Jackson Avenue Coffee to feature teen musicians

BreakAway+local+band+performs+at+the+Jackson+Avenue+Coffee+Saturday.+

BreakAway local band performs at the Jackson Avenue Coffee Saturday.

Cassie Buchman, Administration Editor

Jackson Avenue Coffee has a weekend full of music planned from new and returning artists, including the band BreakAway 7 p.m. this Saturday.

Dano Reible, owner of Jackson Avenue Coffee, asked BreakAway to play.

This is not their first time playing at the coffeehouse.  

“They did a great job,” Reible said.

He found about them from seeing the band at other locations and events, such as last year’s Celebration.

Celebration is an annual spring festival that has musical performances and local art.

BreakAway is from Central Illinois, and consists of four members who are 15 to 17 years old.

They perform original songs as well as covers of 80s, classic and southern rock songs.

According to their website, “their repertoire includes songs by Bon Jovi, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Bob Seger, The Beatles, Bryan Adams and many more.”

Their four members include Will Sharp on Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Hunter Laughhunn on Lead Guitar Spencer Sharp on Drums and Jacob Murphy on Bass Guitar.

They were the winners of the Eastern’s Homecoming Battle of the Bands as well as the Champaign Park District Battle of the Bands in 2013.

The last time BreakAway performed, they got a great crowd, Reible said.

“They’re very talented,” he said.

The last time BreakAway was at Jackson Avenue Coffee, some of the audience members were surprised at the young age of the band members.

“They handled the job just fine, played as well as most other people,” Reible said.

Reible said it was great to support younger artists.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Reible said.

A couple of weeks ago, some high school students performed in the cafe.

They also have open-mic nights every Thursday, where a lot of first-time performers are able to show their stuff.

“We get all kinds of performers,” Reible said. “We’ll have a full night of performances.”

Reible said they get people who play the blues, bluegrass and more.

“All kinds of stuff,” Reible said.

All different kinds of musicians from all levels perform at the open-mic nights.

Reible said they are a lot of different musicians performing at Jackson Avenue Coffee.

“We have all types of music, we get all kinds,” Reible said.  “It’s a great variety.”

Friday night they will feature an artist name Kenna Mae who has not performed at Jackson Avenue Coffee before.

According to Mae’s website,

Mae will be performing 7 p.m. Friday.

According to Mae’s website, her debut record “Blue Darlin’” was due out in October.


Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or
[email protected].