Given the format and its inherit lack of spontaneity, I was in "no spoilers" mode and had shut myself off from the flow of information about the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration featuring Warren Haynes prior to the Chicago stop on the short spring tour.So it was a bit strange that the only bit of (...

You may have seen the high praise I gave Cabinet in our recent jambands-of-tomorrow feature. I won't rehash everything I wrote over there in this post, but there is no doubt I believe the future is bright for this band who is mining some unexpectedly new territory in the jamgrass space.They swung through Chicago...

Words: Alex WoodPhotos: Alex Wood & Tom HarmonEdward David Andersons album release show at Martyrs' was about more than his new full-length, Lies & Wishes. It felt like an odd family reunion, old friends gathering together joyously to see Anderson perform with a band after years of patiently waiting.Yet perhaps the most joyous member...

When Alex Wood wrote his review of The Mountain Goat's Saturday night show at Old Town School Of Folk music, he was quite taken by the rarities set that John Darnielle offered to the Chicago crowd.It turns out, he wasn't finished. compiling another full set of deep cuts for the second of two nights...

So I was having my mind blown just a few blocks north on Clark Street this evening, but damned if Cubby Bear didn't also host quite the throw down as well.I recently came across a full show audio stream and download (via archive.org) of The Mantras set from the evening of March 6th, 2014....

Words / Photos: Alex WoodJohn Darnielle has released music as The Mountain Goats since 1991, developing his unique brand of songwriting, and with it, a devout fan base. Mountain Goats fans see Darnielle as more than simply the author of the songs they love, the songwriters amiable stage persona and endlessly prolific output sets him up as...

Photos: Rickie KostinerEast met West, when two rising progressive bluegrass stars brought their tour through Chicago on Wednesday night. The Infamous Stringdusters hail from Charlottesville, Virginia and Fruition has been tearing up the West Coast from their Oregon home base. But there's nothing middle-of-the-road about their music, which features fierce picking, smooth vocals and a...

The Experience Hendrix Tour is an annual package that brings the music of Jimi Hendrix to some of the nation's best theaters starring an A-List cast of guitarists and other musicians.The 2014 edition featured such Barn favorites as Eric Johnson, Cesar and David from Los Lobos, Dweezil Zappa, and an a appearance by Chicago Blues...

Not even fatherhood can keep a good man down.While Jeff Austin sat out a recent Yonder Mountain String Band run to stay home with his newborn daughter, he couldn't resist just a small run of shows with The Here & Now at the beginning of March, marking some of the last scheduled appearances for...

Fans of Pavements Stephen Malkmus know that a Jicks show can be a little loose and more than a little drunken.For their 2011 stop at the Metro, Malkmus and the Jicks are in top form, loosely jamming out most of the songs from Mirror Traffic, giving a depth the record itself sometimes lacked. Tracks like...