Last week Trey Gruber, front man of promising Chicago band Parent, died at age 26. An Ohio native who lived in Humboldt Park, Gruber quickly found fans on the northwest-side scene with easygoing songs reminiscent of 70s Laurel Canyon rock. “He was so captivating,” says Paul Cherry, a frequent Gruber collaborator. “Parent were playing at the Bottle—Max [Kakacek] from Whitney came up to me and was like, ‘Dude, that was incredible.’” Cherry offered to record Gruber in 2016, beginning their partnership. “Trey would spend a month on one song,” Cherry says. “He’d be happy the day that we made it and the day after, and then that third day he’d be like, ‘This needs strings, this needs horns, we gotta go bigger!’” Though Gruber had already attracted the interest of Secretly Canadian, Parent had officially released only one song: the glum “I Tried” in July. Given Gruber’s perfectionism, Cherry isn’t sure what he’ll do with the other seven or eight they recorded. “He’s got a lyric—’I’ve got a belly full of gut rot’—and that’s how I feel since he’s passed,” Cherry says.
Gossip Wolf loves hard-working country cookers Dan Whitaker & the Shinebenders. On Saturday, September 23, they celebrate the new Anything You Wanted To at Phyllis’ Musical Inn. This wolf especially digs its swinging instrumentals about local bars: “Bernice’s Bounce” and “Cole’s Boogie” should inspire plenty of honky-tonk turns on Chicago dance floors! v
