Featured image of post Illinois Is a Musical Melting Pot

Illinois Is a Musical Melting Pot

Illinois Is a Musical Melting Pot

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In a CBS Sunday Morning interview for their new album Raise the Roof, the follow up to the 2009 Grammy-winning album of the year Raising Sand, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss talked about their origins.

“I come from the land of the ice and snow,” Plant said in his yobbo English accent, quoting the opening line of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.

“And me from the land of corn and beans,” Krauss interjected, in a Midland twang that is not quite Nashville, but not Chicago, either.

The land of corn and beans is Central Illinois, where Krauss was born (in Decatur) and began fiddling (at the Champaign County Fair). A winner of 27 Grammy Awards — the fourth-most all-time — Krauss is the pride and joy of Illinois, you bet. Her face and her fiddle are on the facade of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, advertising “State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois,” an exhibit running until January 23.

The museum, which once paid $6 million for a hat reputed to have been worn by Abraham Lincoln, has collected some precious artifacts from Illinois musicians. Steve Goodman’s Cubs jacket. Miles Davis’s trumpet. Derrick Carter’s mixer. Dan Fogelberg’s acoustic guitar, perhaps the one on which he wrote “Same Old Lang Syne,” a romantic ballad about hooking up with an old girlfriend at a Peoria liquor store. A Rick Nielsen double-necked guitar — probably easy for him to part with, since he has 400 at home in Rockford.

The exhibit covers folk (Carl Sandburg, John Prine), blues (Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon), rap (Common, Kanye West), country, and alternative (The Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair). “State of Sound” makes a case for Illinois as a musical melting pot, the “fulcrum of America,” REO Speedwagon singer Kevin Cronin calls his home state in a podcast interview, available on Spotify. As the state that, more than any other, encompasses North and South in its 400-mile run from Chicago to Cairo, one of Illinois’s great musical innovations is melding those two great American sounds: rock and roll and country. Specifically, musicians from the Illinois part of Illinois — Downstate, where people say “I’m from Illinois,” not “I’m from Chicago.”

Raising Sand, the collaboration between the co-author of “Stairway to Heaven” and the bluegrass queen of the Grand Ole Opry, sold more than 1 million copies and introduced Krauss to Plant’s rock audience. “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On),” the album’s biggest hit, starts out as a country torch song, and ends up electric. Krauss, who grew up in a college town, has a more metropolitan sensibility than her fellow Illinois country musician, Brett Eldredge of Paris. She also showed her inclination to jump between genres with a cover of James Taylor’s “Carolina In My Mind.”

Besides its Grammys, Raising Sand won Album of the Year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards. That is a genre which owes its popularity — some say its existence — to another Illinois band, Belleville’s Uncle Tupelo. In his book It’s Just the Normal Noises: Marcus, Guralnick, No Depression and the Mystery of Americana Music, Timothy Gray wrote that “the Americana movement was sparked by Uncle Tupelo’s debut album, released in 1990.” That album was No Depression, which also inspired the magazine No Depression: A Journal of Roots Music, and the alt country movement, whose most popular label was Chicago’s Bloodshot Records.

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In the 1990s, “Chicago, for the second time in its civic history, became a bastion of country music,” wrote Pitchfork’s Jeremy D. Lawson. “Thanks in part to British art-punks the Mekons, the launch of Bloodshot Records, and the continued success of anything Jeff Tweedy touched; ‘insurgent country’ and ‘alt-country’ became Chicago-based sobriquets.”

After leaving Uncle Tupelo, Tweedy moved to Chicago and founded Wilco, immediately releasing a pair of country-flavored albums, A.M. and Being There. In his State of Sound podcast interview, Tweedy was asked about founding the alt-country genre.

“I’ve always felt compelled to push back a little bit, and argue the case that country music has always been a part of rock and roll, that we weren’t really doing anything that different,” he responded. “The genres were getting more specified at that time, it would seem like. The Rolling Stones had plenty of country-sounding songs, and they would never be called anything other than a rock and roll band. Even bands later than that, bands like X, they had songs that had a country element.”

X just furthers the argument that Illinois is a place where rock and country mate. On its debut album, Los Angeles, the band combined punk and country into a sound that became known as psychobilly. Although X formed in L.A., three of its four members were from Illinois: John Doe of Decatur, Billy Zoom of Savanna, and Exene Cervenka of Mokena.

