Band Spotlight

Look who’s coming to Norb Andy’s. It’s none other than Greg Ginn, founder of Black Flag, one of the most influential and important American punk bands. Ginn, chief songwriter and organizer of the group, worked along with Henry Rollins, the more visible frontman, from 1976 to 1986. After disbanding the band, Ginn continued playing guitar […]

Singer-songwriters belong to a special group of performers, those who not only entertain, but also edify and enlighten, espousing their personal beliefs to a hopefully appreciative audience. For Julie Schurr the all-original, self-described “indierockbitchfolk” songs she performs in a brilliant voice supported by her acoustic guitar, inform listeners of the world of lesbian music in […]

What do you get when you take a fired-up blues band of veteran rockers, add a tastefully sweet horn section of exceptionally talented players, then top it off with a vibrant, soulful front man entertainer? A really good band called Reggie Britton and the Sofa Kings, that’s what. In the beginning, Britton, drummer and vocalist […]

From humble beginnings in southern Illinois as a rockin’ country cover band, Sable now charts on the record listings and performs at major festivals while making the march toward music stardom. Known best locally as the house band at Fast Eddie’s near Alton, the group, fronted by Jeff Sable on guitar and vocals, keeps climbing […]

Since her appearance on the music world stage at a young age, Yvonne Gage has set high standards for vocalists in the world of jazz and R&B. Signed early on by RFC/Atlantic Records and later by CIM/CBS Records, Gage primarily focused on the European dance music market where her distinctive voice propelled many a Euro-dance […]

Nary a band around can compete with the flexibility and diversity of the Dan Rivero Trio set list. For more than 15 years, Rivero as drummer, booker and organizer (and namesake as well) has steered his group through every kind of gig scenario one could imagine. With the variety of material available to the well-schooled […]

You can count his 24 recording releases, four Grammy nods or countless performances since starting guitar at age five, but it all adds up to a great career of fantastic music for Australian bluesman Michael Charles. Twenty years ago Buddy Guy invited the Aussie to the U.S. to play at his Legends bar in Chicago […]

After friends submitted one of his songs to a local radio station contest and listeners liked what they heard, PJ Summers, the music minister of Koke Mill Christian Church, felt the calling and added acoustic Christian rocker to his God-given and driven work. With Summers covering the songwriting duties plus acoustic guitar and vocals, the […]

This Sunday, the New Goat Ensemble celebrates 20 years of making the most marvelous and mischievous music this side of Pan himself. Always perpetrators of off-the-wall cover songs, the Jacksonville-based band became one of central Illinois’ most endearing original bands of the 90s through the songwriting of Jeff Davidsmeyer. With Davidsmeyer on rhythm guitar, piano, […]

With a name only a southern Illinois band mother could love, Kentucky Knife Fight arose from a raucous open mic night at the legendary Stagger Inn Again in Edwardsville to become one of the hardest rocking and most up and coming bands in the alt-country vein from the St. Louis area. Jason Holler (vocals), Nate […]

Fresh from their Springfield debut at last week’s SOHO Music Festival, the Max Allen Band (MAB) drops into Marly’s on June 17 for a night of funk-blues-jam-jazz-rock songs. A seasoned group on the Midwest jam-rock music scene, the trio of Max Allen (guitar, vocals), Shaan France (drums, percussion) and Dace Robie (bass) tours regularly performing […]

Based in not-so-faraway Normal, Dan and the gang list themselves as an original rock and roll band, which is pretty cool when you think about it. No hyphens or hype, invented categories or inverted genres, just a guy writing good songs with a fine band backing him up. They claim influences from Tom Petty, Neil […]