After years of playing music in cover bands (including the crazy-popular rockabilly group Meerkat Mobsters), Mark Mills decided to do it “his way” and proceeded to knock out a collection of classy, original songs fit for an Americana king. Recorded during the winter of 2015-16 in Nashville under the tutelage of producer Spike Jones and […]
Nashville
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Local likings
The LoveHogs slip into Brewhaus on Friday with Los Injectors and the Cold Stares. You hear a lot (or at least I do) about the burgeoning and flourishing Springfield music scene. People talk about how musicians play well together with excellent, diverse and progressing musicianship. This weekend especially seems to be jam-packed with some of […]
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Octobering for music
Chris Miller, along with Joe Dawkins and Mike Burnett, plays Trail’s End Saloon in Curran on Fri, Oct. 23. I don’t know why, but this weekend shows up like a who’s who of what’s happening here, there and everywhere. Tough choices lie on the entertainment table. Let’s start when Chris Miller, the extraordinary guitarist, singer […]
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Jeff Cordes
Jeff Cordes With a winning smile and a pocketful of songs, Springfield-based singer-songwriter-entertainer Jeff Cordes brings on the music. Born in the capital city, raised in Lincoln and a graduate of Illinois College with a degree in philosophy, the introspective songsmith spent plenty of time elsewhere traveling and learning, but credits a mysterious “small town […]
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A blue moon weekend
Deep Lunar Blue plays the Trails End Saloon in Curran on Fri., July 31 for a Blue Moon Celebration. I’m not sure if you can stretch a blue moon, like the one this Friday, the only one in 2015, into an entire weekend, but if you’re willing to go along with this cockamamie idea, so […]
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The Cadillac Three
Hailing from the other side of the tracks in Nashville, the long-haired trio of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (bass guitar, Dobro, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Neil Mason (drums, vocals) are making it in Music City U.S.A., without the usual trappings. They don’t fit the mold of working-out, cowboy hat-wearing, country-crooning, cookie cutter […]
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DJ Hish
This may be the first (and possibly the last) time an official record-spinning, mix-making, beat-inducing DJ makes our band spotlight. But DJ Hish does something different than most mixers out there: he mashes to country music. Born into a music-loving household in Pennsylvania, Hish grew up listening to classic country and rock, plus everything in […]
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Tennessee connection
Lyman Ellerman plays Guitars & Cadilllacs on Sat., Jan 17, joined by Chuck Werner, Jimmy Bonefeste, David Leach and Jessi James. Prepare yourself for plenty of local action as clubs are filled with area bands this weekend. But a deeper look shows a Tennessee tie to the local scene now and in recent weeks. Nashville […]
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Big Smo
Call it “hick hop” or “country rap,” but whatever you aim to name this style of combining country lyric themes with rap production and attitudes, John Lee Smith, better known as Big Smo, does it like no other. Born in San Diego, Big Smo put out his first recordings in 2002. Not long after a […]
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October Oddities
Robert Sampson plays and discusses the blues at the Woodlawn Fall Festival near Jacksonville on Sat., Oct. 18. Many a word spent here in this column relates to our bar scene, where much of the live music happens in Springfield. Hence the “oddities” comment in our headline describing these out-of-bar experiences occurring this week. Often […]
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Kris Bell Band
PHOTO COURTESY KRIS BELL BAND Billed as an “American Rock” band with “rockin’ your ass and meltin’ your face!” as a motto, the Kris Bell Band makes powerful rock with a groove, laden with melodic hooks and blazing guitars. Born and raised in San Diego, Kris began playing guitar at age 7, played his first […]
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Terri Clark
PHOTO COURTESY CHEEKY MONKEY Terri Clark joined the prestigious Grand Ole Opry in 2004 as the only female Canadian on the show. She grew up in Montreal, where her maternal grandparents were well known country music performers. In 1987, her mom drove the aspiring artist to Nashville, dropped her off at the famed Tootsie’s Orchid […]
