Day 1 Artists

Alejandro Escovedo

Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has been taking in his lifelong search for the heart of rock and roll. A celebrated singer and songwriter, Escovedo has as eclectic a background and body of work as any rock artist of his generation.

Shemekia Copeland

Award-winning blues, soul and Americana singer Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. She is beloved worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory music, as well as for delivering each song she performs with unmatched passion.

The Bergamot

The Bergamot is comprised of husband-wife duo Nathaniel Paul Hoff and Jillian Speece. People Magazine said, “The Bergamot is the hottest emerging music talent.” while London’s Daily Mirror wrote, “The Bergamot has a gorgeous sound.” Their indie folk sound has been compared to the Bahamas and Of Monsters and Men.

The Bergamot has toured extensively in North America and Europe performing over 800+ dates over the last decade. In 2016 they performed 264 shows in all 50 states on The Unity Collective Tour. At the end of 2019 they released their third studio album ‘Mayflies’ which was produced/engineered in London with Matt Wiggins (Adele, Glass Animals and London Grammar).

On October 1st, 2022 they opened for the Barenaked Ladies and and dropped their highly anticipated fourth studio album Far Out. By January 2023 critically acclaimed music blog Obscure Sound placed their album Far Out on the "Top Albums of 2022" list alongside albums by Beach House, Wilco and Bijörk. Currently, The Bergamot is touring and gearing up to release their award-winning full-length documentary “State of the Unity” (2023).

Buddy Pearson 3

Buddy Pearson has been steadily playing upright and electric bass for 40 of his 50 years. Hailing from a very musically supportive family, he was given his first upright bass at age 9 and in one way or another, has never looked back. Soon after schooling, Buddy immersed in the local and Chicago jazz scene and continues to share the stage with heavy hitter players to this day. Buddy is joined by Artis Timberlake Brown on piano and Mike Shell on drums.

Nikki Morgan

Nikki Morgan was born and raised in North Carolina but came into her own in Chicago so you can think of her as a: Southern/Midwestern Country-City girl. She’s a thinker, a vocalist, an actor, and a very ambitious writer… some would even call her an artist.