Photo credit: Trell’s Eye Photography
Brandon Santini hosts an album release party at Brookhills this Saturday night.
Hop on in as we take a cruise through the second weekend in May, checking out all the sights and sounds along the way in our happening music scene. As you may already know, there’s a bunch of stuff going on so drop it into drive, put the pedal to the metal and let’s be off.
We begin on Thursday, so start it right with a visit to Motorheads to celebrate the third anniversary of Thursday Night Live. I’m pretty sure when this event started no one was expecting it to still be around three years later, but here we are, and that just proves the popularity of the concept of showcasing different local musicians every month. This time guests include Jake McNamara, plus Satellite (Ry Oller, Nick Beal, Zach Reed and Jeff Loftus), along with Alfie and the Alligator Lizards (Steve Clark, Chris Warren, Dave Coonrod, Eric Carter, Mark Hayes, Chris Mizera and Dave Harris).
Other Thursday night action includes Rod Grant back at the Casey’s Pub patio for a non-inclement weather show, Al and Kathy Kitchen at the Mother Road Diner, Brazilian singer Ana de Oliveria returning to the Art of Jazz series at the Pharmacy, Exit 52 at the Curve Inn and Keith Dunlap at Sangamo Brewing in Chatham.
Looks like on-the-go singer-songwriter Avery Kern will pay us a hometown visit from her Nashville digs this weekend with shows at the Buckhart Tavern on Friday night, the Fat Ass 5K on Saturday morning and The Range in Chatham on Saturday afternoon. Avery recently released a single, “Carsick,” on all digital platforms, plus played the Bluebird on Third showcase in Nashville just a few weeks ago.
Here’s a not-too-far-away real deal, real fun time when Shelbyville hosts the Chet Kingery Memorial Bluegrass Festival in Forest Park on Friday and Saturday. The fest features a stellar lineup of The Grascals, Special Consensus, The Little Roy & Lizzie Show, The Price Sisters, Kings Highway and Mackville, plus instrument workshops to polish those chops.
A closer to home cool event happens this weekend as the Legacy Theatre presents the Billy Joel Songbook featuring vocalists Cooper Coker, Devin Dinora, Ryle Frey, Cydney Long, Rob Napier and Ellen Tuttle with Cory Brown leading the Uptown Band of Blake Martin, Michael Sullivan, Gary Davis and Mary E. Myers behind the six singers singing the Billy Joel soundtrack of songs we all know so well.
On Friday, for you fans of Ozzy Ozbourne (and who isn’t in some way), all roads lead to Goodfellas as Killer of Giants, a Bloomington-based band booked as “America’s No. 1 Ozzy Tribute Band” rides the Crazy Train roaring into the station. Then, Jeff Young gathers his fellow Bad Grandpas for a visit to the Curve Inn and Ric Major’s exquisite sound and light stage for a night of classic rock and roll done righteous.
Saturday comes in hot with nearly 40 listed shows, including a big one for Brandon Santini as he drives his rocking band to Brookhills Golf Course for an album release party to introduce his latest offering, Which Way Do We Go?, with Devin C. Williams opening. Brandon, recently nominated for 2025’s Most Outstanding Musician (harmonica) by the prestigious Living Blues organization (you can and should vote for him online right now), is on tour in support of the new record with shows booked all over the Midwest all summer long, including Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago on Sept. 5.
Sunday is just overflowing with good music, so take a peek there, plus please look at all the listings we have for this week and weekend. Onward we go.