text: Taltree concert features versatile Black Lillies - Chicago Tribune
  Taltree concert features versatile Black Lillies
  The Black Lillies feature, from left, Sam Quinn, Bowman Townsend, Dustin Schaefer and founding member Cruz Contreras. Band member Philip Sterk is not pictured. The band performs at Taltree Arboretum and Gardens July 8. (Randy Gentry/HANDOUT)
  The Black Lillies boast a fertile sound that sprouts eclectic American music.
  Praised by Rolling Stone magazine, the band from Tennessee has an outdoor concert at 7 p.m. July 8 at Taltree Arboretum and Gardens.
  Bouncing from contemporary roots to honky-tonk, the Black Lillies' style is often hard to pin down, and the band seems to like it that way.
  "We've done a pretty good job evading labels and genres over the years," said Cruz Contreras, the band's lead singer and founder. "I usually tell people we play country, rock, jam-band music. I grew up playing bluegrass and jazz and classical music, and I grew up around country music.
  "We take a lot of traditional styles of American music, including rock 'n' roll, and throw it together," said the 40-year-old Contreras, an acoustic guitarist and pianist.
  Vanity Fair stated that Contreras and company find stability by using Appalachian music culture as a foundation, while managing to also keep "evolving" from a creative standpoint.
  A five-member band, the Black Lillies strive to make their shows "an experience" with versatile dynamics.
  "Sometimes it's going to be loud; sometimes it's going to be quiet," said Contreras, a resident of Knoxville, Tenn. "It meanders through country music and rock 'n' roll and soul and folk music and jamming."
  In 2014, Rolling Stone decreed Black Lillies to be one of the 10 New Artists You Need to Know in the realm of country music and Americana fare.
  "Runaway Freeway Blues" grabbed attention by doing well on Billboard's country albums tchart in 2013.
  The Black Lillies established their independent streak with a notable 2009 album.
  "'Whiskey Angel' was recorded in my living room," related Contreras, the band's primary songwriter.
  After launching a fruitful musical journey with "Whiskey Angel," the Black Lillies have gone on to play numerous times at Nashville's historic Grand Ole Opry.
  In Valparaiso, the indie roots-rockers will play on the Taltree grounds next to the Depot building.
  Opening the show will be the Way Down Wanderers, purveyors of modern-folk Americana.
  Winning acclaim from Chicago rock station WXRT, Way Down Wanderers had its beginnings when frontmen and founders Austin Thompson and Collin Krause met in their hometown of Peoria. They formed Way Down Wanderers when Krause was 16 and Thompson was 20, according to the group's biographical material.
  The Black Lillies and Way Down Wanderers show is part of Taltree's Acorn Concert Series. Taltree's website invites attendees to bring lawn chairs, and states that beer, wine and food will be available for purchase.
  "We have a fantastic lineup of local and national touring musicians taking the stage this summer," Derek Braggs, a Taltree board member, said in a press release. "I think we are going to introduce a lot of people to some great music that they may have never heard before."
  At the July 8 show, the Black Lillies are scheduled to perform "Earthquake," which Contreras said is "a brand new song I've written."
  Additionally, the Black Lillies are likely to roll out "Catherine," which Contreras said he wrote "for my grandpa."
  One of the band's most memorable songs is "Smokestack Lady," a chugging country-flavored rocker.
  Contreras said the Black Lillies are essentially a Knoxville-based band, although it could also be termed "a Knoxville-Nashville operation."
  Concertgoers attending the Black Lillies' July 8 show will be treated to a fireworks display, according to a press release from Taltree Arboretum & Gardens.