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Cover Story: Gary Clark Jr.
The Chosen One. The Future of the Blues Guitar. The Next Stevie Ray Vaughan. Savior of the Blues. At only 35-years of age, Gary Clark Jr. has carried a lot of pressure on his slim shoulders. But from the time he was a teen, blasting away his elders at Austin nightclubs, a grand destiny […]
Cover Story: The Way Down Wanderers
Peoria natives The Way Down Wanderers may be new to many, but since dropping a self-titled debut in 2016, as well as a pair of EPs and a live recording, the quintet has steadily swelled their grassroots fan base with an alluring, frequently unexpected hybrid of heartland sounds. Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Austin Krause-Thompson, mandolin player/violinist/guitarist/vocalist […]
Hello My Name Is…Dave Meniketti of Y&T
Some artists hem and haw when trying to pinpoint the reason for their longevity. Not Dave Meniketti. He’s as surprised as the next guy about the four-decade career longevity of his Bay Area metal outfit Y&T, nee Yesterday and Today. They’ve survived because they’ve deserved to, a modern exercise in Darwinian natural selection. “We’ve honestly […]
Cover Story: nothing, nowhere.
Cries for help don’t come much more urgently. Last month, brash young Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson — who had joked for months in sketches about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder — lost any remaining shreds of humor about his often-debilitating condition when he posted an alarming message on Instagram, right before he […]
Live Review: Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats Aragon Ballroom Thursday, November 29, 2018 On Thursday, radio station WKQX closed the first of five nights of its “The Nights We Stole Christmas” series at the Aragon Ballroom with a sold-out headlining set by Denver’s Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. The sweat-soaked performance began with the deep […]
Cover Story and Gallery: The Struts
It was a popular, yet perhaps far-fetched concept that was titillating impressionable society a few years back. And it was relatively simple, all told, and loosely based on comic Danny Wallace’s book Yes Man, which was later satirized to a zanier degree in Jim Carrey’s film version of the same name: If you simply responded […]
Cover Story: Greta Van Fleet
I’m sure I’m not alone in my lament that rock & and roll is on life support, and rock stars are fewer and farther between than in the past. I’m going to bet, though, that you’ll feel like you’ve sucked a deep hit off an oxygen tank the moment you hear Greta Van Fleet. […]
Cover Story: The Voidz
“A man’s got to know his limitations,” Clint Eastwood once observed as the defiant renegade cop Dirty Harry. Similarly unforgiving Strokes bandleader Julian Casablancas is still gradually discovering his own with his latest splinter combo –initially dubbed Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, now known simply as The Voidz – and its sleek, sophisticated sophomore […]
Cover Story: Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr just made the best record of his life. And he knows it. Dubbed Call the Comet, it’s the ex-Smith guitarist’s third, following 2013’s The Messenger and 2014’s Playland. And it finds him: Lyrically delving into grim socio-political issues that he’d often avoided; Letting his axe provide the chiming hooks in places instead of […]
Remembering Aretha Franklin 1942-2018
Aretha Franklin, who passed away on August 16th of pancreatic cancer at age 76, embodied her title of “Queen of Soul” in a wholly spectacular way but that name didn’t fully capture all that she was. Aretha wasn’t just a gifted singer, and she wasn’t just a master of soul singing. She sang every American […]
Cover Story: Børns
Today Garrett Borns might be the foppish baroque-pop trendsetter who records as simply Børns, with three adventurous albums to his credit, including the new Blue Madonna, his second for Interscope. But there was a time not so long ago when the Michigan native was at the mercy of a pack of marauding masked bandits after […]
Stage Buzz: Real Friends “Composure” Listening Party & Interview
On Friday night, Tinley Park’s Real Friends held a “secret” listening party for a select group of fans in support of their forthcoming third full length, Composure. The evening event was the last of three listening party events held throughout the day across the Chicagoland area. In the modern industrial workspace of Chicago’s Rowboat Creative, […]
Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater: 1935-2018
Blues legend Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, who passed away on June 1 of heart failure, towered over the Chicago music scene both literally and figuratively. At six feet four, he cut a striking figure, slashing his left-handed guitar with his signature blues, rock and funk riffs. Born in a Mississippi cotton field and nurtured by […]
Cover Story: Dorothy
In the music industry, never underestimate the sound man. From his back-of-club vantage point, he usually sees – and knows – all. Two years ago, singer Dorothy Martin was playing a small San Francisco nightclub with her namesake outfit Dorothy, to a rabid crowd of mostly teenaged girls, who had copied the quasi-Goth look she […]
![Cover Story: Judas Priest [Updated]](http://illinoisentertainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/76cc05c4-a9bd-4acd-89fc-bc2b9fcde0f7-150x150.jpg "Cover Story: Judas Priest [Updated]")
Cover Story: Judas Priest [Updated]
After an impressive five-decades long career, British heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest show no signs of slowing down with the release of their explosive 18th full-length studio album Firepower (released March 9 on Epic Records). On 14 blistering tracks, Priest delivers the indisputable, classic heavy metal sound that hearkens back to the band’s heyday. The […]
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