Mississippi Leghound plays the Sky Lounge outdoor area this Friday night.
August is upon us and with it comes a break in the hot and heavy heat and humidity of recent weeks. I’ve heard of a few gigs being canceled because of the heat wave, but now we’re back on track. Next week comes the Illinois State Fair and its rush of live music performances. Let’s see what’s in the works for this weekend.
Thursdays continue to be a hotbed of entertainment with the final 2025 Levitt AMP concert leading the way featuring Grammy-award winning Americana artist Jim Lauderdale with his band the Game Changers and opening act the East Nashville-based, Midwest-raised, internationally traveled combo Adrian and Meredith.
Danenberger Family Vineyards deliver perennial favorites Here Come the Mummies along with special guests Hot Like Mars to its outdoor stage area for a whopping good time. Regular venues host a variety of local heroes including Michael Burnett & the Suns of Circumstance at the Curve Inn, Robert Sampson at Mother Road Diner and John Drake at Sangamo Brewing in Chatham, plus the young duo of Blink Twice at Finley’s Tap House.
Friday could not present a better example of our diverse and delightful collection of local talent with an assortment of sounds, sizes and styles on display at various venues in the area. Let’s do some jumping around to see if I can make my point. We have the Stone Cold Cowboys, around since 2003, doing a throwback country night at the Curve Inn, while Hip Bone Sam & the Joints do their wondrous thing with special guests for an Alzheimer Association fundraiser at the KC Lake Club in Chatham. Joel Honey slips in for a solo show of all kinds of music on the patio at Casey’s Pub, while out at Longbridge Golf Course The 66 Ramblers go old-time rock ‘n’ roll on us.
In the battle of classic rock bands with each playing totally different sets, The Rick Mari Band hits Mowie’s Cue as Mississippi Leghound pops into Sky Lounge. Samba Llamas continue their decades-long dive into samba stylings at Pease’s at BUNN Gourmet, Blue Country Revue takes on blues and country (hence the moniker) at Harvest Market, while at Crows Mill Pub, Hippies of the Heartland go mostly with acoustic hits of the 60s and 70s. There’s plenty more happening, but I just know you get my gist.
As we meander into Saturday, things get started at 10 a.m. with Nodal Nim at Stella Coffee & Tea, then move on to a family-friendly pick-in out at Clayville near Pleasant Plains with myself and Amy Battles doing kid songs, Linda Dust telling stories and who knows who picking and grinning who knows what from 1 to 5 p.m. M
More afternoon doings include the Eric & Kortney duo at Northern Lights Lounge, then Big Guy brings his solo show and guests to the Railyard at 6 p.m. Shortly after that, things just go wild with everything from Angel Brown and Rick Gasparin as the Smooth ‘N’ Blue Duo at Lime Street to Zach Fedor coming home with the Long Goodbyes and longtime cohort Tyler Landess at the Curve, as well as Andon “Ted” Davis joining old friend Mike Burnett at Brookhills and the incredible lineup of Buddy Rogers (saxophones), Adrian Russo (piano), Craig Russo (drums) and Toby Curtright (bass) at Buzz Bomb as the 3G Quartet.
Funday is not actually a real compound word, but it rhymes so well with Sunday we just go along with it to be nice. So take a look at all the 20-some shows happening and go have yourself a fun day on Sunday. I’ll see you next week at the state fair!