River Music Experience
Encyclopedia
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
.
The stated purpose of the River Music Experience is
to give Quad City residents and visitors opportunities to experience America's music, especially the music of the Mississippi River, through live musical performances, and programs which nurture, educate and inspire musicians and music appreciators.
The River Music Experience is the home of Mojo's coffeeshop (1st floor) and live music venue the Redstone Room (2nd floor). Mojo's plays host to over 150 performances per year. These range from a weekly open-mic night to the top local bands, and are typically open to the public and free of charge. The Redstone Room is a state-of-the-art music venue hosting national and regional acts that play original music.
The River Music Experience offers a broad array of educational programming including Rock Camp USA (a branch of the highly successful school launched by the Austin School of Music), the Sound Lab educational recording studio (offering a 24-week, 96-hour certification in Audio Production), traditional music lessons, weekly open mic nights, monthly jazz jams, the "Songwriters in the Round" workshops, monthly Community Drum Circle, Winter Blues workshop series, and the ongoing River Currents Tours - a co-production with the Figge Art Museum
Figge Art Museum
The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region...
which introduces grade-school students to the history of American roots music.
For the past five years, the River Music Experience has organized River Roots Live, an annual two-day music festival held on the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport's LeClare Park. The festival has featured acts like Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, The BoDeans
BoDeans
The BoDeans are a rock band formed in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1983 by Kurt Neumann and Sam Llanas . In 1985, after adding a drummer and a bassist, the band signed a contract with Slash Records and recorded their first album...
, Edgar Winter
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
, the Black Crowes, Junior Brown
Junior Brown
Jamieson "Junior" Brown is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released nine studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel...
, Umphrey's McGee
Umphrey's McGee
Umphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation", or "improg" ....
, Greg Brown (folk musician), America (band)
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
, Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...
, and many others.