by Mike Bailey
The Scottish Rite Theatre welcomes The Way Down Wanderers in December, lighting up the stage just in time for these hyper-talented, homegrown musicians as the days get shorter and the demand for great entertainment grows.
The band’s “Wandering Home for the Holidays” concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11. Get your tickets while they last for this popular group at www.scottishritepeoria.com.
The event is for a good cause, too, as it is being hosted in partnership with WWCT’s Snowball event, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Heller Center and Children's Hospital of Central Illinois. Donations will be accepted at the concert, or patrons can donate at the “check out” page when purchasing tickets.
The Way Down Wanderers are well known in these parts, of course, as the group is composed of locals Austin Krauss-Thompson (lead vocals, guitar, keys, mandolin), Colin Krauss (lead vocals, mandolin, guitar, fiddle), John Merikoski (drums, percussion, piano, backing vocals), Travis Kowalsly (banjo) and John Williams (electric and upright bass, backing vocals). Special guest Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (Beck, Jellyfish) is featured on keyboards.
The well-traveled bluegrass/roots pop fivesome has a deserved reputation for being one of the hardest working and most tireless touring acts around, bragging a stage show that is as thought-provoking as it is energetic.
Image: The Way Down Wanderers
As the Wanderers write on their website, they may sing like angels but they “write songs with guts that are unmistakably earthbound: a soon-to-be dad, excited but scared, fighting for self-growth; someone recovering from alcohol dependency, devoted to healing but with a confession to make.
“There are no fairytales here. And yet, the music begs an unapologetically Pollyanna question, like a big-hearted dare: Can a song help save you?”
“I think when we strive to be the best versions of ourselves, and to accept other people that we don’t understand, that all works toward creating a culture we strive for,” says Krause, one of The Way Down Wanderers’ two lead songwriters and vocalists. “At the end of the day, we’re not going to be perfect. The idea is to recognize that, and to try to forgive yourself if you can -- and to try to move on and make progress.”
Recently, the Wanderers released tracks from their forthcoming full-length album, More Like Tomorrow – the follow-up to their acclaimed, breakthrough 2018 sophomore effort illusions -- with the video for “The Wire” getting national play on Rolling Stone Country. The playful, Peoria’s Scottish Rite Theatre inventive song advocating for kinship and acceptance is a perfect complement to the bouncy first single, “Hiding,” the video for which was filmed at a very familiar location.
That’s right, the video was shot at The Scottish Rite!
And now the Wanderers get to show off their live chops and their unique brand of Americana to their devoted followers -- and no doubt to some new fans, as Center stage at The Scotty well – on that very same stage.
We can’t wait. Can you?