The Musical Box

Kenny Sears of the Time Jumpers.

Country and Western music will forever be known as the sound that raised heartbreak to an art form. It was a soundtrack readily suitable for taking a swig off a longneck before heading off into a sobbing spell.

Western swing, on the other hand, inhabits the opposite universe. It might just be the cheeriest sound in the cosmos. Song lyrics and story lines occasionally flirt with the blues. But when multiple fiddles, spry guitar and animated pedal steel collectively sweep alongside schooled but equally playful vocals, the effect is unavoidably stimulating.

In short, when Western swing sings, there is simply no way you can wind up in a bad mood.

“It won’t let you feel down at all, will it?” Kenny Sears asked.

And he should know. For nearly 15 years, the fiddler has been at the forefront of a troupe called The Time Jumpers, an after-hours sanctuary band where some of Nashville’s top pickers brush off the more contemporary and commercial demands of their 9-to-5 music careers for weekly performances centered around the Western swing popularized in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

But after two albums, both of which earned Grammy nominations, Sears decided it was time to prioritize the band and send it on the road. That’s no easy feat when your group is 11 members strong and includes a few celebs unaccustomed (but eager) to taking back seat roles in an ensemble that’s not exclusively their own.

“There’s so many of us and we’re all very busy with our own careers,” said Sears, who will lead The Time Jumpers in concert Tuesday night at the Lexington Opera House. “But it seems to be kind of shifting over a little bit now and looking like maybe The Time Jumpers project might end up being something a little bit more than fun and games.”

Among the celebs in the current Time Jumpers lineup are vocalist Dawn Sears (Kenny’s wife), steel guitar great Paul Franklin, bassist and frequent T Bone Burnett collaborator Dennis Crouch, and vocalist/guitarist/Riders in the Sky frontman Ranger Doug Green. There is a big leaguer, too: vocalist/guitarist and multiple Grammy winner Vince Gill.

“We’re fortunate enough to have, in my opinion, two of the greatest singers in the world in the band. I’m talking about Vince and Dawn. I think it just doesn’t get any better than that, vocal-wise. So I’m spoiled. I can’t imagine doing this without them.”

For Sears, Western swing has always been at hand. A Texas native, he grew up on a farm in southern Oklahoma and was surrounded by the swing sounds of Spade Cooley, Hank Penny and especially Bob Wills. Having received a full scholarship from North Texas State University, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music by 1975 and performed as a violinist with the Dallas Symphony. But the lure of the Western swing music he loved trumped classical instruction, so off Sears went to Nashville, to play in the Grand Ole Opry.

“We didn’t listen to classical music much in my family household,” he said. “I was looking for a fiddle teacher when I was a kid, and there weren’t any. So I ended up with a classical violin teacher. That’s how I got introduced to classical music. I learned to love that, too, along the way. I spent some time in the symphony and all that. But the real roots were always in Western swing and traditional country shuffles. That was always my first love.

“I couldn’t wait to get out of college and get to Nashville and start playing that kind of music. Fortunately, for me, I got here at a time when that music was still being played. I moved to Nashville in 1975, so my first job was with Faron Young. I got to work with Ray Price, Mel Tillis and lots of people that were still doing that music. So it was a wonderful thing for me.

“Then there were several years that went by when the styles changed. You know, I like the modern country music, but it just doesn’t touch my heart like traditional music. So when we had the idea to put together this band and play swing, it was like Christmas for me.”

Interest (and the Grammy nominations) for The Time Jumpers’ 2012 self-titled sophomore album prompted the current tour. Beyond that, Sears is confident that the band’s profile will continue to grow. There are obstacles, though. Dawn Sears is undergoing treatment for lung cancer (she still plans on performing with the band in Lexington). There also are  the careers of the other members to consider. But Sears said interest is strong enough to dictate that swing time for The Time Jumpers is far from over.

“I always wished for a career where I could play the music I love with people I admire and then grow old on the Grand Ole Opry. And for quite a while, I’ve gotten to do that. And then here comes along The Time Jumpers, and I just never even dreamed of that. This is just the best of the best.”

The Time Jumpers perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short St. Tickets are $45.50 and $55.50. Call 1-800-745-3000, (859) 233-3535, or go to Ticketmaster.com.

Sherrie Austin

She has championed country music tradition on two continents, secured TV stardom in Los Angeles and even landed a role on Broadway. So what is missing from the career of Sherrie Austin?

