Louisville's premier showcase for fabulous, off-the-wall and just plain unknown musical acts, the Lonesome Pine Specials, has announced its schedule for the summer.
Director Dick Van Kleeck and his staff have once again assembled a collection of performers not normally found in one series outside of one of the 'major' music centers. As usual, Van Kleeck is enthusiastic about the entire assemblage and declines to select a favorite group, other than to note that the fiddle plays a large role in the overall array of music.
Here are the particulars:
The Bonedaddys, from Los Angeles, play a mix of salsa, funk, Caribbean, rock, soca, blues, polka and reggae. Their most recent album, Worldbeatniks, got lots of praise. They will take the stage of the Bomhard on July 23. Tickets are $10.
If you like klezmer music, then sign up to see Finjan. Klezmer music combines Yiddish tunes with such Eastern European folk traditions as Hungarian, Ukrainian, Romanian and Greek.
The group has been on the Lonesome Pine stage before but last year's appearance was in the midst of a very crowded schedule and was somewhat overlooked by audiences. Finjan is scheduled for July 24 and tickets are $10.
And speaking of folk traditions, country music's Kathy Mattea will team up with Scottish folk traditionalist Dougie MacLean. MacLean will play the guitar, bouzouki and the didgeridoo, that Australian aborigine instrument that nearly mimics the mating call of cicadas.
Mattea will sing her hit songs, of course. The pair are scheduled for July 24; tickets are $13.50.
On July 26, Alison Krauss and Laurie Lewis, together with their respective bands, Union Station and Grant Street, will split a show. These two bluegrass fiddlers will each have a set with their bands, after which they will go one on one in a fiddle jam. Tickets are $10.
The July 27 show is the real oddball – the One-Man Band Extravaganza. Six one-person bands will entertain. One of the performers is a woman.
For a finale they'll all get on the stage. How can you miss it? $10 will get you in.
On July 30, bassists and their "Bass Instincts" will take command of the stage, with Ray Brown, Edgar Meyer and Victor Wooten and Friends appearing.
Brown has played with such legends as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Ella Fitzgerald. Meyer has been working steadily in a variety of styles. Wooten is a member of Bela Fleck's Flecktones and was last in town with Jonell Mosser at the Air Devils Inn.
A real bottom-end boom. Tickets are $10.
Fiddler Mark O'Connor, a familiar figure in Louisville, will play with the Nashville Cats. This time, the Cats will be John Cowan, former bassist with New Grass Revival, jazz pianist Matt Rollings; guitarist/singer Steve Wariner and Victor Wooten. This show is set for July 31; tickets are $13.50.
The next night, August 1, Wariner will have his own spot. Wariner, who has had such hits as "Some Fools Never Learn," and "Life's Highway," is a fine singer and one of the Music City's best guitarists. Tickets are $12.50.
On August 2, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will take the stage, with an added guest: saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Victor Wooten will, of course, be there as well as his percussionist brother Ray. Anyone who caught the Flecktones at the Main Street stage during MusicFest last year will order tickets NOW. $13.50 will get you in.
The closer on Saturday, August 3 will feature EDLOS, the a cappella quartet from another galaxy, or so their PR asserts. They will be assisted by distinguished musicologist and large animal veterinarian Professor Sylvester Appassionato, aka actor Gary Bauman. Only EDLOS and Dick Van Kleeck know what sort of a show this will be.
For tickets, call or visit the Kentucky Center for the Arts ticket office, (502)-584-7777, or, toll free, (800) 283-7777.