Front Row sustaining members get free admission!
If you’re in the Front Row, email Jesse (jricke@commonchordqc.org) to claim your tickets.
Genre: Acoustic, Songwriters
Doors: 7:00pm / Show: 8pm
Tickets: $18 in advance / $20 day of show
Featured Songwriters: Jeni Grouws, Kevin Gordon
Host: David G Smith
Featured Young Artist: Eva Kendall
Seating: All-seated, intimate, listening room-style show. Each ticket purchase guarantees a seat.
Age Restriction: All Ages (Under 19 must be accompanied by an adult)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kevin Gordon
kg.kevingordon.net
Kevin Gordon’s Louisiana is a strange place. It’s a place where restless teens road trip to where the highway dead-ends at the Gulf of Mexico; a place where prisoners who are in for life compete in a rodeo while the town watches; where a character can get lost in the humid afternoon and where religion may not signify hope; and where rivers, never far away, carry secrets behind levees. “One of the things I like about it and am mystified by is that what passes for normal in Louisiana would not make the grade elsewhere,” he says.
The kicker? All of these postcards are based on true stories. It’s a place that he’s been exploring for twenty years now, on the eve of the release of his astonishing new album “Tilt And Shine” on Crowville Media. It is work that has earned him fans like noted author and Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick; New West Records artist Buddy Miller; journalist, songwriter, and Country Music Hall of Fame staffer Peter Cooper; Todd Snider; head of the Americana Music Association Jed Hilly; and Lucinda Williams, with whom Kevin dueted on the song “Down To The Well” (which was featured prominently on an Oxford American compilation).
Before you even hear his vivid lyrics, you start feeling the sound of that ’56 Gibson ES-125 tuned down to open D, often with the tremolo flowing like a river, and an unstoppable groove distilled from swamp blues and Sun Records. His MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop allows him to capture it with a degree of precision. As the New York Times put it in its headline of a feature on Kevin, “A Musician Or A Poet? Yes to Both.”
Kevin sums it up, “There are so many stories in north Louisiana and it’s a place that nobody pays attention to. For me, you can feel the arc of time passing there. I’m captivated by the power of strong memories—those films that run continuously in your mind, if you let ‘em.” With “Tilt and Shine,” those movies translate into rock n’roll poetry.
Jeni Grouws
www.facebook.com/jenigrouwsmusic
“It’s been a while since a vocalist gave me the chills. Grouws digs deep and you can’t turn away. She’s a belter with deep rooted soul.” (Martine Ehrenclou/ Rock and Blues Muse)
Jeni Grouws writes roots and Americana music for Avey Grouws Band as well as for her solo project. Working as a songwriter and performer, Jeni released her solo EP “Scenic Route” in 2008. In 2017, Jeni co-founded Avey Grouws Band. Avey Grouws Band went on to twice win the Iowa Blues Challenge, they landed on the Billboard Blues Album charts at #10 and #7 for their two full length albums and the band continues to tour nationwide. Jeni won top honors in the Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition in 2020 and in the 2021 International Songwriting Competition and continues to write for a variety of projects while touring. Jeni has recently accepted a residency in Omaha, NE where she will be living and working on her own artist solo project from September 2024-May 2025. Grouws continues to tour solo and with Avey Grouws Band.
“Jeni Grouws is a remarkably demonstrative vocalist, fully capable of delivering sturdy rockers, blustery blues, or…a tender heartfelt ballad.” (Lee Zimmerman/Goldmine Magazine) “Jeni delivers the deep, smoldering slow blues that will induce both tears and raving applause” (Jim Hynes/ Making a Scene)
David G Smith
heydavemusic.com
David G Smith developed and hosts the Songwriter Sessions series, inviting top-tier local and touring songwriters to share their songs with the Quad Cities. Having hosted shows at Nashville’s Bluebird Café for over 15 years, David has created a true listening room experience in the Quad Cities. An internationally acclaimed songwriter, four of David’s albums and four of his singles have reached #1 nationwide on various US charts, to include “River Gonna Talk” and “To Be Human”, from his recent album Witness Trees, both of which reached #1 on the Radio Guitar One Americana Chart. His last four albums were accepted for Grammy consideration. David “draws you in with his lyrics and keeps you there with his heart.”
Eva Kendall
Eva Kendall is a young woman trying to navigate her busy life and put into words and songs her teenage experiences, thoughts and feelings. She was immersed into music from an early age by her parents, grandparents, family, friends and local artists throughout the quad city area. You could often find her at a Live at Five concert dancing to the music. Eva first picked up a guitar at the tender age of three, writing her first songs “Rock and Roll Tree Trop” and “Rock and Roll Doo Dah” on a Minnie Mouse guitar. From there, she graduated to finding her Mother and Father’s guitars in the basement, dusting them off, and then teaching herself how to play open chords, something quite difficult for a nine year old! At the age of ten, she got her first electric guitar, a Fender Squire Stratocaster.
Her earliest experiences of performing started with the Common Chord blues and rock camps. After her twelfth birthday, she was recruited and briefly played with an all-girls high school rock cover band. With the help and support of locals like Donovan Gustafson, Levi Craft, Lewis Knudsen and others, and words of encouragement from her childhood role model and hero, Lissie, Eva found her first open mic at the Whiskey Stop in East Moline.
Having a foundation in blues from the Ellis Kell Blues Camp, Eva is often described as having an “old soul.” Finding inspiration in classic performers like Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Blues Brothers, Eva has taught herself how to “jam” with various artists throughout the quad cities. Her taste in music can best be described as eclectic as she also has a deep appreciation for the blues, classic rock genre, southern rock, 90’s alternative, country, and also a peppering of today’s contemporary pop like Olivia Rodrigo and P!nk. Eva can be seen throughout the Quad Cities performing solo and with friends at such venues as the Whiskey Stop, the Farmer’s Market, Live at Five, and numerous others.
COMMON CHORD POLICIES:
TICKETS: Advance tickets are only available online. Tickets may be purchased at the door the day of the show, subject to availability. Tickets are non-transferable and may only be purchased directly from Common Chord.
RESERVED SEATING: All-seated show. Each ticket guarantees a seat.
PHYSICAL ACCOMMODATIONS: If you require seating or a reserved space due to health or physical needs, you will need to purchase your General Admission ticket first and then email feedback@commonchordqc.org to reserve up to 2 seats.
AGE RESTRICTIONS: Most shows in the Redstone Room are all ages unless otherwise noted. Those under 19 years old must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
QUESTIONS?: Please email: feedback@commonchordqc.org