Keegan DeWitt is inviting his fans along on his journey, in what passes for real time in the music industry.

The Nashville-based musician and composer has many of his film scores available for free on his Web site. His earlier solo recordings found him in singer/songwriter mode. A trio of singles over the past year have shown him making the transition from solo artist to bandleader. And he hopes that all those elements will come together on the album he and his band are working on.

A Daytrotter.com veteran with three sessions under his belt and an EP (last year's Nothing Shows) released by the Quad Cities-based site, DeWitt will perform as part of the September 3 Daytrotter Barnstormer 5 concert in Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn.

Two years ago, he said in a phone interview this week, he recorded largely by himself with a couple of string players. As he's built a band, he said, "we wanted to make sure that everybody was following us on that trajectory, instead of listening to something that was super-outdated. ... We wanted to make sure that through this process of making music ... we weren't waiting on anybody."

As "This Masquerade" begins on her recently released live CD recorded at Davenport's Redstone Room, Pamela Reese Smith's voice emerges from the piano prelude of Manny Lopez III as a husky, tuneful whisper, growing louder and more intense from phrase to phrase. As she builds, she blends breathiness and fullness to create a wistful and passionate melody. Her use of a light, breathy tone establishes the mournful mood of the song, especially when singing the word "lost," imparting confusion and hopelessness.

Her voice continues to soften and grow with the lyrics. When singing the phrase "this masquerade," she starts quietly and then allows her voice to expand as she holds out the line -communicating strength, despair, and other feelings.

Throughout the album, Smith employs this effectively expressive technique, and her big voice creates a deep, encompassing sound. But at times she misses the pitch a little, and the heavy richness of her voice becomes a disadvantage.

(Other coverage of River Roots Live 2011 can be found here.)

For the video promo for her song "Chase the Thrill," Nikka Costa said she and the director "just got in my bathroom and went for it."

Lest you think that something dirty happened, "went for it" in this case means re-creating the famous shower scene from Psycho, with Costa in the role of Marion Crane.

Also on her "Nikka's Box" YouTube channel (YouTube.com/user/nikkasbox) is a Rocky-style training video and "Streaking Nikka," in which the topless rock/soul singer (naughty bits obscured) encourages viewers to check out her new EP Pro*Whoa. "What's a girl gotta do to get her music heard?" she asks.

Such is the existence of Costa, who will close River Roots Live with an 11 p.m. set on August 20. She is now operating independently after a successful music career as a child (she is the daughter of producer Don Costa) and well-reviewed albums as an adult on Virgin and Stax. (Entertainment Weekly called 2001's Everybody Got Their Something an "intoxicating starburst of self-affirming R&B" and "an audacious, fresh-as-a-daisy debut," while the All Music Guide said its follow-up features songs that are "muscular, funky, and imaginatively arranged ... .This is big, dynamic music that cries for a big audience ... .")

River Roots Live will take place on Friday, August 19, and Saturday, August 20, in LeClaire Park on the Davenport riverfront. The festival will feature 17 bands on two stages and will be headlined by Gin Blossoms (on Friday) and Blues Traveler (on Saturday). Admission is free, and the event also features Ribfest. Full event details are available at RiverRootsLive.com.

Below is the full entertainment schedule, with links to new interviews with Blues Traveler, Nikka Costa, and The Apache Relay - all performing on Saturday - as well as to previous River Cities' Reader articles on some of the artists.