Oct 27, 2014
Without one "big" show dominating Halloween in Chicago this year, there's a lot of talent playing in a lot of places. As usual, this city can't seem to keep its Halloween celebration to just one day (even when it falls on a Friday!) -- so we're listing shows in this preview from Wednesday through Saturday....
Oct 16, 2013
When Cornmeal & Hot Buttered Rum teamed up for a 4/20 show in 2012 at The Vic, it was a pairing of two rising jamgrass stars at the top of their game. Well, a lot has changed since then, with Cornmeal fiddler Allie Kral parting ways with her bandmates this year shortly after the band absorbed the...
May 4, 2012
We are so very pleased to be able to feature this incredible photo set, courtesy of Norman Sands, that has totally captured the spirit and energy of this Chicago event.For more on this show, see Dave Weckstein's thoughtful review on jambands.com or view the full setlists and listen some audio from this show...
Apr 24, 2012
It was a FULL night of music as this traveling roadshow hit the Vic -- with the bands hitting the right notes, from FGC's opening song tip-of-the-cap to Levon Helm to a collaborative encore; with cover nods to Steely Dan, U2, Grateful Dead, The Beatles and Paul Simon along the way. Here's a summary of...
Feb 22, 2012
When I first published my list of nine acoustic bands to watch in April of 2010 (recently revised and updated), it included two bands who have subsequently gone on to become brothers (and sister) of the road. With styles that complement each other to a tee, I couldn't be more pleased that the Cornmeal / Hot Buttered...
Feb 22, 2012
This feature has been updated (February 2012) since its original publication in April of 2010. I swapped out the ninth band and added some honorable mentions. The remainder of the text remains largely untouched.We can crank up the amplifiers and layer on the production, but the acoustic guitar -- natural and authentic -- just isn't going...
Nov 14, 2011
[fblike style="standard" showfaces="false" width="450" verb="recommend" font="arial"]There are certain musical truths in this world. One of them (as this Venn Diagram explains) is that everybody loves Pink Floyd. Their fans are rabid and diverse and they've inspired musicians across a large swath of genres and backgrounds. And so, when I set...