This past weekend marked the end of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s 20th anniversary season, which was the first under the musical direction of Maestro Alastair Willis. Willis did not conduct ]]> Rock musician. Fine artist. Cycling champion. If lifelong Springfield resident Jeff Williams does not qualify as a genuine renaissance man, he’ll have to do until one comes along. In addition, t]]> Untitled Document When it comes to death, most sane people would prefer to put it off for as long as possible. As Dylan Thomas famously advised, “Do not go gentle into that]]> It’s been more than a decade since Brian Henneman first broke onto the national scene with the Bottle Rockets, his alt-country band from Festus, Mo. Through the years ]]> It’s a shame that Martha Wainwright is blessed with such hypeworthy DNA. There are many other interesting, even important things to say about the Brooklyn]]> Joe Thebeau, the mastermind of Finn’s Motel, describes himself as a “40-year-old married-with-children rock guy” — an unglamorous profile for an indie-rock aspirant, maybe, but]]> The Fiery Furnaces Rehearsing My Choir (Rough Trade) If you thought Blueberry Boat was a buttload of bull, steer clear of Rehearsing My Choir, a wildly p]]> The Illinois Central Blues Club formed in 1986 and since then the group has hosted more than 42,000 musicians and 1500 live performances. Each week the club hosts blues artists from across t]]> Black leather fingerless gloves. Love Club and Stripping Glitter. Tattoos of strange designs in stranger places. Cahokia Mounds and MoonPandas. What link ties these odd and peculiar things together? A]]> Eef Barzelay’s solo debut is exactly that: a solo album, consisting entirely of one measly voice and one measly acoustic guitar (well, almost — one very short ]]> A.C. Newman The Slow Wonder (Matador) The problem with the "pop" tag is that it's essentially meaningless: J.Lo is pop. Elvis Costello is pop. OutKast is pop. Bing Crosby is pop. And A.C. Newma]]> Untitled Document Starbucks references have become an indie cliché, a form of slackerist shorthand whereby privileged whites rag on the economic class that spawned them. T]]> Huelyn Duvall is not a household name, but almost everyone has probably heard him shout "Tequila" at the end of the famed instrumental song by the Champs. At the time of the seemingly inconsequential ]]> Victor Wooten picked up the bass at the age of 3 and never looked back. “Back then, it was a chance to be like my brothers,” Wooten says. “All my brothers]]> Some geniuses are prolific; others take their sweet slowpoke time. Count Marc Anthony Thompson in the latter category. Over a career spanning more than two decades, the ]]> Austin, Texas — At the South by Southwest music festival, the spring break of the music industry, sensory overload is practically guaranteed. From March 17-21, nearly 2,000 acts played in Austin]]> The first new Son Volt full-length in seven years, Okemah and the Melody of Riot boasts exactly one original member: Jay Farrar, the band’s founder, frontm]]> From the moment he made his musical debut at age 10, lip syncing Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at Blessed Sacrament School’s talent show, Jacob Langfelder wanted to be on sta]]> It began with a childhood dream of becoming a radio personality. But when Angel Macon sent demos to countless area radio stations, none responded. Instead of idly waiting for that big break, Macon too]]> When I was 5 or 6 years old, I believed that musicals were real. When the time was right, the people around me would burst into song, and we could finally stop worrying about what to say nex]]>