Described by NoDepression.com as possessing “a natural signature sound that is as timeless as it is enjoyable,” and with his home country's The Saturday Paper deeming his latest album Gon' Boogaloo “a masterpiece,” Australian blues artist C.W. Stoneking headlines a Moeller Nights concert on October 19, sharing the talents that led The Guardian to call him “a droll entertainer with a flair for making old-timey sounds into party music for the present.”

Boasting more than 94 charted records and 45 top-10 hits between them – among them such indelible recordings as “Stand by Me,” “Yakkety Yak,” “On Broadway,” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” – a trio of iconic ensembles will share the Adler Theatre stage on October 20 when the Davenport venue welcomes The Drifters, Cornell Gunter's Coasters, and The Platters for an unforgettable evening of R&B, doo-wop, pop, and soul.

A pair of highly regarded country musicians from Nashville will team up at the Ohnward Fine Arts Center on October 20, when the Maquoketa-based venue presents the touring sensation The Dave & Daphne Show – an evening of toe-tapping originals and country and gospel favorites performed by recording stars Dave Salyer and Daphne Anderson.

A jazz great with significant ties to the area makes a return appearance at Davenport's Redstone Room on October 21, with chanteuse, composer, and music educator Semenya McCord performing with her quartet in Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series, the concert event also featuring Boston-based pianist Frank Wilkins and a tribute to legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

With Exclaim! praising his latest album as “a soft and sumptuous collection” that “features some of the finest songs of his career,” Grammy-winning folk rocker Ray LaMontagne plays Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 24 in support of his 2018 release Part of the Light, a work that led Spill magazine to state, “The only disappointing aspect of this albuym is that it is only nine songs long.”

Rock and blues guitarist/vocalist Eric Gales has already earned wild praise from his peers, with Carlos Santana calling him “absolutely incredible” and Joe Bonamassa labeling him “one of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world.” On October 11, Gales will no doubt equally thrill fans at Davenport's Redstone Room, sharing the venerable talents that led Dave Navarro to state, “How Eric Gales isn't the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery.”

Performing a Moeller Nights concert on October 11, the Heligoats – what NPR called “a strange name for a guy strumming a guitar, but oddly befitting someone who stuffs his songs with so many sideways ideas and observations” – delivers acoustic indie rock courtesy of singer/songwriter Chris Otepka, whom NPR declared “writes songs that are brainy in the best way: clever without straining for cuteness, wry but never smug.”

One of the most popular and influential country and Southern-rock bands in history makes a long-awaited appearance at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on October 13, with the chart-topping talents of Alabama performing in their 2018 “The Hits Tour,” and demonstrating why AllMusic.com wrote, “It's unlikely that any other country group will be able to surpass the success of Alabama.”

For the group's first concerts of the 2018-19 season, the professional vocal ensemble the Nova Singers will travel Out of Darkness, Into Light on October 13 and 14, delivering Illinois and Iowa presentations that find noted composers wrestling with life’s darkest moments and exploring the uplifting powers of hope, light, and love.

Metavari

Nathaniel David Utesch, the guiding light that illuminates Metavari, has taken one of those travel-routes on his way to his present sound that are full of odd detours and strewn with photos that are better left undiscussed. What he has related along the way, over the course of years, is every bit as good as enough for a narrative. Except where noted, all quotes derive from an e-mail exchange conducted with Utesch.

And the band is appearing on 29 September at Rozz-Tox for Year Two of All Senses Fest (9:30 to 10:15PM). So, there’s that.

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