Tunes at Twilight summer concert series kicks off

The longer days herald the return of a Cape Girardeau tradition.

Today marks the start of the annual Tunes at Twilight concert series at the Common Pleas Courthouse gazebo, sponsored by Old Town Cape. This series of free concerts spans two six-week sessions throughout the summer.

Larry Underberg, talent coordinator for the series, said making the series successful means being diverse in musical selection.

"It features national touring acts doing original music," he said. "It is really a mix of music. What we try to do is be as broad as we possibly can, so we'll sample a variety of types that seem to be favorites of the crowd," Underberg said.

He said this year's acts will be performing blues, light rock, zydeco, country and folk.

Bluesman Doug MacLeod will open the first series at 7 p.m. today. He is known for telling the stories of his life through song.

This year's series features some familiar faces from Tunes past. Creole fiddler Dennis Stroughmatt, folk duo The Cantrells, guitarist Jimmy Davis and former Jimmy Buffett band member Keith Sykes have played the series before. Underberg said musicians sometimes request to come back to Tunes at Twilight.

Underberg said he always features a local act in the series. This year the band Surtsey out of Cape Girardeau and St. Louis will make its Tunes debut.

"They are vigorous acoustic rock with country flavor," he said. "They'll be really, really fun. They blew me away when I saw them at the River City [Music] Festival."

The varied mix of musicians makes the event great for families, Underberg said.

"A lot of people come and make kind of a day out of it," he said. "They'll bring a picnic lunch and bring their kids. It's kind of a massive community picnic in a lot of ways. A lot of people bring their dogs. It is very family friendly. We are careful with the artists that we put on that they are going to be appropriate for all ages."

While the typical attendance for an individual concert is 600, Underberg said the series continues to gain popularity regionally and last year's largest crowd attracted more than 700 people.

"We get a lot of people traveling from St. Louis and all over the place to attend," he said. "We're getting a much larger draw."

Marla Mills, Old Town Cape executive director, said the concert series was started 10 years ago with the intention of attracting more business to the downtown area and has been a success.

"It has grown over the years," she said. "Restaurants staff up on Tunes at Twilight nights, especially on First Fridays."

While many concertgoers bring a snack to have on the courthouse lawn, many will head to a downtown restaurant for dinner and drinks after the show, she added.

The growth in popularity for the series has prompted Old Town Cape to offer souvenirs like T-shirts this year.

"The artists sometimes sell T-shirts and CDs, but we have never sold anything before," Mills said. "Because the crowd has grown and the support has grown, we decided to try it this year."

Also new for 2010, MiracleEar Centers of Cape Girardeau will provide an assistive listening FM broadcast system for the series. This will allow anyone within a 300- to 600-foot radius of the broadcast to listen to the concert through a specified FM station and headphones. Attendees may bring their own radio, or purchase one at the concert for a donation to Tunes at Twilight.

The first Tunes at Twilight session begins at 7 p.m. each Friday through June 18. The second session begins at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 13 and ends Sept. 17.

In the event of inclement weather today, the concert will be in the Convocation Center on the River Campus. Check semissourian.com or follow SE Live on Twitter @selive for updates.

Tunes at Twilight lineup

Today: Doug MacLeod (above)

May 21: Corrine Chapman

May 28: The Cantrells

June 4: Dennis Stroughmatt (top)

June 11: Kevin Gordon

June 18: Dan Bliss