Even Kevin Cronin, who’s from Oak Lawn, talked about the challenges of combining his rock and roll sensibilities with the country background of REO Speedwagon’s guitarist, Gary Richrath of Pekin. REO formed at the University of Illinois. While no one considers REO a country-rock band, their rural, Lower Midwestern vibe was an inspiration to Columbus, Ohio’s Rascal Flatts — a band they’ve toured with. As Slate once observed, “the mournful catch in singer Gary LeVox’s voice recalls no one so much as Kevin Cronin, the leader of an earlier era’s Big Ten ballad powerhouse, REO Speedwagon of Champaign, Ill.”

“State of Sound” doesn’t devote a whole lot of attention to alt-country’s Illinois origins (although there is a Mekons poster). The exhibit mostly focuses on traditional musical genres — blues, gospel, folk, country, jazz, rock, rap. In doing so, though, “State of Sound” makes the point that all this music coexists in our most diverse, most American of states, always ready to be combined into something brand new.

Coachella to Return in April With Billie Eilish and Kanye West

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Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Kanye West will headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, as the music industry takes hopeful steps toward the return of festivals and touring in 2022.

Coachella, set for its usual two-weekend format, April 15-17 and April 22-24, at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., will be returning after two years mothballed by the pandemic. On Wednesday, after weeks of speculation and leaks in the music press, the festival announced its complete 2022 lineup, which will also feature performances by Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby, Doja Cat, Phoebe Bridgers, the reunited electronic dance group Swedish House Mafia and dozens of others. (West is billed on the official festival poster as simply Ye.)

The event is expected to run at its full capacity of up to 125,000 concertgoers a day.

Coachella has long been the country’s most influential festival, hosting viral moments like Tupac Shakur’s hologram in 2012 and Beyoncé’s 2018 tribute to the marching bands of historically Black colleges and universities.

It has usually been the first big festival to announce its lineup each year, ushering in the touring season. But this week Coachella was scooped by the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn., which on Tuesday said that it would return in June with Tool, J. Cole, Stevie Nicks, the Chicks, Machine Gun Kelly, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and others.

Art, history, comedy, DRUMline and more: 11 things to do in Wilmington for MLK Jr. weekend

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Plenty of really good arts/entertainment events happening in Wilmington during what, for many, is a long holiday weekend. Just keep in mind that COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant are high locally, so wear a mask if you’re indoors.

You can catch this longtime country music act on their way to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, which is their next date after this weekend’s show at Odell Williamson Auditorium on the campus of Brunswick Community College. Co-founded in 1984 by lead singer Marty Raybon in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Shenandoah found success in the late ’80s and early ’90s with three No. 1 hits on the country charts (including country-rocker “The Church on Cumberland Road”) and a Grammy Award shared with Alison Krauss for the duet “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart.” Raybon left the group for more than a decade but returned in 2014. In 2020, the band released its most recent album, “Every Road,” featuring duets with such country stars as Zac Brown, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley and many more.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Odell Williamson Auditorium, 150 College Road NE, Bolivia. $40. Opening act is Kirk Jay. 910-755-7416 or bccowa.com

Longtime Wilmington artist and arts educator Donald Furst has been part of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Art & Art History since 1985, and he’s had many, many exhibits of his work locally in that time. His latest show, “Ways” — much of it done while recovering from a broken back suffered after a fall — features large pastel paintings inspired by outdoor Wilmington locations including Carolina Beach State Park and Halyburton Park. Walking the trails during his recovery led to his idea for “Ways,” which feature paintings that are at once well-rendered, contemplative and beautiful.

Details: Opening reception is 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the CAB Gallery in the UNCW Cultural Arts Building. Exhibit hangs through Feb. 18. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. UNCW.edu/art

As part of events celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, this group that recreates the marching band tradition started by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) comes to the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Kenan Auditorium. DRUMline performs both original songs and revamped pop hits and features brass instruments; stylized, choreographed movements; and, of course, lots of drums. They performed with pop star Beyonce at the Coachella festival and appeared in her 2019 film “Homecoming.” Part of the UNCW Presents series.

Details: 3 p.m. Jan. 15 at Kenan Auditorium, UNCW campus. $30-$100. 910-962-3500 or UNCW.edu/arts.

Celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at this annual parade honoring the civil rights leader. Bands, community groups and others will march in the annual parade, which was not held last year due to the pandemic.

