Tunes at Twilight

Entering only its fifth year, Tunes at Twilight has become a Friday evening institution in Cape Girardeau. Fine touring musicians perform before an audience seated in lawn chairs and on blankets in the shade of Common Pleas Courthouse Park in Cape Girardeau. Dogs and babies frolic.

The free music, the scenery and the audiences of all ages combine to create an idyll comparable to those in the Mississippi River Tales murals on the floodwall down the hill.

Sponsored by Old Town Cape, the music in the concerts this year will range from rock to bluegrass to folk and blues.

Tunes at Twilight begins Friday and will be presented at a different location, the Capaha Park bandshell this week only. The performer is Keith Sykes, a Memphis singer/songwriter who has played with Jimmy Buffett's band and has written songs with Buffett. He has recorded 13 albums of his own music. George Thorogood and the Destroyers, John Prine, Roseanne Cash and the Judds have recorded Sykes' songs.

Next week, the 7 p.m. concerts return to Common Pleas Courthouse Park Fridays through June 24 before taking a break and resuming Aug. 12.