With so many bluegrass offshoot outfits actively touring in the States, sometimes it’s hard to decide whose show to go to on a Friday night. Especially in the bluegrass supported state of Colorado, where fans cannot get enough of its dance-ability and energetic tempo, its one of the most popular options for the live concert-going scene. While longer existing outfits have the option at playing large seated venues, most fans seem to come to dance.

This year’s Magnolia Festival was characterized by the usual wonderful blend of bluegrass, reggae and families and by unusually cold night- time temperatures.  Hovering above freezing at night, the mountain music sounded just right in the cool mountain air of the Florida “hills”.  As I sit in tank top and shorts in eighty degrees of Florida sunshine to write this, frozen fingers, frozen breath, the warmth of the fire and being bundled up from head to toe here last weekend seems surreal.  Though it was “crisp” t

MiddleWest Fest 2011 is Northern Illinois’ annual celebration of music & the arts.  September 9^th and 10^th employed the town plaza for an arts & craft market and also Sunday was an organized sidewalk sale. This being the second year, word is getting out that this is a good way to enjoy Northern Illinois and meet the new school populace as classes are in full swing.

Following last year's wildly successful festival event, the folks at DeKalb, Illinois' Middlewest Fest have announced the lineup for their 2011 edition, taking place on September 9th and 10th at multiple venues throughout the city of DeKalb.

The Chicagoland weather forecast for Summer Camp 2011 included the infamous 50% chance of rain and sunny skies all weekend long.  What we found were marriages of rain and shine, glamour and gladiator, nature and music all tied together interconnected.    If you buy into numerology, the answer is in the numbers here folks.  Last year we brought attention to the

Along with hitting the festival circuit extensively this summer (including Summer Camp, Wakarusa, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and many more), Cornmeal has announced a run of summer shows hitting the Midwest and west coast and every point in between.  Cornmeal recently took a break in their hometown of Chicago to visit the set of Chicago Live!, you

Cornmeal and The Giving Tree Band have a lot in common.  They're both from Chicago, both play bluegrass/folk music, and both even have a set of brothers in the band.  When I asked Wavy Dave Burlingame of Cornmeal what he thought of the greenest band in

The second annual Winterfest on the Mountain music festival in Nederland, Colorado showcased an eclectic line-up of some of the hottest Colorado musicians and top-notch out-of-towners alike.

In a rare New Year’s Eve performance, Cornmeal took the stage at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine, IL on 12/31/2010.  Born and raised in the area, the hometown crowd embraced the progressive jamgrass bluegrass five piece band that cranked out some covers and beloved originals. 

There was a buzz in the air of Boulder Colorado, October 9, 2010.  On the cool fall Saturday night, people were celebrating life, friendship, and the end of a very destructive fire that burned outside of Boulder early last month. Lasting nearly a week, the Boulder Fourmile Canyon fire was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history; destroying 169 homes, and scorching nearly 8000 acres of land.