Kentucky Derby weekend concerts: Black Violin, Shinedown, My Morning Jacket

It’s not like we’re trying steal any of Louisville’s pageantry during Kentucky Derby week or anything. Honest.

In the days leading up to the two minutes every first Saturday of May, when incalculable ears and eyes shift to the city, Louisville traditionally offers a wealth of live concert entertainment. That will be the order of business again this year, with a schedule highlighted by a five-night residency featuring hometown heroes My Morning Jacket at the Louisville Palace.

It’s just that we will have an unusually hearty crop of concert celebrations right here in Lexington this year taking place before, on and even after Derby Day. And an especially wide-ranging lot it is, too, with shows — multiple ones, in several cases — at all of our major performance venues. Take your pick: Guitar rock at Rupp Arena, classical-meets-hip-hop at Lexingtton Opera House, an Americana mix at The Burl, Mississippi-stewed rock ‘n’ roll at Manchester Music Hall and an orchestral feast of good ol’ Stravinsky at the Singletary Center for Arts.

Riders up, everyone. The live music parade of Derby week, Lexington style, is about to begin.

Shinedown/Beartooth/Morgan Wade

7 p.m. May 2 at Rupp Arena, 430 W. Vine. $29.50-$158.50. ticketmaster.com.

Shinedown may not the biggest name to play Rupp Arena on Derby Eve, but it will certainly be one of the loudest. The Florida-bred quartet, with vocalist Brent Smith still in the driver’s seat after nearly 25 years, boasts a fresh, voluminous guitar-rock sound. It suggests metal at times, but largely remains rooted in a more anthemic and lyrical design removed from the genre.

Such a blend is served up with efficient vigor and urgency on a new single, “Dance, Kid, Dance,” a three-and-half minute generational call-to-arms ripe with arresting guitar hooks. The single is one of two new tunes Shinedown is previewing this spring from their forthcoming eighth album. As well, the band’s current tour, which opened a week ago in Des Moines, is named after the song.

Black Violin

7:30 p.m. May 1 at the Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short. $30.50-$55.50.

Whitney Cummings

7 p.m. May 2 at the Lexington Opera House. $29.75-$59.75. ticketmaster.com.

The Opera House is on a major run that began at the start of the week with the return of roots-rock celebrity Chris Isaak. As Derby nears, they have two more shows in as many nights to show off. First up is a Thursday outing with the classical/hip-hop/R&B mash-up duo of Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus, collectively known as Black Violin.

For over two decades, the two string players (Marcus plays violin, Baptiste the viola) have been merging their classical education with beats and grooves of the hip-hop they grew up with. That brought about collaborations with Alicia Keys, Wu-Tang Clan, Lil Wayne and many others. Black Violin’s Thursday performance falls on the eve of the release of its newest album, “Full Circle.”

For Derby Eve, the Opera House switches gears from music to laughter with a performance by comedian, writer, producer and podcaster Whitney Cummings (co-creator of “2 Broke Girls,” star of the 2011-13 sitcom “Whitney” and host of numerous comedy specials for cable networks).

Friday’s performance will serve as opening night for Cummings’ “Big Baby Tour.” The title references a return to the stage after the birth of her first child. The tour’s advertising credo: “Laugh out loud with the new mom on the block.”

Paul McDonald and the Mourning Doves/Bedford

8 p.m. May 1 at The Burl (indoors), 375 Thompson Rd. $15. theburlky.com/shows

J.R. Carroll/Gabriella Rose

8 p.m. May 2 at The Burl (outdoors). $20.

Driftwood Gypsy/Club Dub

8 p.m. May 3 at The Burl (indoors). $10.

Three Derby week shows at The Burl take us inside the Distillery District club on Thursday, outdoors for a parking lot show on Friday and back inside on Derby night.

The run commences Thursday with Paul McDonald. The Americana-leaning Alabama native’s career has run from his own Tom Petty-flavored songs to the founding of Nashville’s One Big Love Festival to the formation in 2023 of his current band, the Mourning Doves. All this follows a wildly different career path from the previous decade that included competition in the 10th season of “American Idol” and an artistic partnership and marriage with “Twilight” actress/singer Nikki Reed (the two divorced in 2015.)

