Familiar acts return to Lexington
Charlie Crowe
9 p.m. Nov. 6, 7 at Copperheads, 2628 Richmond Rd. $5. (859) 335-5047.
ekoostik hookah
8 p.m. Nov. 6 at Cosmic Charlie's, 388 Woodland Ave. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. (859) 309-9499.
Homecoming might be stretching the term, but a pair of acts that logged more than a few hours in Lexington clubs will be back in town this weekend.
The first, guitarist Charlie Crowe, is a Central Kentucky native who played regularly with Doug Breeding and his own Charlie's Garage as far back as the '80s. Then the breaks came.
He joined the band of John Michael Montgomery shortly after the Nicholasville country star's hit-making career took off in the early '90s. Then the big gig hit: 12 years as co-guitarist with Brooks and Dunn, a run that put Crowe on Rupp Arena's stage numerous times. He also was featured in the makeshift band Ruckus that played in Elizabethtown, the film written and directed by his cousin Cameron Crowe and set in Kentucky.
Long based in Nashville, Crowe will perform benefit concerts for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on Friday and Saturday with bassist Scott McClease and drummer John Johnson at Copperheads.
Friday night also marks the return of the central Ohio jam-band favorite ekoostik hookah, which has played Lexington regularly since forming in 1991. More than a few of its performances were at the old Lynagh's Music Club on Woodland Avenue. The band will play the same room again this weekend, although the club is now the new Cosmic Charlie's.
After ekoostik hookah's performance year winds up in Columbus, Ohio, on New Year's Eve, it will take a few months off before settling into a short performance residency in Negril, Jamaica. Not a bad way to start the work year.
Soulful spanking
Feel like putting a little Sunday morning into your Thursday night? Then climb aboard the Salvation and Sin Tour with the acoustic roots, country and vaudeville troupe known as The Asylum Street Spankers.
The Austin, Texas, band has been playing gospel and spiritually inclined music as long it has been performing its more fringe-y material. It's just that it has never devoted an entire album to the former until now. Capitalizing on a performance credo of "it's not what you believe but how you sing it," Christina Marrs, Wammo and the rest of the Spankers testify by way of spirit-serving music from Blind Willie Johnson and the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, and traditional tunes including Each Day (sung with volcanic gusto by Marrs) and originals (Wammo's Volkswagen Thing).
If you're a fan of the Spankers' naughtier material, and Lord knows there is plenty of it, don't feel left out. The show will devote its first half to spiritually inclined fare, but during the second set, everyone gets booted out of heaven and back to earth (and maybe even a few steps below) with songs that you definitely won't be singing in church any time soon.
The Spankers will perform Thursday at Cosmic Charlie's, the new club in the old Lynagh's Music Club space, where the band made its Lexington debut 13 years ago. (8 p.m.; $15 in advance, $20 at the door; (859) 309-9499)
'WoodSongs' times 2
WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour will be doing double duty Monday. It will be moving its taping time ahead to 6:45 p.m. (be seated by 6:30 p.m.) at The Kentucky Theatre to accommodate back-to-back programs. One will feature acclaimed Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and West Coast cellist Natalie Haas. The other will be devoted entirely to Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductee Sam Bush. Tickets for the tapings are sold out, however. For those with reservations, the order of the tapings will not be decided until Monday. For info, call (859) 252-8888 or go to www.woodsongs.com.
This story was originally published November 5, 2009 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Familiar acts return to Lexington."