country/folk/Americana, etc. in Chicago (Berwyn, Oak Park: amusement park, house, school)

[Tex?Il?]

Hi everyone,

thought I would just post this to help anyone in the Chicago area looking for muisc venues that have folksy/bluegrass/country/Americana style music because you do have to look for it a little. What I like to call "the progressive/educated hillibilly") An utmost compliment! It means you're earthy.

What triggered me to post this is that I was in the city recently, on Lincoln Ave., and I thought of a post I made on a related thread awhile ago. I was trying to think of a bar somewhere on Lincoln that was country-ish and I mistakenly mentioned Delilahs which isn't country at all!!

So here it is. For anyone who is looking for this type of music.

What I was really thinking was is Horseshoe on Lincoln in North Center.

The Horseshoe with the Old Town School of folk music and the Chicago folk and roots music festival held in Welles park, make the Roscoe Village/North Center/Lincoln Square corridor a good place in general for those who are looking for that type of music, whether to live or to go to in the evenings (or summer) for that music.

Of course: the other great place for this kind of music is Fitzgeralds on Roosevely in Berwyn, on Oak Parks southern border. That with the Wishbone restaurant is a good place to experience some "Americana"/folk culture.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

The Horseshoe's pretty good. My favorite bluegrass spot in the city, however, is the Red Line Tap up in Rogers Park on Tuesday nights. Every Tuesday they have live bluegrass from a band that tours as "The Henhouse Prowlers", but has a deliberately shocking name for the band when they play at Red Line.

Full string band. Original music, plus classics and the occasional cover.

A lot of what I've seen at Horseshoe tends toward the almost-rockabilly. Tuesday nights at the Red Line Tap are full of legit bluegrass.

[ERS-One]

Carol's
4659 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60640

A duo that plays some country - not all the time:
The Northside Southpaws

[Mister Mappy]

Actually, the Charleston in Bucktown tends to book a lot of alt-country or folk/Americana musicians. Plus they don't charge a cover even on weekends. They used to feature a lot of jazz bands, but they don't seem to book as much of them anymore.

[Avengerfire]

Wrigleyville North (on Fridays and Saturday nights)
3900 N Sheridan Rd
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 929-9543

[Basekamp]

Riviera has good folk talent... recently had OCMS which suprised me..

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by Basekamp

Riviera has good folk talent... recently had OCMS which suprised me..

I saw Old Crow at the HOB a couple years ago. They got their first break (meeting Doc Watson) in the town where I went to college.

[Basekamp]

cool. I saw them in Nashvillle manytimes before they were big as well. About 5 ago now... feels like yesterday.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by Basekamp

cool. I saw them in Nashvillle manytimes before they were big as well. About 5 ago now... feels like yesterday.

Those guys used to play as the house band at this tiny little amusement park near where I went to school called Tweetsie Railroad. (This was over a summer, I guess.) Some friends of mine worked with them. Good guys, I hear. I never met them myself, but my friends say they lived in the dirtiest house in the world. They were playing on the street in front of Boone Drug in Boone, NC when Doc Watson's daughter, from what I understand, happened upon them and introduced them to her dad, who invited them to play at the famous Merlefest in Wilkesboro, NC. It was up from there. Glad to see they've done so well.

[Lookout Kid]

Chicago used to be a major player (along with Austin) in that roots rock alt-country movement. It's faded quite a bit over the last decaded, however. Schubas and the Hideout were integral to that scene.

In fact, I'd say that was the last time Chicago's music scene really felt like it was humming. It's been more dead lately, but I'm sure something big will come out of this city again in the future. Right now our Hip Hop artists are quite cutting edge for some reason...