How about a crystal ball? Since her primary artistic vocation is songwriting, such a device might come in handy. Maybe then the Sydney, Australia, native would get advance word on what country celeb would be next in line to cut one of her songs.

So far, her track record has been impressive. Artists who have cut her material include George Strait (Where Have I Been All My Life), Blake Shelton (Good at Startin’ Fires) and Tim McGraw (Shotgun Rider). But forecasting how far any artist can go with her music is impossible. And if anyone thinks they can pinpoint a hit before it happens, Austin has some choice Aussie words for them.

“Anyone who says they know is, well… see, I’m Australian. I use a lot of curse words. So I’m thinking now, ‘How do I put this?’ People will want to tell you that they think they know. But they don’t know if it’s a hit. No one does.

“I write with a lot of artists, so you try to structure songs for them in a way that will get them played, that will offer them the most possible opportunities to be heard. So that’s a whole different kind of mindset than just sitting down and writing for yourself. But sometimes those end up being the commercial hits, too. So there is no real rhyme or reason to any of it.”

Austin had her own run at the charts. She chalked up a Top 20 hit in 2003 called Streets of Heaven. But the records and occasional performances she puts her name to (including the one she will give on Monday to close out for the current concert season at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville) are more stylistically spacious.

The songs on her most recent album, 2011’s indie-produced Circus Girl, open up into areas of folk, Americana and pop while her Monday show will present Austin in a trio format with guitarists Shane Hines and Will Rambeaux.

“I love doing the acoustic trio show. I did a lot of band performances through my recording career. But this is the most fun way of performing because you get to strip the songs down and then tell the stories behind them.

“You also tend to attract people with these kinds of shows who are real songwriter fans themselves. So the whole thing centers around listening crowds. It’s different from playing a honky tonk with a full band. That is one kind of experience. But this is my preferred way of performing.”

But Austin is equally versed in more elaborate stage productions. Between the success of Streets of Heaven and release of Circus Girl, she spent 18 months in New York performing on Broadway in the Johnny Cash tribute revue Ring of Fire.

“It was wonderful,” Austin said of the experience. “I grew up doing musical theatre. And I needed just a little break from Nashville at the time to go do something new. I met some people who said, ‘Hey, would you like to come do this?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’”

Ring of Fire was far from Austin’s first connection with Cash’s music. She opened Australian concerts for the Man in Black while still in her teens.

“I was only 14 at the time. So it was an opportunity I appreciate more the older I get. It becomes cooler with time. Johnny Cash was as huge a star in Australia as he was here. Those shows introduced me and kind of catapulted me to the next step of my career. They were a healthy part of bringing me to the United States.”

So was another show that had nothing to do with music. Austin auditioned for the ‘80s sitcom The Facts of Life while still in Sydney and eventually won the role of Pippa McKenna.

“I was very young and it was a very heavy experience,” she said. “But the show brought me to the United States. My whole family moved. It was kind of the beginning of my career in TV and film and put me in the right place at the right time.

“Being an entertainer is all I’ve ever done. I never did a regular job. I just always acted and sang and wrote. Now, I’m very much concentrating on writing. That seems to be where my heart really is. It’s all kind of tied together in a way. There’s a pattern running through it, but of course you don’t see it until you look back on it. But I’ve been very fortunate to have always been able to do what I love in my life.”

Sherrie Austin Trio performs at 7:30 p.m. May 6 at the Weisiger Theatre of the Norton Center for the Arts, 600 West Walnut St. in Danville. Tickets are $30. Call (877) 448-7469 or go to Nortoncenter.com.

ZZ Top: Dusty Hill, Billy F. Gibbons and Frank Beard

In the credits for every song on the new ZZ Top album La Futura — listed before everything, in fact, save for the title and running time — are these words: “Performed by Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard.”

If you are even a casual fan of this veteran Texas trio, the repetition of such info might seem an epic overstatement of the obvious. From its early 1970s beginnings as a champion roadhouse blues and boogie combo to its wildly unexpected reincarnation in the ’80s as bearded music video celebs to its present day title of elder Lone Star hipsters, the music and mystique of ZZ Top remain the creation of its founding three members. And if takes a gentle reminder in the credits to all of the La Futura songs, so be it.

For über-bearded guitarist and principal vocalist Gibbons, the mentions are like affirmations of the credo the band has long lived by: “Same three guys, same three chords.”

