The coronavirus pandemic is scary for many who live on tight margins or don’t have the security of a steady paycheck. That includes independent musicians, venue owners, promoters, and others whose livelihood depends on a thriving and functioning arts and music scene.
Many people might think of classical music as a genre largely filled with works popular with audiences hundreds of years ago, or difficult-to-access current music hard for non-musicians to "get." Illinois State University hopes to dispel that misconception next week at the RED NOTE New Music Festival.
Years of vibrant growth in the live music scene in Bloomington-Normal have benefitted men, not women. Maybe that shouldn’t be a complete surprise. A study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative last year found women are vastly underrepresented in popular music. But an in-depth report by WGLT shows harsher central Illinois numbers and cloudy prospects for change.
It is a cruel irony that the first Christian church in what is now the country of Ghana is built in a coastal fort directly over the holding pens for the slave trade.
New Yorker magazine music critic Alex Ross credits his parents' love of both classical music and European and American history for the intimate connection he made between the two disciplines at a young age.
In a time when immigrants are painted as illegal invaders and something to be feared, Adriana Martinez studies how music ties American and Mexican culture together.
Tom Neal is a handy, creative guy and a skilled woodworker. He could spend his time making just about anything if he felt like it—rocking chairs, picture frames, tables.
Since 1992, GLT’s Acousticity has explored the world of “flexible folk,” with a distinctive mix of bluegrass, Celtic and songwriter music. Here are Acousticity host Bruce Bergethon’s Top 20 songs for October, via a Spotify playlist.
GLT was a proud co-presenter for last weekend’s Sweet Corn Blues Festival in Uptown Normal, where blues and delicious corn on the cob came together for a beautiful combination.
Bloomington hip-hop artist Dominique Stevenson said positive messages and uplifting vibes in his music are connected to his religion. He doesn't believe people can achieve happiness, or good, alone.
The Something Brothers guitarist Edwin Pierce said it was surprisingly easy for band members to create and record new music together despite a nearly 30-year studio hiatus, and missing a key band member.
In 2016 streaming services became the primary way Americans listened to music. But Bloomington-Normal still has three independent record stores, where physical music, mostly vinyl, makes up the vast majority of their sales. Indeed, record stores in the Twin Cities have bucked the current, rising in popularity from a low point about 15 years ago.
Don rings out 2017 and also closes a 58 year career on this week’s Radio Munson with music from some of his favorites—Count and Duke, Sassy and Satchmo, Ella and Frank, Lady Day and Tony—and a heartfelt thank you to generations of faithful listeners.
Kurt Elling is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson along with Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Keely Smith, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, plus Wynton Marsalis and friends with a rousing version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain".
Louis Armstrong is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson, along with the Boswell Sisters, Jimmy Rushing, stride pianist Jeff Barnhart, Harry James, Jane Monheit, Erroll Garner and more.
