Illustration by Annie McCance

This April is turning out to be a startlingly impressive month of music in our city. Your favorite venue owners, managers, and promoters are set to bring in a plethora of on-the-verge, rightthissecond, and “Finally, you’re coming to St. Louis!” touring acts. One of our favorite aspects about these upcoming shows is that so many include support from beloved local bands. So for somewhere between seven and fifteen bucks a pop, April is offering y’all the chance to hear legitimately good music in cozy rooms played by out-of-towners AND the opportunity to swoon over musicians you’ve never heard of who just might live in your neighborhood.

Here is where any of the four of us will be over the next two weeks:

3/28 – Destroyer with The War on Drugs at The Luminary <—  link to RFT’s interview with Dan Bejar
4/1 – 7 Walkers at Old Rock House
4/2 – Kentucky Knife Fight with The Great Crusades and the Benjamin Riley Band at The Duck Room
4/4 – Blackfoot Gypsies (TN) with Pretty Little Empire and Bo & the Locomotive at The Firebird
4/4 – S. Carey with Blood Pony & Dots Not Feathers at Off Broadway
4/7 – The Fervor (KY) with The Union Electric & This City of Takers at Off Broadway
4/8 – Oil Boom (TX) with The Dive Poets and Beth Bombara at Off Broadway
4/9 – Mikey Dubs and Junk Wand DJ Sets at The Bleeding Deacon

My pick for this edition of Fortnightly is the 4/2 show at Blueberry Hill with The Great Crusades, Kentucky Knife Fight, and The Benjamin Riley Band. We’ve enjoyed KKF all over town, but this is their first gig in The Duck Room. The guys recently returned from playing KDHX’s Twangfest parties during SXSW, and I’ll just say, those punk-influenced rockers are a ton of fun live. Chicago’s Great Crusades provide the touring element of the show, and Benjamin Riley rounds out the bill with his fantastic voice and talented backing band.

We hope to see you out there. And until we meet again, here’s this author’s favorite B.J. song:

It’s A Shame – Benjamin Riley – Halfway House Sessions from Halfway House on Vimeo.