“Exactly,” Gibbons remarked during a recent email interview. “What you see is what you get, so we’re just keeping expectations in line with reality. The trio format, as espoused by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream, keeps things very elemental, basic and vital. That’s been our corner since the beginning.”

At the heart of the elemental sound has always been the blues. The boogie charge of La Grange and the synth-drive rhythms of Legs might have guided ZZ Top through separate waves of stardom during the ’70s and ’80s, but underneath it all has been a lean and powerfully emotive guitar sound rooted in the blues. Gibbons was witness to the sound while growing up in Houston by way of performance exposure to the blues’ most prestigious ambassadors. Deciding which of those inspirations played the most pivotal role in shaping his own guitar abilities, Gibbons said, is a mighty task

“Hard to pick just one. But if I had to, I guess it would be B.B. King. I got to see him record when I was a youngster — maybe seven years old. My dad had an ‘in’ at the studio in Houston where B.B. and company preferred to record. That experience made a tremendous impression on me and, obviously, it’s stayed on all these years.”B.B. King is now in year 63 or 64 of his career, and I’ve only been at it for maybe 45 years, so there’s a whole lot of catching up to do.”

But along with the blues came a kind of Texan/Mexicali mystique that has come to underscore the band’s image. Some of it is reflected in its appearance — specifically, the sunglasses and majestic facial hair Gibbons and bassist Hill have sported for 34 of the band’s 44-year history. Ironically, drummer Beard is the only member without the waist-length whiskers. The mystique also permeates the music — from the swagger of hits like Cheap Sunglasses and Sharp Dressed Man to the deliciously twisted twang in such overlooked gems as the title tunes to 1996′s Rhythmeen and 2003′s Mescalero albums.

“We have a long standing familiarity with the border and the denizens who live on it and below it,” Gibbons said. “All three of us listened to those powerhouse million-watt AM radio stations that blasted the blues out of Mexico directly into our brains. And of course without las comidas Mexicanas (Mexican food), we’d waste away. Muy sabroso (very tasty).”

But the key to ZZ Top’s remarkable staying power is something much simpler. The band is nearly halfway through its fifth decade without a personnel change, thanks to a chemistry that has become as resilient as the music.

“This is a band that simply likes to play together,” Gibbons said. “Of course, standing as a trio, an odd number helps as there can’t be any ties when a group decision is made. So, if one of us isn’t in accord with the other two, odd man out just goes with the flow. And, since it’s so in fashion to ‘break up’ and then ‘get back together,’ one can think of ZZ Top as being on an infinite tour that just skipped the part where you split. However, we’re really good at getting back together.”

ZZ Top’s visibility also has provided Gibbons with a few side projects, including a recurring role in the TV series Bones, in which he essentially plays himself (“The cast and crew are like an extended family. Gets me out of work for a day, too. Rock on.”) and a recent reunion with his psychedelic pre-ZZ band, Moving Sidewalks (“Going back and experiencing what went down at 16 or 17 years old is a huge kick”).

But life on the road, playing La Grange, Give Me All Your Lovin’ and newer works from the Rick Rubin- produced La Futura is what Gibbons’ performance world orbits around. By all appearances, onstage and off, the ride seems to be as cool as ever.

“It’s a dream job to get out there and play La Grange every night, singing ‘haw, haw, haw,’” Gibbons says. “Don’t get much better.”

ZZ Top performs at 7:30 tonight at the EKU Center for the Arts, 521 Lancaster Ave. in Richmond. Tickets are $63.50-$93.50. Call (859) 622-7469 or go to http://ekucenter.com.

Justin Townes Earle

Touring artists often measure success in modest but practical terms.

The first reward, of course, is the work itself – preferably, a quantity sufficient enough to allow for touring in the first place. But once the work starts coming in and an artistic identity (and popularity) is present, the focus reverts to less glamorous rewards, like the means of transportations that keep a tour in very literal motion.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               established,the

Take Justin Townes Earle. Since 2007, he has released five recordings of original songs that have increasingly fortified his musical identity among Americana audiences. That’s no meager feat, either, considering his father is the veteran songsmith Steve Earle.

But as he hits the road this spring, the younger Earle is a happy man. Is it because his road band includes longtime Calexico guitarist Paul Niehaus? Could it be the Memphis soul-saturated songs from Earle’s 2012 album Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now?

