70+ shows, nearly 30 venues: 250Lex celebrates Lexington’s music culture, past & present

From now until the first seconds of May tick in, the following excuse is officially deemed invalid: “Gee, there’s nothing to do in this town.”

For that, thank the organizers of 250Lex, the year-long celebration honoring Lexington’s 250th anniversary. They have dubbed April the Month of Music, and with that comes the goods to back up the billing. Under that banner, there will be multi-genre live music events from small to stadium-sized unfolding in nearly all available club, theatre and adaptable performance spaces every night (and sometimes afternoon) during the month of April.

“Lexington is a music town,” said Kip Cornett, co-chair of the 250Lex celebration. “We’re not Nashville, but we’re a music town. We just want to give people a chance to look at our calendar and say, ‘Where do you want to go? Do you want to go to Kenwick Table? There’s a songwriter showcase there. You want to go to Thursday Night Live? Want to hear bands on the hill at Keeneland? Come check it out.’”

Cornett said it was Lexington’s deep-rooted musical past, from classical to country and from the famed Spotlight Jazz Series at the University of Kentucky to such famed rock clubs of decades past as The Wrocklage and Café LMNOP, that inspired the designs behind the Month of Music. But rather than offer a strictly historical presentation, 250Lex wanted to echo such influences by offering a diverse program of live music as it exists in the present day.

To do that, the Month of Music began by focusing on supporting the wealth of concert performances already booked during April, from regular weekly events like Tee Dee Young’s blues showcases at the music club that bears his name and tapings of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Center that take place Monday evenings across from each other along 2nd and 3rd Streets to such mammoth one-time events as home state hero Tyler Childers’ takeover of Kroger Field on April 19.

“We thought this was the best way to honor the past,” Cornett added. “We have this great past, but let’s look at now. There is certainly heritage there, but we didn’t want to dwell just on the past. Look at the venues we have now. A lot of them didn’t even exist even 10 years ago.”

Peppering the calendar will be several free performances booked specifically for the Month of Music. Among them:

• Singer-songwriter/pop stylist Ashley Kutcher (April 12 at Manchester Music Hall),
• Blues/roots music guitarist Luther Dickinson (April 18 at The Burl),
• Hindman-born songwriter Brit Taylor (April 23 at Two Fisted Willie’s),
• Kentucky-bred hip-hop vets Nappy Roots (April 25 at the Lyric)
• And Lexington/Louisville cellist/songwriter Ben Sollee (April 30 at Al’s Bar).

“It was really just a matter of trying to piece something together where hopefully anybody in Lexington can look at the calendar and say, ‘Well, here’s something I’d like to go to’ and then make it as accessible as possible for longtime fans of music as well as for people who maybe haven’t been going to see live music for awhile,” said David Helmers, who curated the Month of Music roster. Helmers is familiar with realizing large-scale music events. He is one of the principal organizers of the annual Railbird festival.

“It’s a pretty eclectic and, I think, interesting calendar, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on in April that’s not on there. We just wanted to shine a light on some things that we think are among the exciting stuff that is happening that month and invite everybody out to see a show. That goes even if you can’t get out. You can tune into WoodSongs or Red Barn Radio and not even have to leave your house.”

But aside from the variety in size and style of the performances, what is perhaps the most immediately arresting aspect to the Month of Music is its sheer enormity — over 70 shows at nearly 30 venues, all within the confines of April.

“It is wild for me, as well, to look at it as an aggregate,” Helmers said. “I think we all fall into the old habit of saying. ‘Oh, there’s nothing to do.’ But there is a lot to do. If anything, this reminds people to investigate and look at what’s going on out there. We’ve added some shows to this lineup and we have definitely tried to bring some people to town and make some free shows happen, but on any given month, there are a lot of offerings, from symphonic and world music to hip hop to rock to blues and Americana. You name it.

“We’re trying to include as many venues, traditional and non-traditional, as we can. The Burl’s got music all the time. The Green Lantern has shows most nights. Some of these great little honky tonks and venues always have stuff going on, so we’re not putting everything on the calendar. You wouldn’t be able to get through it if we did, but this is a start.”

The 250Lex celebration won’t be limiting its involvement in live music to April. Other events are being planned for the rest of 2025. Similarly, some of the ideas explored for the Month of Music could reappear in similarly structured live music endeavors in the future.

“Honestly, I think there is potential for us to continue a series like this, a kind of decentralized festival of sorts,” Helmers said. “There are some cities that are doing some pretty cool stuff that’s different from a festival in the feel. The whole idea is, ‘Let’s activate all the places in town, traditional and non-traditional.’ It might be a weekend. It might be a week. Who knows, it might be a month. That’s one of the things we’ve been kicking around for a couple of years now. This could be a launch for something like that.”

250Lex Month of Music

When: April 1-30

Where: Various club, theatre, concert hall, arena and stadium setting throughout Lexington

Tickets: Admission prices, all many performances are free

For a full calendar of Month of Music events, go to: 250lex.com/month-of-music