My cousin Michelle has been staying with us for the past three weeks and I have only seen her about 3 times. Since we both had the Fourth of July off, I was hoping to spend the day with her. She agreed to go to the American Music Festival at Fitgerald's with me...even though she did not know any of the bands playing.
The Switchback Band was playing when we arrived. They mixed Celtic Soul with Americana Music and sounded pretty good.
We both loved this guy...Cory Branan. He combined stories & entertaining stage banter with great songs, powerful stage presence and a punk ethos while playing solo on an acoustic guitar. I thought he was great and got a chance to say hello to him. He has a new album coming out on Bloodshot Records, look for it in August.
This sign was on the table next to the soundboard.
This was another Bloodshot Records 20th Anniversary Show. I highly recommend this Chicago based record label. They have great bands.
I liked the flag backdrop on the stage inside the club. It seemed appropriate for the music and the day.
Michelle in food tent on the side street. We had a tasty cochon de lait sandwich and an andouille sausage po' boy.
This guy jumped into my picture and I liked how it turned out.
Earlier I told Michelle there was a good Italian Ice place down the street, she decided she wanted an ice so we walked to Gina's. She got a watermelon ice and I had a lemon ice. They hit the spot on a beautiful summer day.
We ended up seeing Jarekus Singleton Band (modern blues with old school mixed in), Billy Jo Shaver (country legend still sings strong), the Bottle Rockets (one of my favorite country rock bands), Robbie Fulks (another favorite of mine, great songwriter and a fantastic and very talented band, loved his cover of Billie Jean) and Shemekia Copeland (powerful blues singer). All the bands sounded great.
Michelle, who is currently in college taking stage managing as her major, explained the operation of the soundboard to me.
Fitzgerald's did a great job putting on the festival. This place is definitely one of Chicago's best bars to see live music. So once again, I ask you to support places like this. And thanks to Michelle for spending her day off with me. I really enjoyed it and we both discovered new music that we liked.
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