Well, the answer is partially yes in both cases. But Earle is also a chipper touring performer these days because the mounting success of his career has made him a higher class of road warrior.

In short, he now has a tour bus.

“Let me tell you, it was definitely a big change the day I went from driving the van most of the time to sitting on a bed in the back of the bus,” Earle said. “So we’re pretty comfortable these days. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Not a big deal, you say? Well, they sure beat the car trips Earle took to Lexington to play the long-defunct Lynagh’s Music Club more than a decade ago as a complete unknown to play alongside bluesmen Frank Schapp and the late Joey Broughman.

Ttimes have very much changed. An indie EP titled Yuma introduced Earle’s haunting country sound in 2007. The Good Life, which echoed more than a little of the swing and tenacity of giants like Hank Williams without ever sounding imitative, followed in 2008.

Then the grunt work started. The Good Life began a string of increasingly arresting albums for the Chicago indie label Bloodshot. Blues, Americana and severe rural folk inspirations took their places in Earle’s songs. But by the time Nothing’s Gonna Change came along, brassy Memphis soul was providing balance to Earle’s starker, darker songs.

“My songs are just kind of inspired by everyday life and everyday emotion,” Earle said. “It’s everywhere. I always carry around a little note pad. But on the songs I’ve been writing recently, I’ve been making a real effort to sit down to write – just as a practice. Before, I’ve been kind of a cocktail napkin writer for most of my life.

“I definitely had an idea of how I wanted the last record to sound. I’m way too controlling to not have an idea. When I’m writing, I start hearing production and other stuff. Plus, I’m good at surrounding myself with great people. As an untrained musician, I can get a little raw, a little off. So you’ve got to have people around you that kind of pull you back a little, because they’re often out in front where everyone can still see you. And that makes an incredible difference. Any artist that thinks their every idea is brilliant is a (expletive) jackass.”

Perhaps the inevitable and most unavoidable question in surveying Earle’s songs surrounds the inspiration of his father. How big a role does Steve Earle play on a Justin Townes Earle record? The answer is little if any. You certainly don’t hear it within the soul and blues influences that play out on Nothing’s Gonna Change, even though dad is referenced specifically as the lyrics unfold during the album opening Am I That Lonely Tonight?

But advice that father Earle, and other Texas-bred songwriters, offered did help shape the younger Earle’s writing.

“My father told me a few things about songwriting that stuck with me. He would say, ‘Stay honest’ and ‘Don’t write anything you don’t know.’ I really remember him and (veteran Lone Star songwriter) Guy Clark telling me, ‘When you write a song, make sure you want to play it for the next 30 years. You never know what will happen.’”

What will happen in the immediate future will be the recording of another album, which Earle said will probably expound on the soul charge of Nothing’s Gonna Change, with possible nods to the styles of Ray Charles and Ike Turner. The plan is have the record done and released by next winter. But he also doesn’t plan on rushing himself. The songs, he said, will surface in their own good time.

“Right now I’m in a good space. Mostly, for the past six years I’ve been in a good space to build. Plus, I’m only 31. So it’s a good time for me to be out working and doing all these things. But I still have a lot of songs in me. I don’t force them to come out.”

Justin Townes Earle with The Rooster’s Crow perform at 9 tonight at Buster’s Billiards and Backroom, 899 Manchester St. Tickets are $20. Call (859) 368-8871 or go to  Bustersbb.com.

Jeremy Kittel

In describing the intent and the design of his string music, Jeremy Kittel quickly offers a familiar idiom: “God is in the details.”

But in perusing the full scope of the Brooklyn-based violinist’s work life – a career that has him shuffling duties as an arranger, collaborator and all-around musical architect – it becomes clear that it is in establishing detail and exactness that he thrives.

It could be through the string arrangements that Kittel penned for My Morning Jacket’s 2001 album, Circuital; the five years he spent with San Francisco’s groundbreaking Turtle Island String Quartet; or the instructional work he engages in with clinics around the country.

The impetus, though, remains the music itself: a fluid string sound that combines elements of Celtic lyricism, chamber-like ambience, bluegrass construction and jazz phrasing. Tonight, Kittel puts his band’s name on just such a hybrid for a performance at Danville’s Norton Center for the Arts.

