A Midwest soundtrack: Rising musician 
to play at Champs

STERLING – Country crooner Chris Cavanaugh will be in Sterling to perform his brand of country music next month.

Cavanaugh, 30, was born Springfield, Mo. and raised in the Midwest. He will play Feb. 18 at Champs Sports Bar & Grill.

He said traveling to Sterling to perform is part of the bigger picture of what he hopes to do with his music.

“It’s more that area of the country and the Midwest, it’s where I’m from, it’s where I belong,” he said. “It’s a lot of what my music is about.”

Although he has played in Chicago before, Cavanaugh has not performed in the Sauk Valley, he said.

Cavanaugh will perform a few cover songs, but most will be original.

He said his music is country: “No doubt about it, no way around it,” he said.

“People can expect to have a lot of fun and hear some songs that they know, also hear some new songs that they like,” he said. “They can expect to come out and have fun and be entertained.”

His promoter, Scott Gunter, said Cavanaugh really connects with his fans in smaller towns and smaller venues.

“He started growing a great crowd in smaller bars,” Gunter said. “He loves fishing, hunting, all the stuff that middle America is. It’s just a message that seems to be what middle America lives.

“I realized he was writing the soundtrack of people’s lives in middle America.”

Cavanaugh said he wants to continue traveling through the Midwest and spreading his music, fan by fan.

“I’m really focusing on meeting people one-on-one,” he said. “It’s really helping me as a writer to see how it connects.

“It’s just Chris playing his songs and singing his heart out.”