‘A true artist’: Musician, painter, filmmaker who played Lexington for 40 years dies

How you define the art of Patrick McNeese requires a bit of specificity.

You could be referencing the music he created in restaurants and clubs over the past four decades – a flexible mix of jazz and pop, but ultimately a sound he seldom liked pinning a label on.

But since McNeese was just as comfortable with a canvas and video camera, you might be talking about any number of visual art and/or film projects, the later of which served as his professional trade.

There were also works designed to appeal equally to ears and eyes, as in recordings like the 2018 album “Big Fish Moon.” The recording sported 11 songs credited to the band that bore McNeese’s name and one of his playfully surrealistic paintings as cover art.

A third generation Lexingtonian and a longtime favorite of local audiences, McNeese died on Dec. 29 after an extended battle with cancer. He was 68.

“He was a dedicated, devoted artist, both as a painter and a songwriter,” said Tom Martin, host of WEKU-FM’s “Eastern Standard” program and a longtime member of the Patrick McNeese Band. “And, as many will confirm, he loved a good conversation, especially about world affairs, the human condition, absurdities and irony.”

Having attended Christ the King Elementary School and Lexington Catholic High School, McNeese earned a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Kentucky in 1982. In short order, he was working as a freelance art director for commercials (including one with noted director Michael Bay) and industrial training films along with independent work on film documentaries.

Those were his day duties. In his “off” hours, McNeese performed in a rotating assortment of musical projects. He was a featured pianist at the original Alfalfa restaurant on South Limestone and played in the all-acoustic Max Alley Five at such long defunct haunts as High on Rose during the 1980s. Most of his recent work, though, came with the Patrick McNeese Band, where he played primarily guitar with a cross-generational lineup that included Martin on keyboards, Tripp Bratton on percussion, Maggie Lander on violin, Jesse Pena on lead guitar and F. Miles Hanchett on bass.

The band worked extensively with veteran local producer and engineer Duane Lundy, who oversees the Lexington Recording Company. Lundy worked with McNeese on three album projects over the past decade and completed a new solo album as recently as last month.

“Pat was a great collaborator for a producer such as myself,” Lundy said. “He was very prepared when he came to the creative table, but gave a great deal of room for input. His songs and performances were a direct part of his personality … smart, emotive and organic.

“We began every project with a long conversation about the process that we were going to take, which was filled with more abstract imagery than clear directives. Pat was a true artist, whether it was his music or his paintings. He had a great sense of quality control, but never lost the emotional depth of his work. Our relationship taught me a great deal about staying true to my instincts and not second guessing my artistic choices.”

“Patrick had a very distinctive guitar style,” added Martin. “He admired Joni Mitchell for her unusual chord structures and had an equally distinctive voice. He would play and sing and allow us to search and find our roles in support of lyric and mood. You could see his joy as his songs took shape and new dimensions.”

The last time I saw McNeese was after a performance at the Lexington Opera House. He wasn’t in the audience. I ran into him walking his dog Lola along Short Street. Talk to one of his friends, and they will likely have an account of a similar offstage encounter with McNeese on downtown sidewalks.

A public memorial for McNeese is tentatively being planned for the spring.

“My career has never really soared up,” McNeese told me in a 2005 interview. “It just keeps moving horizontally through a lot of categories. One thing leads to another. Things I’ve learned playing music – your entire musical sense, really – is key when you edit film, for example. A lot of times, you’re just editing to the beats. The timing is so critical.

“That’s just how I perceive the world. I always knew I would be doing different things. My job is to try and keep it all fresh.”

This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 10:29 AM.