Old Shoe Album-Release Show at the Redstone Room -- December 8.
Friday, December 8, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Touring in support of their fifth full-length recording Past the Light which is slated for December release, the Chicago-based musicians of Old Shoe play an album-release concert at Davenport's Redstone Room on December 8, the five-piece ensemble a frequently touring outfit that, according to WSUM.org, “incorporates rock, bluegrass, jazz, and a little folk, creating nothing but an upbeat atmosphere."
Currently celebrating the band's 14th year of professional performance, Old Shoe boasts guitarist Jim Conry, bass player Janis Wallin, drummer Jonathan Reed, keyboard/organ/mandolin player Joe Day, and guitarist Matt Robinson, the latter an alumnus of Rock Island's Augustana College. Following the release of the group's 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, 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-Gazette 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 93.1FM WXRT named it the Best Local Album of 2013. Prior to the December debut of Past the Light, Country Home, released at the end of 2017, continued in the band's exhilarating roots-rock vein, leading GratefulWeb.org to praise this compilation of 13 original tracks for the songs' ability to “paint a diverse landscape of American life." 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 December 8 with opening sets by Allie Kral and The Dawn, admission to the 8 p.m. concert event is $15-18, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 and visiting CommonChordQC.org.
