The Overture: May 14-20 -

Staghorn is one of the newest outfits to the scene, as they have recently made Champaign-Urbana their home, and they are performing on Thursday at this house show. Read up on Staghorn from our article with them here, which talks about their process and ethos as a band.

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

► Cowboy Monkey // $15 advance/$17 door // 8 p.m.

D. Clea, Sleeping Okami, Snayl, Smoke in Space

► Seven Saints // free // 8:30 p.m.

Hathaways, Tractor Kings

► Blackbird // free // 9 p.m.

Hathaways have been away from Urbana for a bit, having made C-U their home for quite a bit of time until a few years back. Their full band returns to Blackbird with Tractor Kings later this week, and this all ages show is totally free. Check out a snippet of a new video for their upcoming video for “Rumors”, and the band has a new record called Wildertent Live Sessions out this summer.

FRIDAY, May 18th

Jeff Helgesen Quintet

► The Iron Post // $2 // 5 p.m.

Roots Walk

► Crystal Lake Park // free // 6 p.m.

The fifth annual Urbana Park District Roots Walk at Crystal Lake Park is on Saturday, and it features a slew of acts: Grass Roots Revival, Rebekah Songer, The Young and the Fretless, Bones Jugs, Matt Stewart + Doug Schroer Duo, Strings Attached, and The Firetons.

Kilborn Alley Blues Band

► The Clark Bar // cover unknown // 6:30 p.m.

Here’s a hell of way to kick off your weekend — a Kilborn Alley Blues Band show at Clark Bar, one of the best and more underrated haunts around C-U.

Ryan Groff, Kayla Brown, Paul Kotheimer

► Flying Machine Avionics // $5 // 7 p.m.

Ryan Groff is a man on a mission right now. Elsinore’s front man has been piling up solo shows, including this one at Avionics on Friday night. He’s joined by couple of other local singer songwriters Kayla Brown and Paul Kotheimer, so get yourself over to the coffee shop for this cozy one.

Slick Lisp, The Autocorrect, Ant Hattie

► Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center // $5 // 8 p.m.

Hadden Sayers Band

► Rose Bowl Tavern // $15 advance/$20 door // 8 p.m.

Ex Cathedra, Faulty Priestess, Drox

► Ghost Planet // $5 suggested donation // 8 p.m.

Cornstalkers Cajun Band

► The Iron Post // cover unknown // 9 p.m.

Encounter at EL-5

► nightshop in Bloomington // cover unknown // 8 p.m.

The Chickadee Sermon

► Watson’s Shack & Rail // free // 10 p.m.

MId-October, Jon Lecouris, Travis French

►Memphis on Main // cover unknown // 10 p.m.

SATURDAY, May 19th

The Chickadee Sermon

► The Clark Bar // free // 6:30 p.m.

Todd Pheifer and the Jennings Street Band

► Loose Cobra // donations accepted // 8 p.m.

Shazu, Edna

► nightshop in Bloomington // cover unknown // 8 p.m.

Dylan Schneider, Spencer Crandall

► The City Center // $10-15 // 8:30 p.m.

The Merry Travelers, Pressure Fit, Zecca Bom

► Blackbird // $10 // 9 p.m.

Blackbird has had a good run of late with shows, and here’s one that might appeal to you. The Merry Travelers is a psych/folk outfit featuring members of Bones Jugs, and Pressure Fit is Reginald Chapman’s project which we featured last week.

Bookmobile!, Falbonauts, Ant Hattie

► The Iron Post // cover unknown // 9 p.m.

SUNDAY, May 20th

Chachi and the Bandidos

► Loose Cobra // free // 4 p.m.

Here’s a fun way to spend your Sunday: drinking and listening to Chachi and the Bandidos at the Cobra in Tolono. This is an afternoon show, so you can be done boozin’ and listening to music at a reasonable hour.

Photo by JP Goguen

Pokey, Shazu, Orator

► Ghost Planet // $5 // 7 p.m.

Soul on Sundays

► The Iron Post // donations // 7 p.m.

Marc Broussard, PhanieRae and the Soul Shakers

► The Castle Theatre in Bloomington // $20 advance/$22 door // 8 p.m.

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The Overture is a rundown of live music and performances happening in the Champaign-Urbana area (and the outskirts) each week. All of the information is as accurate as we can publish, but all shows and performances are subject to change at any time. Thank you for understanding.

Have a show you think we should know about? Email us at [email protected] with the details.

Patrick Singer

Executive Editor

MONDAY, May 14th

TUESDAY, May 15th

WEDNESDAY, May 16th

McNeil Quintet

Joey Glassman Group

THURSDAY, May 17th