Details: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Jan. 17, downtown Wilmington. Free. Parade starts at North Third and Hanover streets and proceeds South down Third to Princess Street. MLKjrcelebration-senc10.com.

The Wilmington rapper and wordsmith who goes by Louis. has been mixing hip-hop and jazz since his days with the old-school Wilmington band Organix. This weekend, he’ll be back at Waterling Brewing downtown to lead this year’s second installment of a series called The Indigo Sessions. (His handle on Twitter is @louis_therapper and he tweets under the name “indigo child.”) Rapping in front of a jazz combo called The Indigo Quartet — Jon Hill, Jay Killman, Carlos Garcia and Ramon G — Louis. will bring his always-impressive flow to the stage with some instrumental backing. In November of last year, Louis. released his latest solo album, a beautiful and insightful opus titled “Memories in Retrograde.”

Details: 7-10 Jan. 15 at Waterline Brewing, 721 Surry St., Wilmington.

Do yourself a massive favor and check out this disturbingly funny comic, who can talk about everything from her relationship with her mom (“when I go home, I’m OK for maybe six minutes, and then I just feel weirdly furious”) and being an awkward child to making bizarre yet hilarious jokes after sex. A must-see for sure. Feinstein has a stellar resume that includes specials on Comedy Centrals and appearances on such shows as “Inside Amy Schumer,” “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and Netflix series “The Standups.”

Details: 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Jan. 14-15 at Dead Crow Comedy Room, 516 N. Third St., Wilmington. $20-$30. 910-399-1750 or DeadCrowComedy.com.

For the 157th anniversary of the the fall of the Confederate stronghold of Fort Fisher during the Civil War, the Fort Fisher State Historic Site will present a living history program called “Wintering at the Fort.” Re-enactors in period uniforms will interpret such aspects of 19th-century military life as training on the site’s 12-pound bronze Napoleon cannon, which will be fired at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Details: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 15, 1610 Fort Fisher Blvd South, Kure Beach. Free. Special guided tours at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. are $10, and free for kids 12 and under. 910-251-7346.

Ghostface brings his stabby ways to Wilmington with the fifth film in the horror series, which was shot in the Port City in late 2020. Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell (as the hard-to-kill Sidney Prescott) all return from the original “Scream.”

More:Everything you need to know about Wilmington’s starring role in new ‘Scream’ movie

Familiar Wilmington locations used in the movie include Williston Middle School, rock club Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern, the Wilmington Convention Center and the Wilmington Riverwalk.

Details: See “Scream” in Wilmington starting Thursday evening at AMC Classic 16 off Market Street, Regal Mayfaire & IMAX in Mayfaire or at The Pointe 14 off South 17th Street. In Brunswick County, “Scream” is screening at Coastal Cinemas 10 in Shallotte and at Surf Cinema in Southport.

Our state symphony returns to Wilmington this weekend for a concert at Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center. Top billed is Beethoven’s 1803 “Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, Op. 56.” Commonly known as the “Triple Concerto,” it was the composer’s only work to feature solos for three different instruments; the players are Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky (violin), Bonnie Thron (cello) and Solomon Eichner (piano). Christoph König conducts the symphony, which will also perform French composer Hector Berlioz’s epic and romantic “Symphonie Fantastique,” which dates to 1830.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at CFCC Wilson Center, 703 N. Third St., Wilmington. Tickets start at $20. Audience members must provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test completed within the past 72 hours. 910-362-7999 or WilsonCenterTickets.com.

The ironically named, hard-charging Lamefest returns to Wilmington rock club Reggie’s this weekend. Five bands will play, including Raleigh doom metal act Beard of Antlers, Wilmington rockers Bandolero and festival namesake Andy Lame of Fayetteville, who performs off-kilter country-folk tunes with heavenly titles such as “My Uppance Will Come.”

Details: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern, 1415 S. 42nd St., Wilmington. Cover at the door.

Sunday: ‘Blue Velvet’

As part of the NC Filmmakers Series of movies made in Wilmington and around the state, one of the most famous and well-regarded films to come out of the Port City screens at the Pointe 14 cinemas. Director David Lynch got a Best Director nomination for the mysterious, violent 1986 film, which showcases a Wilmington that’s much gritter and grimier than the one we know today.

