Photo by Julia Cartwright.
“You have to dance your way in!” shouts a man seated at a picnic table outside, and it’s immediately clear that he’s right. There’s no lane to walk through, no side door to sneak in the back. If you want to get inside, you’ll have to commit to the party.
Reveler’s Hall is packed to the brim.
Swelling brass, crashing drums and a thumping bass serve as the heartbeat to a crowd that’s beginning to spill out onto Bishop Avenue. A roaring guitar gives way to a long keyboard solo, and for a moment, it seems this chaos is all but orchestrated.
But then you hear the voice. It’s a razor-sharp alto bellowing out of a broad man with an undone bowtie and navy suit jacket matching all the musicians backing him.
His name is Kraig Loyd; they are called the Rosemont Kings. Tonight, as always, they are bringing the house down.
Loyd matches an irreplaceable voice with his magnetic stage presence, it’s tough to tell which came first. A pharmacist by day, he grew up singing in church and had a brief stint as a recording artist with an RnB album released in 2012. He joined the Rosemont Kings in 2018, when the project was more of an inside joke between neighbors than a real performing act.
“My house has an extra guest bedroom we rarely use,” says Bart Thrasher, guitarist. “I convinced my wife to set up a drum kit, PA and guitar and bass rigs. I was so excited. I went outside and two doors down some neighbors were hanging out on Richie Heffernan’s porch.”
They live on Rosemont Avenue, in the Winnetka Heights Historic District.
“I asked everybody to come to my house to check out my jam room,” Thrasher says. “Richie said ‘I can play drums’, and Robbie Good said ‘You know I play bass?’ The chemistry was instant, and we started having regular jam sessions. Our wives kept saying ‘Enough, get out.’ We called ourselves The Doghouse at first.”
It was a neighborhood operation, and the group knew that everything they did should reflect that. They began to go by The Rosemont Kings soon after. Quickly, their jam sessions turned into songwriting, as the trio began to piece together a number of instrumental tracks.
“It was magical,” Robbie Good, bass says. “By the time Kraig came in a few months later, we had six or seven originals which he added some vocals over. The Rosemont Kings were officially born.”
The Kings knew they had something special, their musical aspirations angling towards a musically-wide, funk party band. But as it stood, the production behind it had the bones of a conventional rock band; guitar, drums, bass and vocals. They had to get bigger.
Loyd invited trumpeter Ed Wagner to join the band. Thrasher invited keyboardist Brad Taylor, then Taylor invited saxophonist Jacob Frie and Frie invited trombonist Jay Hatler.
Through a neighborly game of musical telephone, a full Rosemont Kings lineup was born.
They got in the studio to record what would become their self-titled debut album, released in 2023. The record features 10 original tracks, drawing heavily from the songwriting of modern soul artists like Charles Bradley and Lee Fields, mixed with sonics that play like a high-energy version of Houston jam trio, Khruangbin.
Their most streamed song, Easy Love, is a sweet, romantic anthem perfect for when you have a special someone by your side to dance with. The second song on the album, Weekend Kind of Love, is the opposite, a playfully vain track for when you don’t.
The band hits its stride on Six Feet Down, when female background vocals are incorporated to a carefully frenetic pace. It’s a crowd favorite, along with the braggadocious Rosemont Groove, where the Kings remind you where they came from.
Crowds adore the Rosemont Kings. They’ve become celebrated regulars at Reveler’s Hall and Balcony Club, two of the city’s predominant jazz clubs.
Getting the group together enough to become regulars and record an album is a feat of its own.
“It’s not easy but we make it work,” says trombonist Jay Hatler says. “We sometimes send recordings back and forth via text or email with different musical ideas. On one of the most recent songs we’ve written, I sent a text recording to Kraig and Robbie of a horn line I came up with. Kraig sent me back lyrics, Robbie came up with a bass line and we put it together in the next rehearsal.”
Each member has a full-time job, with a family, kids and plenty of responsibilities.
“It’s been a struggle finding the balance,” keyboardist Brad Taylor says. “But every single time I play music with this band, whether it be practice, recording or a performance, it is 100% clear that it is all worth it and probably the only thing that keeps me fairly sane.”
“It’s my dream to play music fulltime,” saxophonist Jacob Frie adds. “My day gig pays for my night dreams.”
When they do get together, their chemistry is effortless. Each member plays their part, but they all agree upon the engine.
“I spent four years in the Marine Corps band where there was a constant push for what we called showtime,” Frie says. “Kraig exemplifies this and knows how to drive the group.”
So where are the Rosemont Kings headed? And do they have space for this project long term or even full time?
But it’s a Saturday night at the Balcony Club. Loyd takes a swig from his beer and adjusts his mic before pointing to Good, who plays the bass intro for “Celebrate,” a Rosemont original.
Just like that, they’re off. The brass swells. The drums crash. The bass thumps. The guitar roars as Taylor enters his solo.
How long will their moment together last?
The Rosemont Kings are playing. It doesn’t matter.
