Dakota

Keb' Mo'
2025-11-06 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-11-07 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
“soul and passion… consistent good vibes” – American Songwriter

It’s a little over 2,000 miles from Compton to Nashville. Drop the needle on Keb’ Mo’s latest album, 2022’s Good To Be, and you can make the trip in under four minutes.
“I’ve lived in Nashville for the last eleven years,” says Keb’, “but Compton has always been my home. Finding a way to connect those two places on this album was a powerful thing for me. It felt like something I needed to do.”
Good To Be is a celebration of roots and resilience, of growth and gratitude, of hope and memory. Here, the songs draw on country, soul, and blues to forge a sound that transcends genre and geography. Then, he weaves together past and present into a heartwarming tapestry spanning more than forty years of sonic evolution. Though Keb’ worked with a wide variety of collaborators on the project, it remains a deeply cohesive work. Additionally, it is anchored by the five-time Grammy winner’s magnetic vocal delivery and relentless optimism.
“I believe that music has the power to heal,” Keb’ explains, “and I wanted this album to make people feel good.”
For Keb’ Mo’, that journey began nearly half a century ago. Then, he landed his first major gig in Papa John Creach’s band at the age of twenty-one. Over the next twenty years, Keb’ would go on to establish himself as a respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger. Though he recorded a one-off album in 1980 under his birth name, Kevin Moore, it wasn’t until 1994 that he would introduce the world to Keb’ Mo’ with the release of his widely acclaimed self-titled debut. Critics quickly took note of Keb’s modern, genre-bending take on old school sounds.
Recommended for fans of Taj Mahal, Robert Cray, Tab Benoit and Ruthie Foster.

Toronzo Cannon
2025-11-19 19:00 - 21:00
“exceptionally gifted… man, he can play” – Blues Blast

“I want my songs to be heard and experienced, not just listened to,” says cliché-defying, internationally beloved Chicago bluesman Toronzo Cannon. Cannon is on the cutting edge of today’s contemporary blues scene. Further, critics hail him as one of the genre’s most creative artists. Fans love him for his richly detailed, truth-telling original songs, blistering, inventive guitar work and impassioned vocals.
Here, his heroes inspire his sound. For example, Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Albert King, Son Seals and Jimi Hendrix. Moreover, on his latest release, 2024’s Shut Up And Play!, Cannon blazes his own path with eleven emotionally charged originals. Thus, his powerful, cathartic guitar solos and his soulfully authoritative voice fuel his imaginative songs.
Shut Up And Play! features Cannon, a former Chicago bus driver, delivering timeless stories of common experiences. Further, his lyrics are set ablaze by his passionate and focused guitar playing. Here, Cannon sings of the heartbreak of lost love, the humor of daily life, and the pain of feeling invisible. Chicago’s New City declared, “Toronzo Cannon spins the innate human capacity of misery and regret into a kind of furious ecstasy.”
“I write what I know, what I feel,” Cannon says. “Listen to the lyrics. I am a Black man in America. These are NOT protest songs. I try to create honest, common sense understanding with my songs.”
Cannon has earned ten Blues Music Award nominations. Further, as his fan base expands, so do his friendships with famous musicians. Gary Clark, Jr. declared, “Toronzo is a beast. He lights the room up.” Also, Joe Bonamassa rightly pronounced, “Toronzo’s a great guitar player, excellent vocalist and an amazing personality.”
Recommended for fans of Lonnie Brooks, Walter Trout, Bernard Allison and Corey Stevens.

Davina and The Vagabonds
2025-11-23 19:00 - 21:00
“Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass.” – Downbeat

Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene. Their high-energy live shows feature level-A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. Also, their influences range from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits. Moreover, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe.
Much like the music, the story spurns era, expectation and classification. The often unbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowers gave birth to her eponymous band in 2004. As the tale goes, she grew up in the economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA. She now describes the town as “awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school.” Then, she was adopted by her stepfather when he was in his 80s; he passed when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, she first heard the music that would start her journey. For example, The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many others. “Great man. He was my angel and still is,” she says.
On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player at home. There, she religiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Simon and Garfunkel records belonging to her folk singer mom.
To this day, Davina still refers to music as “my first and eternal love.” Despite early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in high school. Further, this morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she “got clean, started the band and worked [her] ass off every day since.”
Recommended for fans of Pokey LaFarge, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Hot Sardines and Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Corky Siegel, Ernie Watts & Randy Sabien
2025-11-30 19:00 - 21:00
“national treasure” – Downbeat

Jazz icon Ernie Watts and blues harmonica ace Corky Siegel first met in Mumbai. They were each invited by the distinguished violin virtuoso, Dr. L. Subramaniam to perform in his Global Fusion project. Then, they became best friends from the moment they met. Further, they continue to collaborate in celebrated performances and on acclaimed recording projects. Here, the evening will be a display of musical fireworks from these iconic masters, filled with remarkable stories and humor. In Corky’s words: “Innocent victims of incredible good fortune.”
Corky Siegel is hailed as one of the world’s great blues harmonica and keyboard players. Corky has a pivotal influence in modern music. He has close associations with the blues masters in the earlier days of Chicago blues through his Siegel-Schwall Band. Furthermore, he has achieved a surprising level of success in bringing together blues and classical audiences. For all these reasons Downbeat Magazine calls him a “national treasure.”
Ernie Watts is a two-time Grammy winning saxophonist. Watts played in the Tonight Show band with Doc Severinsen for Johnny Carson for twenty years. He toured with the Rolling Stones, Charlie Haden, Buddy Rich and Pat Metheny. Additionally, he recorded with Marvin Gaye, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and others. Also, Watts appears on over 1500 recordings, always exhibiting his unforgettable gift for improvisation.
Randy Sabien has over forty years of performing experience as a contemporary violinist. He worked with Jim Post, Greg Brown, Kate Wolf, Corky Siegel and more. Additionally, he has played notable stages including Austin City Limits and A Prairie Home Companion. Further, Randy founded the string department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1978.
Recommended for fans of Leo Kottke, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.
