DAN WHITAKER & THE SHINE BENDERS w/ DIRTY GREEN & Special Guests: Bill BLoomer & Mark Bates

The Outta Space, 6840 32nd St., Berwyn

DAN WHITAKER & THE SHINEBENDERS https://danwhitaker.com/ Dan Whitaker and The Shinebenders are a band of honky tonkers from Chicago, who have been playing together since the early 2000s. Led by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dan Whitaker, the band has released three original albums while actively touring to promote their independent releases. The Shinebenders include fellow Chicago music veterans Tommy "Two Smokes" Mioducki on acoustic guitar and vocals, Earl "T-Bone" Powers on upright bass and Eric "Chase" Niffenegger on drums.

At any DWSB gig, no two shows are alike. Dan draws from his deep collection of originals about honky tonks and heartbreak, blending them with country classics deep from the vault. They're honored to be nominated for the 2019 Ameripolitan Awards as best Honky Tonk Band.

Their latest album, Anything You Wanted To, was recorded by Mike Hagler at Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago and released Fall 2017. The album brings together western swing, rock and roll, country-jazz and hillbilly songs to create DWSB’s one-of-a-kind sound.Their latest album, Anything You Wanted To, was recorded by Mike Hagler at Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago and released Fall 2017. The album brings together western swing, rock and roll, country-jazz and hillbilly songs to create DWSB’s one-of-a-kind sound.

Dan Whitaker has been creating independent original music since the mid 1980s in such bands as June Bug Massacre, Great Plains Gypsies, Athletic, The Gyps and Western Grand.

DIRTY GREEN http://dirtygreenmusic.com/ As if from the soil itself, DIRTY GREEN emerged in 2005 and has continued to cultivate a hybrid of authentic, yet truly original music planted deep down in the ground of early american roots. DIRTY GREEN’s namesake comes from a song written by singer Aaron Mitchell which takes some digs on the lopsided and fictional attributes of the almighty dollar bill. Influenced by, but not limited to: american folk, Americana, bluegrass, blues, punk and early country, DIRTY GREEN offers a wide array of original ballads, blue-collar rants, pseudo-rockabilly romps, bar room jingles and a hearty batch of heart-wailing folk songs

BILL BLOOMER http://billbloomer.com/ Bloomer was born in Galesburg, Illinois, a descendent of Sydney Albert Johnston (general in three armies; Texian, U.S. and Confederate). Wyatt Earp and Carl Sandburg also hailed from Galesburg, and Bloomer has brought the cowboy and the poet together in one package. As a youth, he met Hunter S. Thompson while wrestling a nine-month-old lion at a “Wild West Show.” This evolved into a rodeo career, where he was nominated for rookie-of-the-year in bareback bronc riding by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Unlike today’s auto-tuned, synthesized “country” artists, Bloomer’s cowboy hat isn’t a prop or affectation, it’s literally part of the narrative.

A serious injury ended his rodeo career. Encouraged by family friend Steve Goodman, the cowboy picked up a guitar at age 36 and began his musical journey (the late-blooming guitarist now has an endorsement deal with K&K Pickups). His travels brought him to Portland, where Bloomer was active in the Portland Songwriters Association, winning an unprecedented three awards in two years in the PSA’d International songwriting competition.

From the U.S., the singer resided for 11 years in Thailand, where he played his music, detoxed from

Bloomer, an ordained Tudong Forest Monk. painkillers at a Budhist temple, became an “adopted uncle” to children of the nomadic Moken people and was ordained as a “forest monk.” Next was a stint in France, with regular trips to the U.S., where he has opened for the likes of Rambling Jack Elliott and Butch Hancock.

MARK BATES http://markclinebates.com/ “This West Virginia native sees ghosts wherever he looks. Rather than get freaked out, the country-leaning rocker sits with these phantoms—exes, relatives and notions of simple living no longer feasible in our world—and works through their unfinished business. His conversations yield some remarkable songs.”

~ M Magazine (2012)