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...

The legendary Steve Earle will play run of acoustic shows at City Winery later this month. To preview those shows, we take a deeper look at a show from Old Town School a decade ago for our Retro Jamming series.In 2003, Steve Earle was between two socially conscious albums, Jerusalem and The Revolution Starts Now,...

Ween's Mickey Melchiondo (aka Dean Ween) has made Chicago a regular stopping place these days. First, he dropped in unexpectedly with The Pod, our local Ween tribute band in September. Then, he found himself at Cubby Bear with his Moistboyz project in December.On February 4th, The Pod was billed with a VERY SPECIAL GUEST...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the January 3rd show.The prior two weeks celebrated Frank Zappa and John Scofield. This week: wall to wall John McLaughlin in celebration of his 72nd birthday. Seven decades leads to a ton of variety and many collaborations, so dig in to...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the December 27th show.Another week, another birthday tribute.  This time to guitarist John Scofield for his birthday.  Luckily, there'a a lot to draw from as Sco has collaborated with some of the very best.In this playlist, you'll find...

Dark Star Orchestra set the flux capacitor back to 1983 for the sold out crowd at Chicago's Vic Theater on Friday, but then used the time travel juice from a pair of special guests to reach back ten more years during an extended encore.The Grateful Dead's May 15th performance at Greek Theater in Berkeley served...

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...

Guest Post by Paul Abella.  Paul is a musician, radio host, pundit and early supporter of The Barn Presents.  As a jazz guy who actively embraces and celebrates jambands like Grateful Dead and Phish, and even champions jammers on our local scene, his sensibilities are a natural fit for the site.  We...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the December 20th show.Frank Zappa's birthday is December 21st. As is tradition, host Paul Abella goes for wall-to-wall Zappa...kinda.The set kicks off with some recordings from Frank himself (plus, I've substituted his version of "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" for the...

In the 90s heyday of post-bop bands, Ken Vandermark and The Vandermark 5 were amongst the best. Theyre a Chicago band that sounds like Chicago, with music that stays busy and energetic, blending an array of eclectic jazz styles into one.At the time of this performance, Vandermark had been playing Tuesday nights at The Empty...