To call Tom Irwin a fixture on the Springfield music scene would be something of an understatement. Beginning in the mid-1970s as a bass player and eventual frontman for various local rock bands, straight through to his present status as an accomplished songwriter and bandleader, Irwin has been a popular draw in local clubs since before he could legally drink in them. He has performed virtually every Sunday night in Springfield since the 1980s at a series of different venues, with his current weekly residency at Brewhaus stretching back to 1993. Now, after years of personal and career highs and lows, including occasional layoffs and wholesale musical reinventions, Irwin, the longtime music columnist for Illinois Times, has just released the most ambitious and accessible music of his career.
Sunday came and went with a rocking show at the Brewhaus until well past midnight. The crowd was good, with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday becoming a buffer for regular working folks to beat the aforementioned schedule switch. A highlight of the night was seeing fellow IT columnist Rich Miller dancing to Bongo, Bongo, Bongo with all the gusto he could muster, which can be a bunch.
I’ve been dancing to that song for twenty years, especially for the last minute or so when it kicks into high gear…
* But we’re not going to close out our week with Tom’s song because Etta James has died.
Ms. James embraced songs so lovingly that you’d swear she must’ve written them herself. And if songs like this don’t make you want to snuggle up and/or slow dance with your best girl or guy, then something is seriously wrong with your heart, or your ears. Oh, what a gorgeous voice…
You’ll never know
How slow the moments go
‘Til I’m near to you
