Note: Story updated March 14 to correct future concert date.
Trail Mix Concert Series is returning to Izaak Walton Nature Center at Senior Hall on Friday, March 10. Trail Mix has featured nationally renowned musicians such as Sunny War and Dom Flemons but will return to its roots with performances from four local acts, Falling Stars, Butterfield Creek, Andrew Robert Palmer and Chris Castaneda.
“Butterfield Creek, my band, is a five-piece, acoustic, female-lead Americana band. We do a touch of a bluegrass and a fair number of originals,” event organizer Steve Ploum said, adding that Butterfield Creek includes banjo, guitar and violin.
“Falling Stars, they do a lot of acoustic originals. They do a few covers, spectacular harmonies and really solid musicianship,” Ploum said.
Chris Castaneda, the director of the Homewood Arts Council and a guitar player, will “do a short set at the beginning,” Ploum said.
Andrew Robert Palmer, a folk-rock musician with strong pop-punk influences, said he’ll do a “soft debut” of a new project with an upright bass player.
“It’s going to be called the Heavy Hors D’oeuvres and we’re going to be – I’m calling it ‘party folk.’ It’s going to be an all-acoustic project,” Palmer said. “We’ll be doing a lot of my songs since we’re still writing together. But we do have a couple of originals that we’re going to do together.”
Palmer said he’ll perform “at least three songs” from his “South Suburban” album which is a love letter to Homewood and the South Suburbs. In particular, he said he’ll perform “Aurelio’s, Baby,” a song about Aurelio’s Pizza.
The upcoming Trail Mix concert will be the second performed inside Senior Hall at Izaak Walton Nature Center.
“It’s a very rectangular room. It’s got some very interesting, angled ceilings. We have a pretty nice sound system and when you get people in there, it really does sound quite spectacular,” Ploum said.
Trail Mix concerts used to be exclusively outside among the trees at the nature center. After converting from the daylong festival into a yearlong concert series, Trail Mix began having concerts inside Senior Hall during the colder months.
Ploum said organizers have “grown accustomed” to the indoor space. The Trail Mix concert on May 12, featuring a performance from members of the The Flat Five, a Chicago based super group, will also be in Senior Hall, he said.
Trail Mix Productions recently received its designation as a nonprofit organization. Ploum, Palmer, Steve Buchtel, Jeff Maharry and Kristin Ryan make up the board of directors.
The organization’s mission statement is, “to produce high quality music events for Chicago’s South Suburbs that expand the area’s cultural offerings, encourage artists’ endeavors, and support the creative use of the area’s open spaces.”
Tickets for the March 10 concert can be reserved by donating on Trail Mix’s website.