Greensky Bluegrass just wrapped the first leg of their 2014 tour. There have been many miles put on the van since they played the second gig of the tour in Chicago as a part of the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival, but this recording has surfaced just in time to keep us warm until the next...

I expected to have a bit more coverage of this show closer to when it happened, but I hope that this makes up for it a mere two months later.Slowly, in the weeks that followed Leftover Salmons November 15th gig at The Vic, videos from YouTuber MyTallTripod have surfaced. Not only do these look...

Shemekia Copeland gets a lot of love in the Chicago area. Besides being in constant rotation on WXRT, the blues and soul vocalist was crowned the Queen of Blues at the 2011 Chicago Blues Festival.Copelands 2013 performance at Jay Pritzker Pavilion finds the vocalist in top form, her live performance boasting more grit and soul than...

It's not uncommon for Railroad Earth to find themselves in Chicago this time of year.This time they came to town with a little more to prove. Their two Land of Lincoln dates fell on the weekend before Tuesday's official release of Last Of The Outlaws, the band's 10 song volume of new tunes.And so...

Mr. Blotto and it's fans had plenty to celebrate as 2013 ticked to a close. It was the year they put out their long awaited new CD, Thread. They completed another circuit of their trademark Chicago area events, including a horn-fueled funktastic James Brown encore at the fourteenth Blottopia.Singer / guitarist Paul Bolger, specifically had reason...

With rumors of a March tour in 2014, I thought I'd be a good time to revisit Mike's first visit to Chicago with a solo band (he had previously been through with Leo Kottkeas a duo). There's no Phish songs or notable covers, just a heavy dose of theOutside Out material. However, this iteration of the...

Built To Spill has been hitting the road hard in 2013. And with their latest record There Is No Enemy released back in 2009, it's given them a great opportunity to dive deep into the repertoire.Setlist.fm can be an awfully busy site visually, but if you sort throught the clutter, each setlist has a cool...

If I could scream any louder about Mr. Anders Osborne I would, but at this point I don't think it's possible.  Quite simply, he is one of my favorite presently working musicians. Gigging in so many different bands that are constantly in motion across the U.S., he is busting his ass to entertain...

Silver Wrapper brought East Coast prog-funk-fusion masters Kung Fu to town for a hump day showcase at Schubas. An enthusiastic Chicago crowd greeted the visiting team and were treated to an hour and forty-five minutes of thick grooves and instrumental mastery, including a cover of "Drop Dead Legs" (yup... a Van Halen deep cut). Here's...

When we last saw Bustle In Your Hedgerow around Chicago, they were playing a Taste Of Randolph After Show that made a true believer of some hardcore Zep heads. Of course, anyone with ears knows these guys can't be defined by the Zeppelin catalog. And anyone who knows about their careers understands that are capable...