The Way Down Wanderers come home to Kenny's Westside Pub for a December Saturday

Peoria's own folk-Americana band plays Kenny's Westside Pub on Saturday, December 19. Tickets are $18.

There's a particular kind of December show that every music town has: a band that started here, comes back for the holidays, and plays to a room full of people who knew them before the touring vans. For Peoria, that show is the Way Down Wanderers at Kenny's Westside Pub.

The Way Down Wanderers play Kenny's Westside Pub on Saturday, December 19, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 through eTix, where the event is listed with Isaac Durst and The Midwestern Charm. The date was announced on October 29, and with Kenny's holding 400, this one won't take long to fill.

For anyone new to them, the Wanderers are a Peoria-rooted band that has carried the city's name onto bigger stages. Peoria Magazine profiled them under the headline "Wandering the Heartland," and the band's modern folk-Americana sound has earned coverage well beyond central Illinois, from Relix to Rolling Stone, which premiered "The Wire" ahead of their album More Like Tomorrow. Their catalog also includes the sophomore album Illusions, which WGLT covered at its release.

The current lineup, as Elmore Magazine lists it, is Austin Thompson, Collin Krause, John Williams, John Merikoski and Travis Kowalsky. JamBase files them under country, bluegrass and folk, which captures the range: string-band roots, harmony-driven songwriting and arrangements that leave room for the players to stretch.

A hometown band, a 400-cap room, an $18 ticket and the week before Christmas.

That's what makes this booking feel like an event rather than another tour stop. The Wanderers spend much of the year on the road, with dates this past summer in Michigan among them, so a Peoria show close to the holidays is a chance for the city to claim them back for a night. The room helps. At 400 capacity, Kenny's is small enough that the harmonies carry without a wall of amplification, and close enough that the crowd becomes part of the show.

The supporting names on the bill add to the local flavor of the night. Arriving early to catch the openers is a good habit at a show like this, and it's also the best way to get a decent spot before the room fills up.

The price is worth noting, too. Eighteen dollars for a hometown headliner on a Saturday in December is a bargain by any standard, and it makes this an easy gift: two tickets slip neatly into a holiday card.

The date falls the Saturday before Christmas, when people are home, old friends are back in town and everyone's looking for somewhere to gather. A band that started here, playing a room that holds 400, is about as good an answer as Peoria gets.

Buy early, show up for the openers, and expect to run into half the people you went to high school with.

Sources: Wandering the Heartland (Peoria Magazine) (ww2.peoriamagazines.com); The Way Down Wanderers: Band of Brothers (Relix) (relix.com); The Way Down Wanderers Preview New Album With the Unity Song 'The Wire' (Rolling Stone) (rollingstone.com); Way Down Wanderers release sophomore album Illusions (WGLT) (wglt.org); Elmore Magazine – The Way Down Wanderers (elmoremagazine.com); The Way Down Wanderers – Visit Southwest Michigan (June 28, 2026) (swmichigan.org); The Way Down Wanderers at Kenny's Westside Pub – eTix (etix.prf.hn); JamBase listing (jambase.com)