Daytrotter.com— the purveyor of freely-downloadable mp3’s of sessions recorded by a wide-range of artists and bands– have decided that they want to take a handful of their favorite acts on a mini-tour through some Iowa towns with a stop in Madison (just because they love that place!). These shows are FREE and ALL AGES. All the bands are hoping for are some new fans, and possibly sell some merch.

It is a move which gets its tradition from the “Caravan of Stars”-type tours that happened during the 50’s and 60’s where bands would roll through a bunch of cities stopping of at ballrooms across the midwest– back when places like Melody Mill in Sageville, IA outside Dubuque would get bands like Johnny Cash, The Ventures, and the Everly Brothers. If the bands didn’t tour like that, these little towns and cities wouldn’t have been able to get this kind of entertainment.

Daytrotter reached out a couple of months ago looking for barns they could play in– I made a couple of suggestions, and one of the stops will be just outside my hometown of Bellevue, IA at Mooney Hollow Barn!

While exchanging e-mails with Sean from Daytrotter, he said that some of the impetus of this tour is to let people in Iowa know about Daytrotter. Certainly when I’m talking to folks I know about this they have no idea what Daytrotter is– even though the work that they do is world-reknowned and has been accurately  suggested to be the successor to the BBC Peel Sessions!

I’ve said on more than one occasion that we Iowans should be proud of Daytrotter and its “little studio and website that could” success!

Hopefully, this will be successful enough that this becomes a yearly event!

The lineup of bands is pretty interesting and varies slightly for each of the five stops. However, San Diego band Local Natives will be performing at all of the shows. From this lineup, I was familiar only with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Paleo. Someone Still Loves You is a great indie pop band from Springfield, Mo that has done two Daytrotter sessions already (which is how I found out about them initially) and Paleo is known as the “song a day for a year” guy. So, it will be interesting to hear those acts in a live setting.  Snowblink is a pretty dreamy type of music driven by the breathy vocals of Daniela Gesundheit.Snowblink has been compared to Cat Power, and I hear that. Catfish Haven is a surprising R&B powerhouse from the Windy City that reminds me of Mad Dogs and Englishmen-period Joe Cocker, frankly. I can’t wait to see them in a live setting! DAYUM! They’re going to be at the Bellevue stop, which is super-duper! Mac Lethal is an MC from Kansas City, MO. He has a great flow that reminds me a lot of Chief Xcel or Chali 2na.

So, a pretty wide swath of indie goodness represented. I’m going to hit the Bellevue stop and shoot some pix and provide some coverage. If you have the ability and are in the region, stop out to one of these shows!

SCHEDULE:

July 25
11 am — Davenport, Iowa: Morning performance at the Bix 7 road race course at the turnaround: 110 McClellan Blvd. (Performing — Local Natives)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session

6 pm — Maquoketa, Iowa: BARN Show #1: Biehl Farm, 3437 288th Ave. (Performing — Local Natives, Catfish Haven, Caleb Engstrom)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session
Catfish Haven Daytrotter Session
Caleb Engstrom Daytrotter Session

July 26
6 pm — Bellevue, Iowa: BARN Show #2: Mooney Hollow Barn, 12471 Highway 52, Green Island, Iowa (Performing — Local Natives, Snowblink, Paleo, Catfish Haven, Stranger Waves)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Paleo Daytrotter Session
Catfish Haven Encore Session

July 27
6 pm — Madison, Wisc.: Attic show #1: 212 S. Henry St., Madison, Wisc. (Performing — Local Natives, Catfish Haven, Snowblink, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session
Catfish Haven Encore Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Daytrotter Session

July 28
6 pm — Iowa City/West Liberty, Iowa: BARN SHOW #3 at the Secrest 1883 Octogonal Barn, 5750 Osage St., West Liberty, Iowa; (Performing — Local Natives, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Snowblink, Mac Lethal)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Mac Lethal Daytrotter Session

July 29
6:30 pm — Coon Rapids, Iowa: BARN SHOW #4, Whiterock Conservancy , Riverhouse Barn, 1313 Fig Ave., Coon Rapids, Iowa (Performing — Local Natives, Snowblink and Mac Lethal)
Local Natives Daytrotter Session
Snowblink Daytrotter Session
Mac Lethal Daytrotter Session