Stephen Foster penned some of the best-known songs of all time, including standards like “Oh! Susanna,” “Camptown Races” and “Beautiful Dreamer,” but that success didn’t translate to particular fortune. Foster died alone in 1864 in near poverty at age 37, having estranged himself from his family through his alcoholism. Nonetheless, his songbook outlived him. It was passed down from g...

Robbie Fulks, one of many singer-songwriters to emerge from Chicago’s fruitful ’90s alt-country scene, is nothing if not multifaceted. He loves stripped-down, sparse country, but he also likes hard-driving roots rock. He writes silly country toss-offs, but he also writes serious ballads. He has an ambitious concept album to his credit (2001’s Couples in Trouble), but his 2005 album Georgia Hard relied on witty jaunts like the ones Shel Silverstein used to pen for the country greats. Fulks finds a happy balance between all these sides during...

Thursday, Dec. 18, Hardcore Comedy Show @ Cactus Club, 10 p.m. One of the loudest rallying cries from Milwaukee’s scattered comedy scene, The Hardcore Comedy Show pairs five burgeoning female comedians—grrrl comedians? in one of the city’s least likely comedy venues: the Cactus Club...

Robbie Fulks, one of many fruitful singer-songwriters to emerge from Chicago’s ’90s alt-country scene, is nothing if not multifaceted. He loves stripped-down, sparse country, but he also likes hard-driven roots rock. He writes silly country toss-offs, but he also writes serious ballads. He has an ambitious concept album . . .