Friday, September 23, 2022
Will Hoge
8:30 - 10pm
Rock & Roll | Nashville, TN | www.willhoge.comWill Hoge is a mainstay of 21st century rock & roll, carrying the torch for a blue-collar sound rooted in ringing Telecaster guitars and anthemic songwriting. He makes music for roadhouses and rallies, for car stereos and dive-bar jukeboxes, for Saturday night hell-raising and Sunday morning comedowns. In an era of social media influencers looking to fast-track their way to fame, Hoge has proudly taken the long way around, dedicating himself not to the destination, but to the journey itself.
The trek continues with Wings On My Shoes, the twelfth studio album in a career whose milestones include Number One hits, Grammy nods, major-label record deals, and hard-won independence. Written amidst the doom and gloom of a pandemic that brought his touring schedule to a standstill, it's a record that seeks out silver linings, emphasizing bright moments over looming darkness. For Hoge, Wings On My Shoes also marks a recommitment to the amplified Americana sound that's earned him a global audience, as well nods from Rolling Stone, Forbes, and NPR.
Scott Ligon's All-Stars
6:30 - 8pm
Pop/Rock | Chicago, ILScott Ligon (guitarist for the legendary NRBQ, pianist/singer & producer for Chicago's own The Flat Five and lead singer of local Country and Western favorites The Western Elstons) heads up a group of talented musicians who specialize in musical diversity. Featuring the great Casey McDonough (NRBQ, Flat Five, Western Elstons) on bass guitar, Scott and Casey defy categorization by being equally comfortable harmonizing an Everly Brothers ballad as they are grooving their way through jazz instrumentals by the likes of Brother Jack McDuff or tackling the odd time signatures of The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Anything from Ray Charles to TV show themes to takes on Beatles classics... These guys can do anything. They are some of Chicago's most accomplished musicians.
Waltzer
4:30 - 6pm
Indie Rock | Chicago, IL | www.waltzermusic.comSophie Sputnik, professionally known as Waltzer, is a Chicago based singer songwriter and artist. She began her career in the swampy, punk rock scene of South Florida before moving to Chicago to pursue her next project. In Chicago, Sophie drew on the influences that dominated the scene she grew up in such as Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, and The Ronettes to name a few. A collision occurred upon meeting the folks of the Chicago music scene as she found herself working with musicians of all different backgrounds and styles, leading to the creation of Waltzer’s debut album “Time Traveler.” Drawing from her love of Orbison, Etta, and Harrison, songs like “Lantern” and “Destroyer” found their soul in producer Chris Devlin’s home and then recorded on tape at Treehouse records.
Time Traveler pays homage to all the folks who wrestle with death and failure. Although the lyrics get heavy, Waltzer’s stage performance has a sarcastic undertone which reverberates through the record with the intent to help the listener stay afloat. Her message is clear, “Life is really hard / I’m messed up too / Let’s get through it together and laugh at all the weird stuff.”
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Jackie Venson
8:30 - 10pm
Blues, soul and pop | Austin, TX | jackievenson.comJackie Venson is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter known far and wide for her complexly beautiful music and blazing guitar skills. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Jackie has traveled the world playing to massive crowds both as a headliner and as support for major acts such as Gary Clark Jr, Melissa Etheridge, Aloe Blacc, Citizen Cope to name a few. With the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of her entire tour schedule and the wave of social change sweeping across the country in 2020, Jackie committed herself to releasing more music than ever before, connecting with her fans directly and speaking up about the change she wanted to see in her city and country. Since then, Jackie has released 2 studio albums, 2 live albums under her name and several electronic albums under her side project titled jackie the robot. During the pandemic, Jackie Venson also made her National TV Performance Debut on Austin City Limits 46th season, a huge honor for the native Austinite. Venson’s most recent release, “Love Transcends”, Venson firmly established herself as a sonic force to be reckoned with out of Austin, Texas.
The Black Opry
6:30 - 8pm
Blues, folk & Americana | blackopry.comBlack Opry is a home for Black artists and Black fans of country, blues, folk, and Americana music. Country music has been made by and loved by Black people since its conception. For just as long, we have been overlooked and disregarded in the genre by fans and executives. Black Opry wants to change that. One of the most valuable aspects of country music is its versatility and diversity in sound. The Black Opry Revue showcases the diversity in sound and stories that Black artists offer to these genres.
Fearlessly forging ahead down country roads, singer-songwriter Julie Williams is turning heads in Nashville’s country music scene with the soft but powerful songs that capture the soul of growing up as a mixed-race child in the South.
Emerging Country singer/songwriter Tae Lewis doesn’t sell short when it comes to his creation of country music. The North Carolina native began to emerge as a country artist with one of his first singles “Good Luvin” featured on the hit sitcom “Shameless."
Tylar Bryant is a soulful country recording artist and former MMA fighter who changed his career path to pursue a passion that caught him completely by surprise. Influenced by some of country music’s greatest voices, Bryant marries modern and traditional country sounds with rock and R&B grooves.
Rich Robbins
4:30 - 6pm
Rap | Chicago, IL | www.instagram.com/richr0bbinsRich Robbins is a rapper from the Chicago area. As an emcee, music engineer, performing poet, and actor, his art acts as a means of finding legitimacy in a world he has yet to obtain a stable sense of self within. It is the performance narrative of a young man who has a home in both urban and suburban communities, thus Rich’s art is a means of bridging those two worlds together by giving performance art that challenges stereotypes projected on the identities of both worlds. By taking influences from family, being biracial, and being a part of suburban/urban environments, the art he creates attempts to find a common ground amongst his peers in order to understand each other, and myself, beyond just “where you’re from”.
Eddie 9V
2:30 - 4pm
Roots and blues | Atlanta, GA | www.eddie9volt.comAll his life, Eddie 9V (9-volt) has acted on instinct. Aged just 15, this old-soul artist turned away from the path of college and jobs to burst all guns blazing onto the roots and blues club circuit of his native Atlanta, Georgia. Flash forward to 2019, and for his debut album, Left My Soul In Memphis, the prodigious multi-instrumentalist simply powered up the amps in his mobile trailer and with his brother/co-writer/producer, Lane Kelly, laid down one of the year’s breakout releases, acclaimed as “fresh and life-affirming” by Rock & Blues Muse.
Now, released in 2021 on Ruf Records, Little Black Flies is the 25-year-old’s most impulsive move to date. Tracked live in Atlanta’s Echo Deco Studios through November 2020, it’s an album that Eddie planned to feel like it’s unfolding right in front of you – right down to the clink of bottles and loose studio banter. “I’ve seen a trend in modern recording,” he says. “There’s no soul. I took inspiration from Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Mike Bloomfield. All those great records were done live with their buddies and no overdubs. I wanted the playing to be spot-on – but even if we made a mistake, we kept going.”
School of Rock Oak Park
12:30 - 2pm
www.schoolofrock.com/locations/oakparkSchool of Rock in Oak Park is where music and learning come together. The performance based music program located in Oak Park, IL offers weekly classes for kids and adults of all ages, from songwriting to performance, and everything in between. The School of Rock also offers music lessons for guitar, drum, singing, and piano.