Whether you like your country honky tonk or contemporary, you’re covered
Call it the Night of the Living Morgans. For the upcoming second Saturday of February, two singers with the surname of Morgan representing two distinct camps of country music as we know it will come calling at two very different Lexington events.
Here’s what to look for as you select your Saturday night Morgan.
Whitey Morgan and the 78’s/The Wooks
7 p.m. Feb. 8 at Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park as part of Bulls, Bands and Barrels, 4089 Iron Works Pkwy. $12-$40. bullsbandsandbarrels.com, whiteymorgan.com.
For Whitey Morgan, the weekend outing probably won’t be, as the saying goes, “his first rodeo.” Nor will it be his inaugural visit to our fine city. But it’s a safe call to say this Saturday will mark his first rodeo date in Lexington.
The staunchly traditional honky tonk troubadour will be the headline act at Bulls, Bands and Barrels, a touring rodeo competition that sports a rotating roster of indie country artists as performance guests, most of which fall outside the airplay acceptance range of country radio.
That’s a curiosity, because Morgan’s music has all the roots-driven credentials, smokey vocal command and stoic country sentiment to satisfy enthusiasts of honest, zero-frills country music.
Growing up in the perhaps unheralded country metropolis of Flint, Michigan, Morgan found an early home with Chicago’s pioneering, self-described “insurgent” country label Bloodshot Records. There, he released two recordings, including a white-hot 2014 concert set cut on home turf titled “Born and Raised and Live from Flint.” The record mixed a series of tasty Morgan originals built around his deep, well-seasoned tenor singing and the stately pedal steel guitar support of Brett Robinson with authoritative covers of country gems by Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, Billy Joe Shaver and Dale Watson.
Morgan released his last two recordings on his own, including 2018’s fine “Hard Times and White Lines.” The balance of solemnity and accessibility within tunes like the majestically Western neon noir saga “Honky Tonk Hell” and the blue collar lament “What Am I Supposed to Do” might have even found a place on country radio if corporate Nashville were just a smidge more accepting of the music’s heritage.
No matter. Morgan gets to play by his own rustic rules on the record, even to the point of slipping in a cover of the ZZ Top classic “Just Got Paid” that sounds as though it had been written for no other reason than to splice it between Morgan’s restless honky tonky confessionals.
A point of clarification for those, like myself, that may not be up on rodeo jargon. The “Barrels” in Bulls, Bands and Barrels is not a bourbon reference, although one has to think the keystone Kentucky libation will be available somewhere at the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday. It instead refers to barrel racing, the rodeo sport where women steer horses around three barrels seconds. .
As mentioned, the event is hardly Morgan’s Lexington debut. He has played numerous local club dates at the Green Lantern, the now-defunct Willie’s Locally Known and the original Woodland Avenue location of Cosmic Charlie’s. Should you need another reason to saddle up and head to the Kentucky Horse Park on Saturday, know that Lexington bluegrass-and-more renegades The Wooks will also be on the bill.
Craig Morgan
7:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall, 405 Rose St. $38.50-$68.50. 859-257-4929. finearts.uky.edu/singletary-center, craigmorgan.com.
Okay, so maybe bucking bulls and barrel riders aren’t quite your collective thing, but country music still is. If that’s the case, then maybe an environment more intimate than the Kentucky Horse Park and a sound more contemporary than the rugged honky tonk the other Morgan will be dispensing there sounds more appealing.
If that’s the case, try spending your Saturday at the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center for the Arts for an evening with veteran country star Craig Morgan.
Between 2000 and 2009, the Kingston Springs, Tenn., native charted six Top Ten country singles with 2004’s ultra-chill meditation “That’s What I Love About Sundays” reaching No. 1. The song remains Morgan’s signature hit.
His newest single is something far more reflective. Titled “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost,” the self-penned song is a profession of faith and solace following the boating accident death of Morgan’s son in 2016 at the age of 19. The song quickly caught the ear of country celebrity Blake Shelton as well as the label Morgan called home between 2002 and 2008, Broken Bow Records.
Shelton conducted a viral online campaign that helped the song reach No. 1 on an all-genre iTunes chart along with marketing supporting from Broken Bow.
Morgan is also a faithful supporter of the military, which one might suppose places him in league with just about every other country artist. Morgan, however, has walked the walk and then some. He served in the United States Army in Korea by spending 10 years in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. In November 2019, the singer embarked on his 12th USO tour, visiting troops at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.
Like the other Morgan playing in town this weekend, the voice behind the country hits “Bonfire,” “Almost Home,” “Little Bit of Life” and “International Harvester” has performed frequently in Lexington. His appearances have included a show opening set for Carrie Underwood at Rupp Arena in 2010 and a headline billing at Red, White and Boom in 2011 when the event was still staged on the July 4 weekend.