More:11 legendary movie characters that made Wilmington a film destination

Following the screening, series curator and film industry vet Joseph D’Alessandro, along with makeup artist Jeff Goodwin, who created “Blue Velvet’s” famous severed ear, will answer audience questions.

Details: 4 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Pointe 14, 2223 Blockbuster Road, Wilmington. Free.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

Pine Knob is back! Clarkston amphitheater drops corporate moniker

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Twenty years after a name change that never really stuck in the hearts or minds of Metro Detroit concertgoers, a familiar favorite is returning this summer concert season: Pine Knob will once again be known as Pine Knob.

After a social media tease Thursday, the name change — or name return, rather — was announced Friday by 313 Presents, which operates the Clarkston amphitheater. It coincides with the 15,000-seat concert shed’s upcoming 50th-anniversary season.

For the last two decades, Pine Knob — that’s Pine Knob Music Theatre in full — was officially known as DTE Energy Music Theatre, thanks to a 20-year branding partnership with the Detroit energy company. Not that the name ever rolled off tongues of either fans or performers, who often insisted on calling it by its original name in both official and unofficial capacities. When performers such as Bob Seger would shout out “good evening, Pine Knob!” from the stage, it would always receive a huge roar from the crowd.

The DTE branding sponsorship, which was initiated in 2001 and extended in 2011, expired in 2021. Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage and Livonia health-care provider Trinity Health are partners in the new deal.

What’s in a name? That which we call a concert haven by any other name would sound just as sweet. But there’s a familiarity and a warmth in the name Pine Knob, and its return strikes a comforting tone at a time when people could use a little comfort.

“For us, there was an undeniable equity that always existed in the name Pine Knob Music Theater,” Howard Handler, 313 Presents’ president, said in an interview earlier this week. “Nobody forgot it. And in today’s world, that type of legacy means something.”

Handler said talk of the Pine Knob name flip started a year and a half ago, and that his team conducted extensive market research about it with fans, artists and stakeholders.

They found it wasn’t just nostalgia acts and older fans who had a connection to the name, but younger generations also had a fondness for the Pine Knob moniker.

“It was always something that was still there for us,” says Handler, who worked as a ranger at Pine Knob in the summer of 1978. “It’s a connection with incredible memories, legendary performances and a summer ritual that Detroiters and people all over southeastern Michigan know and love.”

Pine Knob’s legacy — early ads touted it as “the exciting new outdoor theatre at the foot of the ski slope!” — stretches back to 1972, when on June 25 it hosted its first concert, a matinee performance from teen idol David Cassidy. Tickets were $7 and $5 for pavilion and $2.50 for lawn, and were only available by mail order.

That show was on a Sunday. Andy Williams and Quincy Jones started a five-night stand two nights later, Smokey Robinson and Junior Walker & the All Stars took the stage July 2, and Quicksilver Messenger Service, Dr. John and the Chip Stevens Blues Band rang in the July 4th holiday that year. The nation’s largest amphitheater — at opening, capacity was 12,500 — was off and running.

And from there it never looked back, becoming one of the nation’s top outdoor venues and one of the first of its kind to give a summer home to touring pop, rock, soul and funk acts. It has hosted millions of concertgoers and thousands of shows, from hometown heroes (Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, Kid Rock) to international superstars (Elton John, David Bowie, Prince) to Eddie Money, who for years served as summer’s traditional opener. It has been recognized by Pollstar magazine as the nation’s top amphitheater numerous times, including in 2019, when 598,617 fans passed through its turnstiles.

The venue was shuttered for the 2020 concert season and 2021’s season was truncated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gates swung open last July 25 for a show by Chicago, the venue’s most frequent guests, who with the performance logged their 81st concert on its stage. The band will be back this summer on July 26, along with special guests Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin.

It’s one of more than a dozen concerts which already have been announced for Pine Knob’s summer season, including Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town (June 3), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (June 6), Tears for Fears and Garbage (June 15), Jack Johnson (July 2), Doobie Brothers (July 4), Santana and Earth, Wind & Fire (July 5), Rod Stewart (July 27), Backstreet Boys (July 28) and Keith Urban (Aug. 26). The first 2022 show currently on the schedule is rock act AJR on May 27.

Handler promises “a very full summer” and says there are plenty of fireworks in store for Pine Knob’s golden anniversary.

“We want to really celebrate the legend and the future of this great venue,” he said.

And once again, everyone is on the same page about what to call it.

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama

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