Craft beer and Americana music converge in Joliet this Saturday. Hopstring Fest is from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Aug. 24, at Silver Cross Field, the city's ballpark at 1 Mayor Art Schultz Drive in downtown Joliet. Tickets are $20 each and available at the door or Chicago Street Pub, 75 N. Chicago St. Visit http://www.hopstringfest.com/ for a full schedule.
This year's lineup includes John Condron & the Old Gang Orchestra. Condron is a Philadelphia born singer-songwriter, musician and producer who lives in Joliet. The former front man for the power quartet “the benefit” has been spending much of his time lately focusing on solo performances as well as performances with his new full band project, “The Old Gang Orchestra.” The most recent shows highlight songs from his latest collection, “…If Any or at All”, released on the Flipside Works label in addition to material from his four previous studio albums.
John shares his time these days between performing and producing works for other artists, including, most recently, a full length studio recording for multi platinum Irish singer songwriter Mickey Harte as well as a new writing and production collaboration with legendary songwriter Paul Brady. John is proudly endorsed by the Chicago based Hanson Guitar Co.(Lakland basses). He tours and performs regularly with a number of acts as a support musician and has written and arranged music for dance performance companies (TIDC) and performance poets (EM-press; Sourcebooks) as well as independent TV and film projects.
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Over the years John has shared the bill with many major label and independent acts from varying walks of life including Grammy nominated songwriter, poet and artist Joseph Arthur, guitar legend Adrian Belew, bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd, singer songwriter Duncan Sheik, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Irish legends Finbar Furey and Francie Conway to name a few, in addition, he is one of only three American artists to have performed a set as part of Francie Conway’s Troubador Club. The Old Gang Orchestra made it’s debut in December to impressive reviews. Visit johncondron.com to learn more.
Hopstring Fest's lineup also includes Miles Nielsen and The Rusted Hearts, The Steepwater Band, The Righteous Hillbillies, Magic Box, Chicago Farmer, Ed Anderson, The Regressors and Paige and the Reverent Few. On an acoustic side stage there will be performances by Alex Hoffer, Chris Flood, Tom & Becky, Chris Corkery, Matt Biskie, Villains Company, Allison Moroni Flood, Scott McNeil and others.
