Heartsfield member Dave Nelson of Geneva to perform live virtual concert at The Venue

AURORA – Guitarist Dave Nelson knows how important music can be in stressful times like these.

At 8 p.m. Monday, April 27, Nelson, a member of the famed band Heartsfield along with Electric Dirt, a Levon Helm tribute band, will perform to a virtual audience when he takes the stage at The Venue in downtown Aurora, which remains closed because of the stay-at-home order implemented to slow the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. The show will be streamed on The Venue's Facebook page and direct donations can be made at The Venue's website, themusicvenue.org.

Proceeds from the show benefit the musician and the Fox Valley Music Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates The Venue at 21 S. Broadway Ave. (Route 25).

The new music series from The Venue and the Fox Valley Music Foundation, titled "Livestream on Broadway at The Venue," will take place at 8 p.m. every Monday night. The series kicked off April 6 with musician Noah Gabriel. Guitarist Scott Tipping, the musical director of The Venue, will take the stage May 4.

Kane County Chronicle reporter Eric Schelkopf talked to Nelson, a Geneva resident, about the upcoming show. The interview has been edited for length and style.

Eric Schelkopf: Of course, these are strange times we are living in.

Dave Nelson: It's the first pandemic I've experienced. I was talking to my sister about this, who is about 10 years older than I am.

I told her that we don't think twice about polio now, and she reminded me that she did when she was a kid.

Schelkopf: I know Heartsfield had been scheduled to perform at The Venue on May 9, but that has been rescheduled to Aug. 29. I know you have been a member of Heartsfield since it reformed in 1999. I understand that you grew up on the band's music.

Nelson: I remember watching Heartsfield on the television show "Made in Chicago," which was later renamed "Soundstage." This would have been 1972 or 1973.

I was a big fan and I bought their records. I tried to learn some guitar parts from the Heartsfield records, back when I was learning the guitar. Heartsfield was a big influence.

Schelkopf: What drew you to the band in the first place?

Nelson: The songs were pretty cool. But I think it was all the guitars. Heartsfield have a guitar army. They had probably three or four guitarists.

They also were one of the best live bands that you could see anywhere. They would absolutely blow their headliner off the stage sometimes. They were that good.

The other thing that Heartsfield was absolutely amazing at was their vocal blend. Everybody sang like birds.

Still to this day, the hardest part of trying to keep it together with those songs is really working out the vocals.

Schelkopf: What are you looking forward to Monday?

Nelson: We're still able to [make] music, we are still sharing music and people are still enjoying it.

I'm trying to get a lot of people to tune in.