North Coast Music Festival, the Labor Day weekend event entering its third year in Chicago's Union Park has staked its reputation on eclectic lineups and an outside-the-mainstream sensibility. But while the inaugural festival in 2010 seemed to carve out a spot for edgier and crossover jambands, last year's lineup seemed heavily tilted towards EDM. It seemed...

Stonehouse Park came under quite a bit of fire regarding noise and crowds in the festival off-season. While the Dekalb county park will see the addition of Camp Terrapin come, Barefoot Fred Productions think they've found an even better location for their mid-July Whippersnap Music and Arts Festival.For 2012, Whippersnap moves to Lyran Park in...

If you thought Matt Butler and the Everyone Orchestra had cornered the market on large-band improvisational experiments, clear a spot on the calendar for Thursday, February 9th at the Abbey Pub.That marks the debut of Full Court Press, an improvisational experiment, drawing from an all star lineup of jam-friendly musicians sourced from right here...

Greensky Bluegrass turned heads and won over many fans at the Park West last Friday, and even welcomed longtime friend Joe Hettinga of Strange Arrangment to the stage for a trio of tunes. There will be plenty more on the blog about this show to come, but for now enjoy a full audio stream and...

Updated (4/9) to include stream and download of the set (no encore) recorded fromthe soundboard. The video featured below is the night's finale featuring three members of Greenksy Bluegrass as guests on a cover of The Band's classic "The Shape I'm In".Strange ArrangementPark WestJanuary 27, 2012Destination >Bed Bugs >Booger Jam >Golden years >...

Every once in a while, a confluence of forces lead to a live music experience with so much potential, its legend begins to form even before a single note is played.Do you feel that? Its the sensation of the stars aligning for one such event. This Friday (1/27), Strange Arrangement and Greensky Bluegrass convene at...

The Barn's 2010 Holiday Mixtape was subtitled A Very Jamband Christmas and justifiably so -- it's intent was to collect a CD length holiday playlist that showcased the style of improv-leaning bands on Christmas classics. Though at the time I thought I had cultivated the cream of jamband holiday fare, it became obvious that more material...

The Barn is happy to be offering one of our readers a pair of tickets to see Strange Arrangement's return to Chicago on Saturday, October 15th at Martyrs. Entry is super easy, and just takes two simple steps:1. LIKE The Barn on facebook or FOLLOW @thebarnpresents on Twitter2. Respond to Strange Arrangement's Martyrs Facebook Event...

These days, my music obsession exposes me to hundreds of new bands a year. There has always been a wealth of talent, but nowadays barriers to entry have been brought so low, I can now actively seek out, and enjoy, an extremely wide variety of high quality music with a few mouse clicks or finger...

When details started to emerge about Shoe Fest, the first year festival taking place at Stonehouse Park in Earlville, IL on September 9th - 11th, I almost had to pinch myself.There is no denying the overwhelming amount of musical talent in and around Chicago, and the quality festivals taking place all around the region...