Cedar County Cobras at the Raccoon Motel -- March 13.
Thursday, March 13, 6 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Current winners of the solo/duo category for the Iowa Blues Challenge who placed as semi-finalists at the 2025 International Blues Festival in Memphis, Cedar County Cobras headline a March 13 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the popular duo of Tom Spielbauer and April Dirks arriving with an upright bass, foot drum, and several guitars to play American roots and blues music from the last century.
Songwriter Spielbauer is known for rich baritone vocals and slide guitar. He is behind the boot-stompin' blues sound produced by the duo and has more than 20 years of playing blues and rock across Iowa and the Midwest. The authentic sound of his music comes from a career of pouring concrete and working construction. In 2005, Spielbauer was diagnosed with advanced macular degeneration at a young age and declared legally blind. Following in the footsteps of blind blues musicians such as Blind Willie McTell & Alan Wilson, he eventually traded his concrete tools for a guitar and a foot drum to play the blues full time. In his solo career, Spielbauer was the winner of the Iowa Blues Challenge and placed as a semi-finalist at the 2023 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
Also an Iowa native, Spielbauer's music partner Dirks started playing mandolin with the Cedar County Cobras in 2014. Before working with her current partner, she often performed as a bluegrass musician with a unique “gypsy” sound that she brought to any performance or music jam. Early in the project, Dirks discovered she had a talent for playing the upright bass and the duo naturally gravitated to playing American roots and Delta blues music. Dirks now plays the doghouse bass that gives the duo the boot-stompin' boogie sound that makes the music really move.
Over the years, the Cedar County Cobras have played hundreds of shows across the Midwest and have even performed in Italy. They bring a contagious energy to any live performance and cover different genres of music so that every member of the audience is sure to be satisfied. Audience members will find themselves tapping to the beat of the foot drum and upright bass or getting up to dance with the crowd. They have played more than 700 shows at venues from the small-town dive bar to the large classic theatre or festival stage. The Cobras have played the main stage at Codfish Hollow, the Iowa State Fair, the Iowa Arts Festival and have played the Englert Theatre, opening for revered acts such as Marty Stuart and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. The band has also shared the stage and festival line-ups with notable acts such as Joe and Vicki Price, Bob Dorr, the Avey Grouws Band, Kent Burnside, Matt Woods, Will Whitmore, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Them Coulee Boys, Split Lip Rayfield, Legendary Shack Shakers, Ben Miller Band, Fruition, Old Salt Union, Blackberry Bushes, Mountain Sprout, Sam Bush, and even the amazing Travelin’ McCourys.
Cedar County Cobras headline their Davenport engagement on March 13 with an additional set by Illinois John Fever, admission to the 6 p.m. concert is $15.88, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
