Saturday, February 23, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
A five-piece ensemble that, according to WSUM.org, “incorporates rock, bluegrass, jazz, and a little folk, creating nothing but an upbeat atmosphere,” the Chicago-based musicians of Old Shoe play Davenport's Redstone Room on February 23 in support of their most recent release Country Home, a compilation of 13 original tracks praised by GratefulWeb.com for the songs' ability to “paint a diverse landscape of American life.”
Currently celebrating its tenth year of professional performance, Old Shoe boasts guitarist Paul Priest, bass player Dan Huber, drummer Greg Fundis, keyboard/organ/mandolin player Joe Day, and guitarist Matt Robinson, the latter an alumnus of Augustana College. Following the release of its self-titled 2009 debut and 2011 album Let Yourself In, the jam band began touring throughout the Midwest, performing at high-profile festivals including Summer Camp and Wakarusa, and opening for the likes of Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams, and Greensky Bluegrass, and Grammy Award winner Bruce Hornsby. In 2011, the quintet also inaugurated its own summertime music festival Shoe Fest, an annual event that The News-Gazatte called “a beautiful celebration of bluegrass, roots rock, funk, jazz-fusion, reggae, and more.”
Old Shoe found its profile raised even further with the release of 2013's Family, in which the artists collaborated with musicians from The Henhouse Prowlers and The Low Down Brass Band; WSUM.org described Family as “a culmination of [Old Shoe's] growth and progress,” and Illinois radio station WXRT named it the Best Local Album of 2013. Country Home, released at the end of 2017, continues in the band's exhilarating roots-rock vein, and as Robinson told Relix magazine, the album was created without much in the way of post-recording cleanup: “We grew up listening to these classic albums that were created with everyone in the same room, and we were after that old school rock 'n' roll magic.”
Old Shoe's plays the Redstone Room on February 23 with opening sets by the Ben Miller Band and Allie Kral, admission is $12-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.
