A Decatur native who traveled the country singing songs and meeting folks for years, the trusty troubadour stayed in Austin, Texas, for a spell and spent time in New Orleans before landing in Springfield. A voracious reader self taught in literature and an insatiable scholar of literary folk music, Hobo naturally hosts the Third Annual […]

Born and raised in Peterson, Ind., (pop. 3,500, salute!), Jason Sturgeon spent his youth in pastoral plenty, singing songs for his family, working rural, small-town jobs, listening to country and hard rock and riding quarter horses for competition. After completing college and finding work, Sturgeon reawakened the music dream, forming a successful hard-rocking, country cover […]