In the bluegrass world where technical prowess is highly valued, stand-up bassist and vocalist Jesse Farrar of Old Salt Union believes songwriting actually trumps instrumental virtuosity.

It's not easy to recapture the magic of a family music group after touring exhaustion kills the joy and the chemistry. Kansas City native Danielle Nicole has done that by changing her scene.

Naeim Rahmani is unusual in the world of classical guitar. He began formal lessons at age 22, an age most serious players had already been practicing for up to 4-5 hours per day since their mid-teens.

Jason Hawk Harris’ debut on Bloodshot Records is an Americana gem many are calling one of the best albums of the year.

If you had walked into Waiting Room Records in uptown Normal in the last few weeks, you might have thought owner Jared Alcorn was in a nostalgic 1980s mood. An album with a nod to that synth sounding decade was getting heavy play on the store's turntable.

The Bloomington-Normal alt-pop/rock quartet Wiplot makes a rare performance Saturday night at Nightshop in downtown Bloomington.

This week wasn’t the first, tenth, or maybe the hundredth time Reverberation Vinyl owner John Anderson was spinning what’s become known as Desert Blues on the turntable in his Bloomington store.

Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean seemingly had it made by 2014. The English natives were half of the grunge/blues band Kill It Kid that was signed to Sire Records and had just released its third album.

Grant Milliren, now 21, was getting serious about music by his mid-teens. But the Illinois State University arts technology student was also a varsity athlete at Neuqua Valley High School in suburban Naperville.

Josh Ritter is known worldwide as a talented songwriter. Matter of fact, Paste Magazine named him one of the 100 greatest living songwriters in 2006 .