Music – Tom Irwin

Goodbye October, and hello November. The days of outdoor shows have faded into the nearness of holiday walks and upcoming Thanksgiving specials. This weekend features a good collection of fun happenings to keep it all aglow and in flow, and you in the know. First up, let’s celebrate Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel coming to town […]

Welcome to the terrorizing time of Halloween, the Devilish Day of the Dead and the most frighteningly fearsome event of all, the upcoming 2016 election. But we’re here to talk about music, and this week brings us a catastrophic cacophony of wacky wonderment, meant to entertain, scare, frighten and, otherwise, remove the bejesus out of […]

After a weekend of surprisingly warm temperatures, all the beer garden-gatherers and festival folks are a happy bunch, but never fear, old man winter is around the corner, sure to soon deliver the goods. In the meantime, our music marches on. Last week I mentioned the flourishing of downtown open mics, and Doug Mayol, owner-operator […]

Take a look at all the good stuff going on around town in our Pub Crawl and calendar listings! It’s a dare to the senses to try and experience all the happenings. So instead of diving into all that, we are veering off to investigate some open mics and stages this week. For all the […]

As the weather changes, so do our music venues. This week brings the last of the big outdoor festivals (as far as I’ve heard), and it is very likely the heaters came out and on last week in our indoor/outdoor beer/music garden areas. Before you know it, we’ll be singing “Auld Lang Syne.” Yikes! The […]

As we welcome October 2016 to the world, the weather couldn’t be any nicer. The music ain’t bad either, with the folkies finding fall familiar.    Friday gives us Dana Cooper and Sally Barris at the Paris-Belle House Concert series in Williamsville (parisbelleconcerts@outlook.com). Dana and Sally, both residents of the Nashville, Tenn., community of hard-working musicians, […]

Dave Adams along with Larry Stevens, Danny and Tony Fafoglia, Jeff Helton and Dougie Adams play the Walnut Street Winery in Rochester on Friday evening. As we wind our way through September, heading toward the other end of things, a wonderful mix of music with which to entertain ourselves appears to be ahead for all. […]

New City Road plays outside Conrad’s in Riverton on Saturday, Sept. 17, 5:30 p.m. for the bar’s fourth anniversary celebration. Come along as we trek through the weekly jaunt of Springfield music-making moments. Take the time to notice the hard work and terrific talents of those involved in the process. Thursday evening at The Alamo […]

Erich Thompson & the Stone Cold Cowboys play the Havana Oktoberfest, 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10. Off and running into the blissful unknown, here we go into the autumnal time, even if the weather still thinks it’s July out there. Let’s begin with the rundown, shall we? Wishing a happy birthday to Mike Burnett is […]

Friction Farm performs a concert concerning books at Lincoln Library on Thursday, Sept. 1, 7 to 9 p.m. Our 2016 summer is nearly over as the Labor Day weekend comes to pass, bringing plenty of live music and more to come into the fall. Many of you may have heard by now that the venerable […]

Here we go to that special place in time between the state fair whirlwind and Labor Day weekend, on the cusp where summer meets the fall. The Old Capitol Blues and BBQ festival, voted the best fest in town several times by readers of Illinois Times in the “Best of Springfield” contest (By the way, […]

Jordan Feliz joins with for KING & COUNTRY to headline the Powerlight Fest on the Lincoln stage at the Illinois State Fair on Sunday. As we wind our way through the second Thursday of the Illinois State Fair, let’s see what we can find to do at the fair and otherwise. Fair enough? With the […]