Matt Stell and Eric Nassau to perform in El Dorado Springs

Matt Stell -- dsoes that name sound familiar? To those who watched KSFX Ozarks Fox in the morning, on April 10, or listen to 96.9 the Kow, or KESM radio, his name is probably quite familiar. With three singles, "Shirt," "Troubles," and "Sheepskin Road," from their new CD "The Sound of the Story" getting air play throughout the midwest, Matt Stell and the Crashers are preparing to take the next step with a series of shows and release parties on a treck through Missouri, Kansas, and Texas in support of the albulms nationwide release, one of which will be at Capone's in El Dorado Springs on Friday, May 15.

Eric Nassau is everybody's friend. His music grew out of the Connecticut Coffeehouses and into the Midwestern Cornfields. now, using the talented and supportive community of Columbus, Ohio as his springboard, Eric has played at bars, benefits, bookstores, coffeehouses, house concerts, festivals and Universities all over the United States and Canada since 1996 Eric Nassau is always on the move. At one moment, his simmering acoustic guitar and warm voice might be filling the living room of a house show in Columbus. At another, he's busking somewhere distant: Venice Beach, Boston, New York City. A third instance could find him playing at a wine tasting. He might be performing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to a crowd of 60 strangers.

In the quarter of every year that he's on tour, he lives "day to day at the mercy of whoever shows at the gig in the town I've never been to." Though these treks are primarily composed of unfamiliar places and faces, Nassau wouldn't have it any other way. "It's all about finding your audience," he says.

Growing up in Newington, Conn., among a family of music enthusiasts, he was once part of a folk-fusion rock outfit with his brother. It was in college that he discovered two elements critical to his art: Bob Dylan's discography and his own penchant for performing live. Together, they have imbued Nassau's rolling tales with a raw and natural glory, crafting music as likely to evoke Townes van Zandt as it is Thoreau.

Nassau will be stopping in at Capone's on Saturday, May 16, for a show with Kim Massengill at 8:30 p.m.