Lauded by Album of the Year for his "vivid imagination and a strong sense of surrealism," Emperor X, the indie-rock project of Chad Matheny, headlines a June 27 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, his talents inspiring Echoes & Dust to label him "one of the most subversive American songwriters" who "is f---ing on fire now."

Performing locally in advance of the July 11 release of their latest album Longtime Friend, the brother-and-sister folk and Americana duo The Wildmans headline a June 29 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, with Aila and Elisha Wildman's outfit inspiring American Songwriter to rave, "The storytelling, Aila’s vocal delivery, and the siblings’ harmonies all carry the fingerprints of generations of mountain music."

Performing in Bettendorf as part of the venue's Summer Concert Series, the nationally known, Quad Cities-based power-pop artists of Einstein's Sister play The Tangled Wood on June 27, the outfit's previous singles “Begin Again / Standing Still" mastered by Abbey Road Studios' Miles Showell, who also mastered and cut vinyl for Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Queen, The Police, and The Beatles.

Delivering bluegrass versions of Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, and the artist's own classics with harmonious singalongs and a hint of psychedelia, revered singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Keller Williams brings his concert event DeadPettyKellerGrass to Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn on June 28, this "one-man jam band" hailed by AllMusic as "“an utterly unique performer whose musical eccentricities don't keep him from being immediately accessible.”