Derby Eve welcomes J.R. Carroll, a gospel-reared country artist that has been releasing a series of indie EP recordings over the past five years. Then came the blow-up: Recruitment as keyboardist for Zach Bryan, whose career went, seemingly in the blink of an eye, from a stint in the Navy to headlining arenas and stadiums. Carroll has spent the past month and change touring on his own to support a debut solo album, “Dark Cloud.” The only interlude was a reteaming with Bryan last weekend for the Coachella festival. He will be back with Bryan for a series of five late June shows in England and Ireland.

Then after the big race is run on Saturday, The Burl kicks in with a bill featuring some of Central Kentucky’s finest groove merchants. Driftwood Gypsy headlines with a serving of multi-generational funk and soul. Club Dub, still immersed the more psychedelic leanings of Jamaican dub rhythms, will open.

The Paul Thorn Band

8 p.m. May 2 at Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester St. $35.manchestermusichall.com

Flood with Love

2 p.m. May 4 at Manchester Music Hall. $25.

One of the top recommendations of Derby Eve offerings has to be swamp-voiced Mississippi roots rock raconteur Paul Thorn at Manchester Music Hall. The combination of genuine Southern charm, masterful storytelling prowess and expert rock ‘n’ roll performance attitude has made Thorn a champion artist for close to three decades.

That reputation is upheld with easy authority on his 2024 album, “Life is Just a Vapor.” The record is highlighted by “Geraldine & Ricky,” a wild saga of an evangelical ventriloquist (further enhanced by a wildly inventive animated music video) and “I Love You Like a Cigarette,” a world-class rocker of nicotine ravaged romance (“Every night I see you in my withdrawal dreams.”)

Manchester Music Hall will also be presenting a kind of day-long Derby afterparty for a great cause. The Sunday event brings together an extensive roster of Kentucky talent — specifically, Justin Wells, Magnolia Boulevard, Cam Clark and his Orchestra, Sydney Adams, Eric Bolander, Candi Jenkins, Kindred Valley, Dark Moon Hollow, Caleb Bailey and the Bottom Dollars and a “surprise special guest” for Flood with Love, a benefit for EKY Mutual Aid.

Despite the title, the event is not specific to generating assistance following February’s widespread flood damage. Flood with Love has been gathering relief efforts for the past three years. Proceeds for Sunday’s show will go to the EKY Mutual Aid group Hillbillies Helping Hillbillies.

Paul Giallorenzo Trio

7 p.m. May 1 at the Singletary Center for the Arts, 405 Rose St. (President’s Room). Free. outsidethespotlight.org.

Lexington Philharmonic

7:30 p.m. May 2 at the Singletary Center for the Arts (Concert Hall). $28-$78 (public), $11 (youth and students). lexphil.org.

What else comes with Kentucky Derby week in Lexington? Why, the end of the spring semester (and the academic year) at the University of Kentucky. The last day of classes is April 30, but that isn’t halting activity at UK’s Singletary Center for the Arts. It will be hosting two programs of different styles and sizes leading up to Derby.

The longstanding Outside the Spotlight Series of jazz and improvised music performances heads to the intimate listening confines of the President’s Room for the Paul Giallorenzo Trio. The Chicago-based Giallorenzo, one of the few pianists to play the series, will be backed by drummer Mikel Avery and a veteran of several OTS shows, bassist Jason Roebke. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

Then on Derby Eve, the Lexington Philharmonic takes to the Singletary Concert Hall for the concluding concert of its third season with Mélisse Brunet as conductor/music director. The program will feature Hector Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival Overture,” Tan Dun’s “Wolf Totem” (featuring LexPhil principal bassist Rachel Martin as soloist) and, for the concert’s entire second half, Igor Stravinsky’s majestic “The Rite of Spring.”

No sooner does one concert season end then another begins: LexPhil will announce its 2025-26 season on May 7.

This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 4:55 AM.