GLT Music Podcast

Brett Conlin's new full-band Americana-rock album is a nostalgic and sometimes wistful look at his youthful days growing up in Kewanee.

Backyard Tire Fire's new album drops Friday. They perform at the Black Dirt Music Festival in Bloomington on Saturday. Wilco headlines the fest.

Author John Milward connects American music legends like The Carter Family and Hank Williams with today's big stars including Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlisle.

Bloomington-based hip-hop artist Darius Williams says his new album was self-therapy during a difficult time. He says it's his most personal work to date.

Like many bands, the Bloomington-based quintet Old Smoke used downtime during the pandemic to write and record a new album.

Family took center stage on Dan Hubbard's new five-song EP “Fall in Love Again (Quarantine Lullabies) ”.

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has many optimistic a return to something resembling “normal” is approaching. That includes a Bloomington Normal live-music scene gutted by the pandemic. Most music organizers in the Twin Cities said they are shooting for summer and fall performances.

Rick Valentin says dreary central Illinois winter weather is why he began writing and recording new music in January 2020. But that exercise for his solo vehicle, Thoughts Detecting Machines, evolved into an album that acted as a coping mechanism when the pandemic hit.

Dominique Stevenson is a very visible Twin City activist who uses his music to spread a message of unity and encouragement. He was on the front lines of social justice marches last summer and even founded the youth-based advocacy group Next Gen Initiative.

Bloomington singer/songwriter Brett Conlin said a three-month isolation at home with his family last spring became the fodder for his just released acoustic EP "The Great Divide."

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Joe Borbely said creating the debut album for the Bloomington-based Progressive Space rock outfit CAPS LOCK was almost literally a life-saver.

Peoria may not seem fertile ground for birthing a Flamenco band. But a side jam during the making of a compilation CD among area musicians grew into one of Peoria’s newest outfits.

The pandemic has hit full-time performing musicians especially hard. There are very few places to perform and in-person audiences are sparse, at best.

Singer-songwriter Leah Marlene's first full-length album is quite a curveball for those that came to her through her 2018 up-tempo, hook-laden debut EP “Arrows.”

Listen at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, for an hourlong special dedicated to Delta Frank, our legendary blues host. Listen on 89.1 FM or stream at WGLT.org. WGLT Hall of Famer and longtime blues host Gilbert Frank Black died Sunday of COVID-19-related complications. He was 79. Black served as a blues music host from 1985 until he retired in 2013.

Musicians and concert promoters are working their way back into larger live music events. Blackberry Smoke headlines one of two shows this weekend at the Corn Crib in Normal.

Dominique Stevenson has been a very public figure in Bloomington-Normal this year. He founded the youth-based Next Gen Initiative . The social-justice group initiated several marches and education forums in the Twin Cities this summer.

Rapper and visual artist Grill Billyenz of Normal says the darker industrial sound on his latest album "Metamorph" comes from the ghost-town feeling he gets working the third shift at his "day job."

Releasing a new album during the coronavirus pandemic has a silver lining for the bluesy Peoria roots-rock trio Hoosier Daddy.

Bloomington Americana singer/songwriter Edward David Anderson says his new "Live and Solo" album intentionally tried to capture where he's at in his current iteration.

Blues guitarist and singer/songwriter Ana Popovic said she mentally worked to overcome doubt when she crashed the male-dominated blues scene two decades ago.

Chicago jazz pianist and educator Lara Driscoll credits University of Illinois piano professor Chip Stephens for inspiring the title to her debut album "Woven Dreams."

Peoria native Jared Grabb knew art would be a major part of his life from a young age. But once he arrived in college to study comic book art, he discovered his love of music trumped visual art.

Oak Park native and organ aficionado Neal Francis infuses his original music with the classic soul vibe of the 1960s and 70s. His debut album “Changes” is accompanied by lyrics that document his work to overcome addictions and other demons. A year later, his new single continues that effort.

Taylor Steele says a spicy sound may soon mix with the Illinois prairie sound her Effingham-based band is known for.

Touring the country with bandmates on the strength of major record label releases can sound glamorous.

During the 30th anniversary year of the release of Eric Johnson's classic album "Ah Via Musicom," the much lauded guitarist said looking back on that album and his other works can be helpful.

Drew deFrance loved the comparison of his namesake band with the sound of classic rockers like Bad Company and Mott the Hoople.

Bloomington's Cody Diekhoff, known professionally as Chicago Farmer, digs deeper into America's widening economic divide on his new album "Flyover Country."

Acclaimed 37-year-old bluesman Brandon Santini has an award-winning new album and is edging into a newer sound.

Them Coulee Boys frontman Soren Staff wanted the Eau Claire, Wis.-based band’s third album to hang together thematically. Like many bands, their first album was everything they had written prior to forming; their second was mainly leftovers.

Author David Whiteis believes blues music and blues artists don't get proper recognition as part of the great African-American migration of the 20th century.

Shawn Hoeft of Bloomington believes her son Zac would have celebrated his 29th birthday this year had the unknown gunman who killed him been exposed to conflict resolution.

Bloomington native Matthew Curry says his "guitar gun-slinger" days may not be completely over, but his sound should evolve.

Joe Stamm said his version of country music contains rural American imagery and deeply personal songwriting.

Michael Mwenso's music destiny appeared after his mother was deported from their home in London to her native Africa.

The principal songwriter and lead vocalist for the Bloomington-Normal folk-rock quintet Sherwood Forest said the group's new EP digs into personal struggles both internal and with family, friends, and lovers.

Intentionally recording a studio album in front of a live audience can be perilous. What if the audience doesn't respond? What if the performers aren't in synch musically that night?