LegionFest 2026

11:00 AM Tim Duggan Express

Tim Duggan Express will open Legionfest for the 4th straight year!  Tim Duggan Express is Tim and Liesel Duggan, a father-daughter combo performing classic Americana and original folk music. They have entertained many times at Post 42, as well as local farmers markets and coffeehouses. Tim has a 40+ year performing history, and Liesel is a theatre major at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana.

12:00  PM The Smiletones

The Smiletones, a quartet from Evanston, Illinois, perform bluegrass and classic country hits from the 1920s-1960s as well as contemporary tunes. Their tight, three-part harmony vocals are a hallmark of their act. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin and banjo), Ed Walsh, started his musical career playing with the Chicago-based, Grammy-nominated Special Consensus. Vocalist Irene Kelly wows audiences with her melodic and expressive voice. Mike Kelly entertains fans with tricky licks on the banjo while providing harmony (and sometimes lead) vocals. Julie Friend keeps time for the troupe on the upright bass. 

1:00  PM Late Breaking News

Late Breaking News is an Evanston-based acoustic/electric band that has been performing in a wide range of Chicago and Evanston venues since 2018. Covering an eclectic mix of Americana from the 1950s through the present, the band offers everything from ballads by John Prine and Townes Van Zandt to rockers from Dion, The Eagles and The Allman Brothers Band.  LBN is led by John Manos from Evanston who also produces monthly live acts at the Post 42 regularly as part of the Post 42's production team. 

1:45 PM Pierce Crask

Pierce Crask is a Chicago-based singer-songwriter and professional musician who has been performing roots, blues, and folk-influenced Americana music since 1999. Known for his extensive touring—often playing roughly 300 shows a year—Crask is a multi-instrumentalist who typically performs as a solo act using acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, harmonica, and a stompbox.  Pierce’s love for artists such as Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead led him to form The Falling Martins in 2001. To date, the band has released six albums, winning critical acclaim: “This is an extraordinary band producing elegant roots rock tinged with blues and country, with slide guitar and imaginative keys” (Ruta 66 Magazine)

2:15 PM The Yips

3:00 PM Pierce Crask

3:30 PM Chicago 2 Macon

C2M is a local Allman Brothers tribute band led by local jamband legend Bob Beckstein on drums, jazzman Eric Weiler on bass,  guitarist and vocalist Larry Knox (The Attics) , Graham King on slide guitar (The Adler Brothers), Bob Sides (King Saturday) on Hammond and piano, David Plante on Percussion and kit (Rollover, Smoking Fish).  They play the hits and deep cuts of ABB.  

4:30 PM JB Vannatta & the Midnight Thieves

JB Vannatta & The Midnight Thieves are a high-voltage Americana outfit built on grit, groove, and sharp-edged storytelling. Fronted by singer-songwriter JB Vannatta, the band blends driving guitar riffs with rootsy undertones, pulling from classic rock, alt-country, and modern indie influences without ever fully settling into one lane. Their sound lives in the tension between polished musicianship and raw, late-night energy—the kind you feel as much as you analyze. Band members are an all-star cast from Chicago area who all contribute to the sound and success of songs built on lyrics of love, love-lost, loners, and losers.

5:30 Ernie Hendrickson Band

For Ernie Hendrickson, the hill country is as much a state of mind as a physical locale, as the deep but beautifully casual songs on his new One for the Dreamers eloquently remind us. In the hill country of Ernie's imagination, the high ground provides an elevated vantage point that enables his listeners to perceive how time can leave important matters unfinished, or tie up loose ends with sometimes heartbreaking finality. Yet the hill country is, of course, a real place, and where Ernie comes from. The Wisconsin native grew up in what's called that state's Driftless Area, where Midwestern flatness gives way to a more rounded landscape.  Midwestern openness meets Nashville experience, you could say. Like the great American singers and songwriters who have inspired him—performers such as Neil Young, Jerry Garcia and Willie Nelson—Ernie seeks the light amidst the ever-present perils of darkness.  Ernies new album, Roll On, builds on the strengths of Ernie’s One for the Dreamers, which was a product of Ernie’s time in Nashville, when he absorbed the lessons of a very intense, very competitive music town. Roll On is about growth, and Ernie doesn’t discount his time in Music City, which brought home deep insights about his identity as a Wisconsin-born, Illinois-raised musician who also loves Nashville’s blend of country, folk and rock. Call it a learning curve for a crafty guitarist who can rip it up with the best in the country, and a songwriter who has never stopped striving to express himself in the most intelligent, concise and moving way.     erniehendrickson.com

7:00 PM The Western Elstons

The Western Elstons have been playing the first and third Wednesday of the month at the historic Simon's Tavern in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago for over ten years now. They are one of Chicago's best-kept secrets and we kind of like it that way. They set up on the floor of this classic Chicago tavern (Simon's opened in 1931 and hasn't changed that much), and play country, honky tonk, and rock & roll with minimal amplification to an appreciative crowd of regulars and local music fans. The Western Elstons feature the tight two-part harmony of Scott Ligon and Casey McDonough (who play and sing together in countless projects including NRBQ and The Flat Five), Joel Paterson rockabilly maestro on guitar, and the always tasteful drumming of Alex Hall (another musician with way too many credits to list here)