With the ensemble's ranks presently including two retirees from the University of Iowa jazz program and a current Augustana instructor of physics, Iowa City's popular rock group the Beaker Brothers Band will perform at the Moline Viking Club on July 21, their area appearance co-presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.

His legendary live shows described by NME as "crossing the line between music and bloodsport," experimental musician Lucas "Granpa" Abela, who also performs under the stage moniker Justice Yeldham, headlines a July 19 concert event at Rock Island's Roxx-Tox, the New York Times' David Rees describing the artist's live sets by saying, "One moment you hear John Coltrane playing a volcano, the next you hear a string section being squeezed through a toothpaste tube."

With her just-released recording The Heartbroken Record lauded by Holler Country as an " an exciting display" from an artist whose voice "is already informed by a seasoned wit and sharp wisdom," country singer/songwriter Lauren Watkins headlines a July 21 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, her studio-album also praised by Entertainment Focus as "a masterclass in country heartache, blending introspective lyrics with infectious melodies."

With AllMusic.com calling the musicians' album We Are the Tide a "near faultless" work that set "a new benchmark in the Oregon/Washington folk-pop revival," the indie-folk and -pop musicians of Blind Pilot headline a July 23 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the ensemble also praised by NPR as a group that "makes wistful late-summer music – songs of reflection and connection, carried out in a subtle swirl of strings, horns, pianos and voices."