A quick look through the Pub Crawl shows an interesting trend of several burgs surrounding the capital city hosting live music at new and old venues. It seems that “get out of town” is taking on a new meaning.
Our Thursday romps occur at venues that host various artists on a regular basis, such as The Alamo (Aaron Kamm and the One Drops), 411 Bar & Grill (Frank Trompeter’s Slammin’ Jazz Jam) and the Trading Post Saloon (Geoff Ryan and John Stevens), and the live music stays in the city limits. Come Friday, there are certainly plenty of bands in town, such as Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters at the Blue Grouch, Deep Lunar Blue at Always After Five, Mutual Admiration Society at the Curve Inn, Remix at Third Base Sports Bar, and Angel Brown Trio at the Lime Street Cafe, but the amount of acts hitting the trail on Friday increases.
Still considered Springfield, but definitely beyond the north edge of the city on Route 29, Long Bridge, a golf course with a lounge that books live music, presents After Sunset. In similar circumstances, heading west on Old Jacksonville Road will take you to Brookhills, a golf course with a lounge that books live music, featuring Jones & Chase, as in Kit and Jim. A little more west (closer to New Berlin) brings us to the Danenberger Family Vineyards with Mike Burnett on the books, and heading even farther west (with a strong tilt to the north) takes us to Connor’s Corner Pub in Tallula and the sounds of the Smokin’ J’s. A swing through Tallula (heading northeast on Route 123 to 97) gets us to Petersburg and the Hand of Fate Brewing Company with Stuart Smith (all the way from Winchester) playing at the home of Illinois’ bicentennial beer. Drive south of Springfield to Kincaid for an appearance by the Wolf Crick Boys at the South Fork Pub, or make a move east to Rochester and the Walnut Street Winery to hear Tim Crosby playing his tunes.
As we roll on into Saturday, the out-oftown shows roll on. Close by, but still out of the city proper, we have LiveWire at Big Shots Bar and 2nd Chance Band at Weebles, both on Peoria Road. Taylorville (to the south and somewhat east on Route 29) has Diversion playing at Y-Zoe’s Bar, and in Thayer on Route 4 near Virden, the venue called BREWzrz (that’s how they spell it) gives Joy Ride a place to play. Way up north (love that Johnny Horton song) again on 29, Off the Wall takes it to the Boar’s Nest in Athens, and Ransom heads west (young man) on 97 to Salisbury and the Coyote Den. In opposite directions, Scott Nichols goes west to Danenberger Family Vineyards and Mike Burnett goes east to Walnut Street Winery. Sunshine Daydream goes way out of the way past Decatur to Al’s Place in Sullivan, and Tennessee Borderline takes the trip to Kuhl Tyme Korner in Jacksonville.
Sunday continues the trend with Billy Galt at Vixen Hill Winery in Palmyra, Brooke Thomas and Chris Warren at Danenberger’s, Erisa Rei Duo at Hand of Fate, Micah Walk at 3Sixteen in Chatham, Rogers & Nienhaus at Trails End in Curran, Mike Burnett at the Hill Prairie Winery near Oakford, and Mississippi Leghound does Brookhills.
A special gig on Sunday at the Curve Inn (4 to 8 p.m.), brought to you by Jeff Kornfeld and called a Mid-Winter Jam, features Chuck Wilson, a former percussionist with Frankie Valli, plus a host of other guests hosted by the Groove Daddies. Even though it’s in town, you should probably go anyway.
Keep those cards and letters coming, folks. Until next week.
Contact Tom Irwin at tirwin@illinoistimes.com
