Kinky Friedman, 1944-2024

Kinky Friedman was as wild and original as any songsmith to rocket out of Texas in the early 1970s. An outlaw before the genre term was ever coined, he was also a novelist, columnist and, in 2006, Lone Star gubernatorial candidate. Mostly, Friedman was a character. He left us Wednesday at the age of 79.

In concert: Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs with Shannon McNally

One-third of the way through a rock show Thursday evening full of heart, intelligence and a wonderfully scrappy sense of soul, Mike Campbell led the audience at the Lexington Opera House through a sing-a-long that emphasized the title to a tune from Wreckless Abandon, his 2020 debut album with The Dirty Knobs. Being a family

A few minutes with Mike Campbell

In the video for his newest single, “Dare to Dream,” Mike Campbell sings confidently about a life of promise. His location: the historic Church Studio in Tulsa, a locale roughly half-way between his longtime home of Los Angeles and the Northern Florida haunts of his youth that gave rise to a remarkable rock ‘n’ roll

In concert: Brock/Lanzetti/Ogawa

Fusion. Depending on where your jazz alliances stem from, the word might represent music that borrowed from inspirations outside the genre from the late ‘60s onward. To many, though, that constitutes heresy – a selling out to the commercial whims of rock driven groove, flash and electricity. But if jazz came knocking on your door

Album review: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention – “Whisky a Go Go, 1968”

Frank Zappa acknowledges early into Whisky a Go Go, 1968 that using the concert setting at hand as a recording session was something new and unknown for the Mothers of Invention. He then quickly reminds himself of a failed attempt at making a live album from a show two months earlier at the Miami Pop

In concert: Lucinda Williams

If there was a visual takeaway from Lucinda Williams’ performance Thursday evening at the Kentucky Theatre, it was the sight of the acclaimed Americana songstress being assisted from the stage after an often volcanic 100-minute set, but staying a moment to blow kisses to her audience. Sweets from a survivor. Now, let’s back up to

In performance: John Hiatt

When the first guitar strains of his solo acoustic performance sounded Wednesday evening at the Lexington Opera House, John Hiatt broke into a grin. It was an immediate reaction to another reaction – specifically, the audience verbally and enthusiastically recognizing the intro to “Drive South.” Who knows what was actually darting through Hiatt’s head at

The Kentucky Theatre’s concert double-feature

The concept of a movie house double-feature is largely the product of an ancient era. The idea was you paid one price and got to bask in the splendor of two feature length films run in succession. In many cases, you got what you paid for – a pair of B-grade horror/monster flicks. If you

Album review: Tony Trischka, “Earl Jam”

With countless musical celebrations already revolving around this year’s centennial of banjo colossus Earl Scruggs, how does a disciple that has spent six decades studying and processing the honoree’s playing style design a tribute of distinction? For Tony Trischka, the answer was literally dropped at his doorstep. Of course, pigeonholing Trischka as merely a devotee