We’ll be at Coal Creek Brewing Company in Princeton on Tuesday, July 21, from 5–7 PM.
It’s an early evening set on a weeknight, which usually means people dropping in after work, a few regulars who know exactly what they like, and at least one table that quietly sings along to the deep cuts.
For this one we’ll lean a little more into acoustic takes on familiar songs—stuff you might recognize from the first few chords—mixed with a few of our own. We’ve been reworking some piano-and-guitar arrangements this summer, so if you’ve heard us before, some of the older tunes will sound a bit different, a little tighter and more stripped down.
Show Details
- When: Tuesday, July 21, 2026, 5–7 PM
- Where: Coal Creek Brewing Company, 430 S Main St, Princeton, IL 61356
- Who: Bell & Field (piano & guitar acoustic duo)
- What to expect: Two hours of acoustic covers, arranged for piano and guitar. We’ll keep things tuneful and easy to listen to—songs you can follow while you talk with friends, order another round, or just sit and actually listen. Expect some ’70s and ’80s favorites, a few newer songs we’ve been testing out, and a couple of quieter moments where we pull things down to almost a whisper and see who’s really listening.
- Venue website: Coal Creek Brewing Company on Facebook
About Bell & Field
We’re a piano-and-guitar duo that keeps things pretty simple: we watch the room, pick songs that fit who’s actually there, and adjust as we go. That usually means starting with familiar covers to break the ice, then slipping in a few originals and quieter tunes once people settle in. We like sets where folks can either lean in and listen or just let the music run in the background while they catch up with each other.
About the Venue
Coal Creek Brewing Company sits right on South Main in Princeton, so you can walk in straight off the street and be at the bar in a few steps. It’s the kind of place where the staff remembers what people ordered last time, and where you’ll see a mix of regulars and folks passing through town.
Rams Riverhouse is starting to feel like our own little experiment in how many tiny things can go sideways before a show and still add up to a really good night.
Kewanee has one of those downtowns where you can still picture what it looked like a few decades ago just by walking a block or two. The Historical Society sits right in the middle of that, with the murals and old storefronts close by and the museum quietly holding all the details the sidewalks don’t show anymore.
Some Saturday nights are for squeezing into a crowded room and shouting over the music. This one at Tiny Acres is the opposite. It’s a work thing, a corporate night out, where people will probably be trying to finish a conversation they started in a meeting three months ago.
The drive over set the tone. The forecast was calling for heavy rain and possible storms, so we were half-joking, half-serious about whether this was going to turn into an “adventure gig.” Somewhere along I-80, we passed a red pickup that Tom thought might be his parents. They took an off-ramp, we kept going, and we didn’t think much of it.
About half an hour in, the skies just opened up. It poured for what felt like an hour. You could see sheets of rain pounding the patio and, in a few spots, water started sneaking into the room. The Cedar Ridge staff hustled with squeegees and towels, pushing water back out the doors and toward the drains while we kept playing.
Tom’s parents made it to the show, along with his mom’s cousin and cousin’s husband from Cedar Rapids. It had been a long time since Tom had seen them, so having them in the crowd added another layer to the day. After the set, we caught up, and that’s when the full “red pickup / side-of-the-road pee / mystery honk” story came out. That spiraled into Greg telling the story about making his wife, Noriko, stop at every floor in a Japanese elevator years ago when she really needed a bathroom. “She did not think it was funny then,” Greg said, “but 20 years later it’s… kind of funny. Maybe.”
Paul and the crew had us dialed in before we even opened a case. They’d set up a big canopy over the patio “stage” area, plus the camera feed that sends our set inside the bar. From a musician’s point of view, that setup is gold — you feel like you’re playing to two rooms at once.
One of our favorite parts of the afternoon was a couple who drifted over to this little corner lounge area just off to our side and a bit behind us. From the stage, that spot almost feels like backstage seating. They were grooving, hanging out, and applauding between songs.
Edison’s was packed on the patio from the first song, and it looked just as busy through the windows inside. A lot of folks stayed with us the whole three hours, which we don’t take for granted. Between sets and song changes we had a steady stream of conversations, requests, and people just coming up to say hi.
We’d been talking about this one for a while. The Kewanee Farmers Market decided to gamble on an evening version of their Wednesday market, and we got to help kick off the season. No fee, just us under a big shade tree, some lights, food trucks, and a whole lot of “let’s see if this actually works.”
Earlier in the week, we’d asked on social media if anyone had song requests. You all delivered. We had people specifically come up and ask, “Did you play ‘Garden Party’ yet?” Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party” and Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” both landed right where we hoped they would—recognizable from halfway across the street, but still quiet enough that you could hear someone next to you talk about which tomatoes looked best.
One of the best parts of nights like this is who you bump into. We got to talk with friends we’ve known for years and meet new folks who just happened to be walking through the market. Greg met Steve for the first time—a committee member for Hog Days—who had already hired us to play later this year. It was good to finally put a face to the emails and meet his wife as well.
Tuggers has snuck up on us and turned into one of our favorite places to play. Kicking off their Pon-Tunes series on the patio, with the Mississippi right there and that late-May weather in the sweet spot (warm, but not swampy) felt like exactly where a piano-guitar duo should be on a Saturday night.
Some shows feel like gigs, and some feel like you just plugged in the PA at a family reunion. Tom’s parents’ 52nd anniversary at Cerno’s definitely landed in that second category.
