Returning with its most pop-friendly album to date, The Marlboro Chorus knocks out nine rock-and-roll numbers on American Dreamers. Drawing influence from Buddy Holly, Pink Floyd, and Bill Haley, American Dreamers sees The Marlboro Chorus putting aside art rock in favor of a straightforward album complete with guitar solos, magnificently simple lyrics, and a raw sound. From the black-and-white cover to the title of the record itself, American Dreamers feels so easy, but it was a long time coming.

Singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer tells about a friend who leads a group of people who knit for the local food bank. They'll set up somewhere and knit with a sign that reads, "Knitting for the Food Bank."

"People will come and talk to them," Newcomer said in a phone interview last week. "Folks who might not maybe go up to someone on the corner and talk to somebody who has a sign will sit down with a group of women knitting and talk about the issue. 'What's happening with the food bank?'"

Most people think of bluegrass as music for old people, and Alex Kirt of the Woodbox Gang doesn't disagree. He calls it "timeless," but as a performer that has one big advantage.

By the time you hit age 50 or so, you can't credibly play metal, punk, or hard-rock music. "You're probably going to look ridiculous," said Kirt, a singer and multi-instrumentalist with the southern-Illinois "trashcan Americana" band that will be performing at the Bent River Brewing Company on Saturday, April 7. And the age-imperviousness of bluegrass is important, because the 33-year-old wants to be playing this music "forever."

The fills.

That's why Charlie Baty started really playing the guitar. In the early 1970s, when he met singer, songwriter, and harmonica player Rick Estrin, "I had never played guitar in a band," Baty said in a recent phone interview.

At that time, Charlie was the singer and harmonica player in his own band, Little Charlie & the Nightcats. But with Rick already an accomplished harmonica player and set to join the band, Charlie picked up his guitar and studied his Chicago blues heroes.