The Oxbow Hotel

LIVE MUSIC: Jack Norton
2026-03-27 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
Travel back in time with Emmy Award winning songwriter Jack Norton, for a concert of vaudeville blues, old-time country, and vintage Americana folk music.
Singer/songwriter Jack Norton says he was born somewhere in rural Georgia during the summer of 1879 to a family of itinerant workers. He spent his childhood in the Deep South, drifting from town to town, eventually learning how to play the guitar from legendary blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson.
When he was 12, he ran away from home to join the circus and later worked as a banjo player, vocal contortionist, and comedian in a traveling medicine show.
He eventually resurfaced in New Orleans, playing acoustic guitar in Jelly Roll Morton’s band. It was here that Norton tried his hand at songwriting, crafting songs which were stolen by Buddy Bolden.
Never one to settle down, Norton moved to New York City and quickly found himself in the heart of Tin Pan Alley, penning hit songs for Al Jolson, Rudy Vallee, and a young Bing Crosby.
Norton recorded his first records for Okeh in Asheville, North Carolina, in the summer of 1925. It was here that he influenced Jimmie Rodgers and Emmett Miller. He has been recording and touring ever since. Throughout the 1930s, Norton drifted from town to town, riding the rails and singing for his supper. During the folk boom of the early 1960s, Norton would influence artists such as Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan.
Today, Jack Norton is celebrating over 100 years as a recording artist. He continues to perform live, touring the world, playing his unique blend of vintage blues, ragtime jazz, and hokum folk.

TUNE-IN TUESDAY: Wyatt Thomson
2026-03-31 18:00 - 20:00
On Tuesday nights at The Lakely we’re turning things up with Tune-In Tuesdays—a live music series featuring rising artists and fresh sounds. From indie and folk to soulful acoustic sets, each performance is a chance to discover new talent in a cozy, cocktail-forward setting. Whether you’re winding down or gearing up, Tune-In Tuesday is your perfect midweek reset.
Come early for the craft cocktails, stay for dinner and the music.
Interested in performing? Send us a message at Events@TheOxbowHotel.com
Wyatt Thomson possesses a voice that echos the soundscapes of the dance halls, supper clubs, and road houses that still litter the landscape of his home in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin.
​Citing Tom Waits as his biggest influence, it’s safe to say that Thomson (Like Waits) seems to have skipped right over decades of music that might have otherwise changed his sound for the worst.
One of Thomson’s biggest appeals is that he sounds like an artist transported from the 1950’s honky tonks of the Midwest, and dropped off into the second decade of the 21st century unscathed by the worst aspects of pop country, pop music, and an industry forever changed by technology.
Not unlike a character from a Roger Miller song, Thomson has the bona fides of working pawn shops, odd jobs, and scraping by in the rust belt landscape of NW Wisconsin. As a result, he’s gained the street wise and cynical wisdom that is earned young from such a life.
The world may press onward with its insane pace, but Thomson ambles along with a casual confidence and story telling tales that feel like they’re ripped from old paperbacks in a truck stop, or found in some lost postwar beatnik manuscript.
