From Bright Star to Springsteen: Monday Night Live Plots ‘Crazy’ 2025 Season
By Fred Love
“How crazy are we?” Anne Ducharme-Jones asks as she describes the upcoming season of Monday Night Live, the long-running concert series that features a different singer-songwriter fronting the MNL house band.
It’s a fair question.
The demands of the monthly series might strike other musicians as something less than sane. Each show requires the house band, consisting of Dave Ducharme-Jones on lead guitar, Russ Tomlinson on drums and percussion, Ben Mars on bass and Anne Ducharme-Jones joining on rhythm guitar and vocals as needed, to master around 20 new songs and build chemistry with new musicians, many of whom the band members have never met.
It’s stressful, Ducharme-Jones admits. But, at the end of the night, the musicians experience a thrill that’s difficult to describe.
Minimum preparation. Maximum flexibility. Let the magic happen.
The Monday Night Live series, hosted by xBk Live for the last few years, is set to launch perhaps its most ambitious season yet with even more guest musicians and a tribute night devoted to one of the most iconic performers in rock n’ roll history. Ducharme-Jones promises this season will offer plenty of the magic — and maybe a little bit of the craziness — that have been the series’ hallmarks since its inception in 2016.
The fall 2025 Monday Night Live series will open on Sept. 29 with an evening devoted to the music of the Broadway musical Bright Star, a bluegrass- and folk-infused story by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell set in the American South. The house band will collaborate with members of the Des Moines Playhouse, including musicians, singers and actors, throughout the evening.
Never mind that none of the members of the house band consider themselves bluegrass musicians. And never mind they hadn’t yet listened to the musical’s soundtrack about a month before the gig. They’ve learned to trust their instincts, their fellow musicians and their audience to make the experience something to remember.
Previous seasons saw the Monday Night Live Band dig into the catalogs of legendary artists, such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, for an entire evening. On Oct. 27, the house band will add to that list with a tribute night devoted to the great Bruce Springsteen.
The Nov. 24 show will feature Iowa songwriter Jason Walsmith of the Nadas and Bryan Vanderpool of the Well Pennies and Golden Bear Studio in a collaborative creative workshop setting. The musicians will spend the first portion of the evening working through a brand-new Walsmith composition so the audience can catch a glimpse of how an idea becomes a complete song. And the final performance of the year, on Dec. 15, will feature a yet-to-be-announced Iowa singer-songwriter performing their original compositions with the MNL Band.
More dates will follow in the spring of 2026, but the band isn’t ready to announce plans for the shows.
A Series with History
Monday Night Live began in 2016 when bassist Scot Sutherland booked weekly shows at the Greenwood Lounge. The initial shows featured jazz music and were billed as “Jazz in a Funky Place.” The series quickly took a new form when Sutherland began inviting featured songwriters to play with his band, which would learn a couple sets of material written by the featured performer. Sutherland stepped away from the series to pursue other musical endeavors, but his bandmates, including drummer Russ Tomlinson and guitarist Dave Ducharme-Jones, stepped in to keep the series going.
Monday Night Live took on its current form as a monthly series hosted by xBk Live in 2022, and club owner Tobi Parks said the series dovetails with xBk’s community focus.
“Monday Night Live embodies what xBk is all about—bringing people together through music and celebrating the incredible talent we have right here in our community and state,” Parks said. “It’s the kind of series that makes our space feel like home for both artists and audiences.”
Anne Ducharme-Jones joined the band around the time the series moved to xBk. She plays guitar and sings when the songs call for it, and she acts as an emcee by interviewing featured artists during set breaks.
Tomlinson said the compressed timeframe to prepare for each performance requires a great deal of flexibility on the part of the house band. They’ve made peace with the fact they just aren’t going to get a lot of rehearsal time with the material and featured artists, so they’ve developed an ability to adapt in real time on stage.
Tomlinson said he creates charts for each song he has to learn for the shows, using his own notations to help him keep up with the firehose of new material he has to learn during a season. He’s kept all his diagrams from previous years, and he said the stack of papers reaches about a foot high.
“I’d hate for anyone else to try to read them, but they make sense to me,” Tomlinson said.
“Monday Night Live embodies what xBk is all about—bringing people together through music and celebrating the incredible talent we have right here in our community and state. It’s the kind of series that makes our space feel like home for both artists and audiences.”
Tobi Parks, xBk Live owner
Anne Ducharme-Jones describes Dave working countless late nights in his home studio studying songs for upcoming Monday Night Live performances. She said the band members approach each song by finding ways to support and strengthen the artist’s material rather than show off their individual chops. But by showtime, their expertise enhances the performance.
Featured songwriters are often more accustomed to playing solo and have limited experience playing with other musicians, Anne Ducharme-Jones said. Other songwriters view it as an opportunity to mix it up and play with different personnel.
Ducharme-Jones said the band works hard to build trust with songwriters quickly. Rehearsals typically take place at the Ducharme-Jones residence the day before the performance, and featured artists usually feel at home by the time the practice session is finished. They tighten up any lingering concerns during the soundcheck on Monday, and then it’s time to take the stage for the show that evening.
“By the end of that initial rehearsal everyone is laughing. It’s relaxed and fun,” she said. “By the time we take the stage on Monday night, we feel like old friends.”
Monday Night Live has attracted a dedicated following over the years, music fans who appreciate the variety and ambition of the series. The community has adopted a “listening room” approach that allows the songs to take the spotlight. For Des Moines music fans, it’s become a tradition that’s just the right shade of crazy.
Fall 2025 Monday Night Live Schedule
- Sept. 29
The Music of “Bright Star” w/ members of the Des Moines Playhouse - Oct. 27
Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Nov. 24
Songwriter workshop with Jason Walsmith and Bryan Vanderpool - Dec. 15
TBA featured songwriter