In June, Codfish Hollow Barn in Maquoketa hosted a show with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. The concert didn't have Sean Moeller's or Daytrotter's name on it, but the link was clear enough.

"I made that show happen," Moeller said earlier this month.

Moeller founded Daytrotter.com in 2006 as a source for exclusive live-in-the-studio recordings, and the vast majority of its thousands of sessions over the past nine years have been recorded in the Quad Cities. But even though concerts are not Daytrotter's product, they are an increasingly common and visible fringe benefit for the Quad Cities, and the Oberst performance illustrates the reciprocal relationship between the internationally known Web site and local shows.

Moeller said he'd been trying to get Oberst in for a session since Daytrotter began - but it only happened because of Codfish Hollow.

"I got a Daytrotter session out of Conor Oberst," Moeller said. "That's why I did it. ... I'm not going to not do that. ... I'm going to help make that happen so that I can get something for Daytrotter from Conor Oberst."

Over the past decade, much of the impact Daytrotter has had on the Quad Cities has been easily discerned - although it's infrequently been explicit, and often it's indirect. Rozz-Tox's lineup is littered with Daytrotter bands. Codfish Hollow concerts typically feature some of Moeller's favorite bands.

More and more, however, Moeller is putting his name on his work. For nearly a year, he's booked and hosted Moeller Mondays shows at Rozz-Tox. Last year he began shows at Davenport's Renwick Mansion under the same banner, and this year he started doing concerts at the Village Theatre in Davenport.

"It's a promoter thing," he explained about the decision to create a Moeller brand. "It's like a [prestigious] record label. People do believe in certain promoters. ...

"I think I tried to stay behind the name Daytrotter for the longest time. I'd go to places and I'd just be introduced as Daytrotter. 'This is Daytrotter.'"

Of course, the Web site is more than just Moeller. He has a business partner and several engineers, and he said the work of illustrator Johnnie Cluney is essential to the identity. And because Daytrotter is a media company and not a concert organizer and promoter, the name doesn't naturally fit with shows that Moeller books or otherwise helps with.

So he said he wondered: "Why the hell am I not building up my own name a little bit? ... I'm just trying to be a facilitator. I'm putting my name out there because why shouldn't I? There has to be something I put it under. I want to be associated with the good things that I'm bringing to town, not for an ego situation. There has to be somebody to validate something that's coming to town. ... You still need somebody to put a stamp on it."

Daytrotter itself plans to get back into the business of one-time local shows with the opening (likely this fall) of its new recording studio and live-music venue in downtown Davenport - although that's no guarantee given the history of the renovation project.

So Moeller's behind-the-scenes work continues. He booked artists for the September 6 East Fest at Davenport's BREW in the Village.

He and Quad Cities River Bandits Managing Partner Dave Heller are planning to present concerts at Modern Woodmen Park, possibly starting this fall.

And Moeller said he booked three of the four headliners for this year's River Roots Live festival: rising country star Kacey Musgraves, legendary R&B singer Mavis Staples, and the indie-pop outfit Hellogoodbye. "If you look at this year's lineup, there's a lot of my fingerprints all over it," he said.

That's not modest, but the man has no reason to be. For all that he's done with Daytrotter, Sean Moeller has also reshaped the local music scene when it comes to touring artists.

On paper, the Wallflowers' 2012 album Glad All Over has the whiff of trying to recapture past glories.

It was the band's first album of new material in seven years, a hiatus that included a rote best-of compilation, a couple tours, and two solo albums by frontman/songwriter Jakob Dylan.

But talking to Dylan last week - and, more importantly, listening to the album - it's clear that the band and its leader aren't crassly trying to capitalize on fondness for the quadruple-platinum Bringing Down the Horse (and its chart-topping single, "One Headlight") from 1996. As the All Music Guide correctly summarized, with Glad All Over the Wallflowers "now feel the freedom to mess around, and they've come up with one of their loosest, liveliest records that not-so-coincidentally is one of their best."

So the long absence of the Wallflowers - headlining River Roots Live on August 17 - can be explained by Dylan wanting the band to survive and thrive. He obviously views it as his band - less in the sense of belonging to him than being his primary musical outlet.

Given that Keller Williams' albums feature one-syllable titles that roughly describe their contents, a look at his discography hints at the artist's aggressively nomadic nature. Over the past few years alone, there's a bluegrass covers album (Thief), family-friendly music (Kids), reggae dub funk (Bass), and this year's Pick, a bluegrass record with the Travelin' McCourys - featuring two sons of genre legend Del McCoury. And Williams is of course known for his solo show, in which he live-loops all the parts to become his own band.

"Although I have not been diagnosed, I would think there's an Attention Deficit Disorder that's in play here," Williams said in a recent phone interview. "And I mean that in the best possible way. I personally can't just focus on one genre of music without losing interest. ... It's very easy for me to play bass and reggae music with one group and the next day play guitar in a bluegrass band. It gives me the most joy to be able to do that. Too much of one thing, it could be bad, and I could slip into a rut where I'm just thinking about other things on stage. ... Once I play solo for many weeks in a row, I'm so ready to play with other people, and vice versa."

Despite keeping his schedule varied, band and solo settings have their frustrations. In solo shows, he said, "I think that thought kind of creeps in: I wish I could playing with other people, communicating without language. The camaraderie of bands ... is just incredible, and I often miss that. At the same time, ... [when playing with a band] sometimes I can't reach that level of energy that I can reach with my solo act."

But when Williams performs at River Roots Live on August 17 with the Travelin' McCourys, neither of those should be an issue. "The McCourys is a whole different ballgame," Williams said. "It's such a joy for me to be able to play with them, I don't think I've ever wanted to be anywhere else than up on stage with them at that time."

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

Blues Traveler guitarist and songwriter Chan Kinchla calls the band's 2005 album ¡Bastardos! "our transitional record," and he admitted it has been a long transition.

Following three gold albums, the group - fronted by vocalist, harmonica player, and songwriter John Popper - had a top-10 hit in the mid-1990s with Four's "Run-Around," and the record itself went platinum six times, no small feat for a jam band. Straight on Till Morning (from 1997) also went platinum, but the death in 1999 of bassist Bobby Sheehan spurred a process of reinvention that might finally be over.

Blues Traveler will be headlining River Roots Live on Saturday, August 20, and as the band prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, it's planning big things. A retrospective package - including B sides and live material - is slated for March release, Kinchla said in a phone interview last week. ("The B sides have turned into almost a pretty good album all by themselves.") And a new record is in the works for the summer. That, he said, will be Blues Traveler's attempt at a great album.