It wouldn’t be a 250th birthday party without a month of music

What do you turn to if you want to showcase Lexington’s thriving music scene?

The organizer of Railbird, of course.

David Helmers said April in Lexington is going to be filled with music everyone can enjoy. As part of the city of Lexington’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of its founding, Helmers has helped 250Lex commission members put together a calendar of events highlighting all the different aspects of Lexington’s vibrant music scene.

“250Lex Commissioner Kip Cornett called back in the fall and said, ‘Hey, we’re thinking of doing a 250Lex yearlong celebration, and we want to do something for music one month. What do you think we ought to do?’” Helmers said.

“So, I said, why don’t we try and just fill out that calendar and have something every day of the month and as many free shows as we can, with as many diverse genres as we can and kind of give something to the community to come out and celebrate.”

And do that they did.

April’s music calendar is packed like a prom queen’s dance card with a performance of some kind on every day of the month, and some days with more than one event.

Some of the shows will be free while others are not. Visit 250Lex.com or the respective venues for additional information.

From such national acts as Tyler Childers, the Avett Brothers and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to a night of pickin’ and grinnin’ at Country Boy Brewery, there’s something for everyone.

“No matter what demographic you’re in, what age or interest in music you might have, there’s something for you,” Helmers said.

“I’ve just been building a calendar. We tried to go from the Green Lantern, and Al’s Bar, and Two-Fisted Willy’s, to little kind of honky-tonk places, like Henry Clay’s Public House, and on up to the Burl, Manchester Music Hall, Rupp Arena, and Kroger Field.

“It should be something that appeals to just about anybody.”

The month starts off with two performances on April 1: Corb Lund & Hayes Carll at Manchester Music Hall, and the UK Lab Band Concert at the Singletary Center.

It ends on April 30 with Ben Sollee at Al’s Bar and Rough and Tumble at the Manchester Music Hall.

Along the way there will be numerous performances, including:

▪ “An Evening Inspired By the Written Word with Debraun Thomas and Tony Wavy” at the Kentucky Theater on April 8.

▪ The Lexington Philharmonic performing “Blockbuster Broadway” at the Singletary Center on April 11.

▪ An “Ode to KY Music, featuring The Swells, Jenkins Twins and the Possum Queens during Thursday Night Live on April 17 at the 5/3rd Pavilion downtown.

▪ Nappy Roots on April 25 at the Lyric Theater.

The month will even feature a performance of a little known, but historic classical composer Anthony Phillip Heinrich. He came to America in 1810 after losing his fortune in the Napoleonic War.

Heinrich embarked on a 700-mile journey, on foot and by boat, through Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River and into Kentucky. What he saw throughout his travels inspired some of the most original music of the 19th century.

After settling in a log cabin near Bardstown, he began writing music unlike anything being written at the time.

In 1817, Heinrich conducted a performance of Beethoven’s First Symphony at Postlethwait’s Tavern in Lexington. Some consider it to be the first performance of a Beethoven symphony in the United States.

Others say it is second, but most assuredly the first performance west of the Allegheny Mountains. By 1822, Heinrich was considered the “Beethoven of America.”

Sadly, Heinrich did not become the household name that Beethoven did.

“Early on within his own lifetime, listeners could not ‘get’ what he was saying with his music,” said Fred Baumgarten, author of “The Western Minstrel; Voyages through the life and music of Anthony Philip Heinrich.”

“You could chalk that up to daring experimentation… His music was and still is very difficult to play, filled with wild ornamentation and monster chords. As for kitsch, he was inclined to include some version of variations on “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in many, if not most, of the pieces he wrote, which went with the American identity he cultivated.”

Baumgarten said Heinrich even helped to found the New York Philharmonic, which, to this day, refuses to play his music.

According to the Library of Congress, when he was alive, it wasn’t possible for orchestras to play his music as “many of his orchestral works were written for an uncommonly large number of instruments and were unplayable by fledgling American orchestras.”

However, Lexingtonians will get a chance to hear Heinrich’s “Dawning of Music in America” as part of the 250Lex celebration. The piece will be performed 3 p.m. on April 6 at the Farish Theater in the main branch of the Lexington Public Library by the Transylvania University Chamber Orchestra and Eastern Kentucky University School of Music.

The inclusion of his work is a sign of Lexington’s love of music, Helmers said. This month of music is a continuation of that history.

“Lexington has a long history of appreciation for and celebration of live music,” he said.

“I think that has ebbed and flowed over time. There was a period of time when the Wrocklage closed, when Linus’s closed, when Buster’s closed, when we didn’t have a lot of venues in town. I think the Burl was really important in bringing attention back to live music in Lexington.

“And I think Railbird has helped bring national touring artists here who are sharing stages with local musicians.”

Lainey Wilson will headline the two-day Railbird festival May 31, and Jelly Roll will headline June 1 at The Infield at Red Mile.

More information on the music calendar for the 250Lex celebration can be found on the celebration’s website at https://250lex.com/month-of-music/