What’s the status of Railbird, other Lexington summer music festivals and concerts?

The end of April is at hand. Usually, that means a blitz of concert activity leading up to the Kentucky Derby. This year, for reasons we all understand (or, at least, should, understand), there are no shows for the immediate future and no Derby to celebrate until September.

It is then sadly fitting that discussion of canceled Derby-related music events coincides with another mammoth concert cancellation in Louisville.

Last week, the 2020 edition of Forecastle, the three-day festival held every summer in Waterfront Park, has been canceled due to COVID-related precautions. Headliners were to have been Jack Johnson, The 1975 and Kentucky’s own Cage the Elephant. This marks only the second time since Forecastle began as a modest community event in Tyler Park that the event has been called off. It also skipped 2011 in order to cement a new production partnership with AC Entertainment, the same organization overseeing Bonnaroo, Big Ears Festival and, as of last year, Lexington’s Railbird.

The cancellation of Forecastle follows the announcement earlier this month that the Bunbury Music Festival, a similarly organized weekend outing in Cincinnati set for June 5, 6 and 7, has also been called off over COVID concerns. This year’s Bunbury lineup included Twenty One Pilots, The Avett Brothers, Kane Brown and Old Crow Medicine Show.

So where does this leave Lexington’ summer festivals? Mostly, in a pit of uncertainty.

The city’s first major music gathering, the Festival of the Bluegrass at the Kentucky Horse Park, is, for now, still slated for June 11-14. That could easily change, however.

“This is a very fluid situation and the recommendations from the local, state, and federal levels are changing every day,” reads a statement on the festival’s website. “The current recommendations from the CDC are to limit gatherings of 50 or more people until mid-May. Should this change, or Governor Beshear make other recommendations specific to Kentucky, we will re-evaluate.”

The sophomore year of Railbird is also a go for the time being, although it’s show dates are until much later in the summer - August 22 and 23. There currently is no update on the festivals’ website or social media pages.

There are several other local concert events, including a string of Rupp Arena shows, scheduled before the Railbird dates arrive. Still on are performances by Gucci Mane (May 30), Elton John (June 5), Backstreet Boys (July 27) and comedian Jim Gaffigan (Aug. 19). Only an Aug. 18 show by Justin Bieber has been officially postponed. Of course, the status of any pending festival or Rupp concert could change in the coming weeks.

Now, back to the most active concert stage of the spring, the internet.

‘One World’ streaming show

The proliferation of online streaming performances, be they live or otherwise, continues to expand. That’s something of a blessing during these quarantine days.

Last weekend’s “One World: Together at Home” will go down as the grand-poobah of such events, having been broadcast on multiple streaming sites and television networks.

Like most all-star summits, there were cheers and yawns. Luckily, with most of the performances being archived online, you can now pick and choose what to view. For me, the Rolling Stones were a highlight for numerous reasons. The biggest, of course, was sentimental. It helped ease the sting surrounding the cancellation of what would have been the band’s first Kentucky concert in 14 years. The Stones were to have played Cardinal Stadium in Louisville on June 14. The show, along with all dates on the band’s summer tour, have been scrapped because of COVID precautions.

For “One World,” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” from their respective homes. Jagger was in refreshingly strong voice, Wood provided solid electric enforcement on guitar, Richards plucked a few chords and looked bemused from his sofa and Watts played drums without a drum kit. Perplexing, but great fun.

Honorable runners up: Stevie Wonder’s medley of the late Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” and his own “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” Paul McCartney’s jazzy makeover of “Lady Madonna” as a salute to health care workers, Kacey Musgraves’ elegiac solo version of “Rainbows” and especially Eddie Vedder’s darkly promising reading of the new Pearl Jam tune “River Cross” on organ.

The performances are viewable and facebook.com/GLBLCTZN and youtube.com/channel/UCg3_C7BwcV0kBlJbBFHTPJQ.

Kat Edmondson reaches out to Danville

Songstress Kat Edmondson’s March 14 performance at the Norton Center for the Arts’ Weisiger Theatre in Danville was among the first wave of concert cancellations when COVID-19 precautions began going into effect. But she will make it to the region eventually.

The Norton Center’s Facebook page posted a brief greeting from Edmonson to Kentucky fans last week expressing her disappointment in having to cancel as well as assurance that a make-up date is in the planning stages.

Until then, add Edmonson’s name to the growing list of artists offering online performances. Last weekend marked the debut of “The Kat Edmondson Show,” a home- produced session of songs and stories. It’s archived and viewable in two posts at facebook.com/katedmonsonmusic.

The program opens on especially celebratory terms with the demurely voiced Edmondson singing an acapella version of “You’ve Got a Friend” as the shouts and beats of her Brooklyn neighborhood engage in a kind of primal scream release chorus outside her window. This has become a nightly New York City ritual honoring health care workers.

“I’ve never felt so close to my neighbors,” she says at the song’s conclusion. Now that’s how you start a show.

Fenway Park’s organist playing on Facebook amid pandemic

Josh Kantor isn’t a celebrity artist even though he has helped fill one of the most celebrated stadiums in the country on an ongoing basis. He has also come up with perhaps the most unexpected and, in many ways, inspirational of streaming shows.

Kantor is the Fenway Park organist for the Boston Red Sox. But with Major League Baseball adjourned along with the country’s live music traffic, he has taken to producing a daily Facebook Live program called “7th Inning Stretch.” A one-man jukebox, Kantor plays an endless medley of pop hits on the organ in his living room, then solicits tips for food banks around the country at feedingamerica.com.

One minute’s he’s playing Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “Lucky Man.” The next, he’s dipping into The Doors’ “Touch Me.” But it’s played with such abundant ball park-friendly charm that you’ll likely wind up on the hunt for hot dog vendors and foul balls.

The only downside to this wonderfully fun, homespun stream? You wind up missing baseball as well as live music.

“7th Inning Stretch” is viewable at facebook.com/7thinningstretch2020/. Live streams begin daily at 3 p.m. The programs are archived on Facebook for viewing anytime.