“On one hand, there is the beauty of the genre, of when a community has made their sound so rich and so full of detail,” Kittel said. “I really love that kind of an idea. Every detail that makes up the genre or a style is so wonderful. But then on the other hand, everything is changing so fast. We have so-called traditional bluegrass now. This is music that is not even 100 years old. You’ve also got all these styles of traditional jazz and rock and different periods of classical music. It’s great to have all the variety and all the different ways of expressing music.

“But what is really cool is that we’re human still. I feel that there are universal threads that run through all this stuff that we like, that we respond to. It’s a real interesting process.”

The string music amalgamation that reached a zenith on Kittel’s 2010 album Chasing Sparks followed paths forged by such master fiddlers as Mark O’Connor and Darol Anger – stringmen rooted in bluegrass that unlocked jazz-like possibilities within their playing and soloing  as well as classical contexts for their compositions.

There were very specific links, as well. Kittel has served as an instructor at O’Connor’s fiddle camps in Nashville and San Diego. Similarly, Kittel’s work with Turtle Island String Quartet ties him to Anger, who co-founded the ensemble in 1985.

“I had a lot of fun with Mark,” Kittel said. “Aside from teaching at his camps for a bunch of years, I went on tour with him. It was the first bus tour I ever did. It was called The American String Celebration. We had, like, eight or nine string players and a rhythm section. It was really cool.

“They say whoever you’re around kind of rubs off on you. Maybe a tiny percentage of Mark’s facility on the violin rubbed off. But what’s been really great is getting to know all these guys who have been heroes of mine. And you always have new heroes, too, as you’re growing and learning and changing. But, Darol and Mark… these are just super creative, very risk-taking, adventurous people who have really blazed their own trails. So what they have done gives me courage.”

Chasing Sparks was also something of an all-star affair with Kittel playing alongside such genre-hopping string players as bassist Edgar Meyer, mandolinists Mike Marshall and Chris Thile, cellist Natalie Haas and violinist/sister Brittany Haas. His Danville performance will maintain the sense of adventure but will shift the personnel and instrumentation. Backing him will be bandmates Nathaniel Smith on cello, Josh Pinkham on mandolin and Simon Chrisman on hammered dulcimer.

“It is really an honor to have a band that is this individually interesting and talented.

Nathaniel is a real groove player. Simon has really invented his own style, this kind of space age hammer dulcimer sound. And then Josh is this awesome player from Florida. His first musical journey was learning all the exact drum parts on a Guns N’ Roses album. He started playing mandolin after that.”

“One part of me is just so happy to be making music and getting to work with artists I respect. That’s probably the most important thing in my career versus vast recognition or something like that. But at the same time, I also love having my own band and connecting with audiences.

“So in that sense, the bread, is always buttered.”

The Jeremy Kittel Band performs at 7:30 tonight at the Weisiger Theatre at the Norton Center for the Arts, 600 West Walnut St. in Danville. Tickets are $30. Call (877) 448-7469 or go to www.nortoncenter.com.

It’s easy to view Record Store Day as just another commercial ploy, a glorified means of using a level of sentimentality that borders on scare tactics to camouflage what is really another act of commerce.

But interest in the event in many cities, including Lexington, has grown into daylong celebrations fortified by live music. After all, record stores and live performance are the building blocks of any music community. So when one of those components finds itself on the endangered species list of artistic resources, it sometimes takes a blatantly commercial ploy to help save the day.

What prompted Record Store Day? Some might say nostalgia for the days when record stores were daytime hubbubs for music lovers, a place to mull over the latest new releases and undoubtedly debate with others which recordings were cool and which weren’t.

Record stores also were home bases for the cultish strongholds that continued to champion vinyl recordings as the format began to dwindle at the end of the ’80s. Curiously, vinyl has mounted a hearty comeback in recent years. In fact, even as revenue from compact discs continued to nosedive, sales of vinyl recordings have increased over the past year.

But Record Store Day goes beyond all that. I could happily bore you until next week about the role record stores played in younger years. But the event has taken on new importance of late. The digital age of music has provided us unimagined convenience in accessing and distributing music. But that accessibility has grossly devalued recorded music. Illegal downloading and file sharing might have destroyed the grossly corroded music industries of decades past. But they also have made it next to impossible for indie bands of any level to collect much in hard profit from their work. Sure, they can sell CDs at their gigs. Most acts do. But reclaiming any serious royalty compensation from online sales and services – even the legal ones – is often a lost cause.

So if it takes a purely commercial venture like Record Store Day to remind us of recorded music’s artistic worth, so be it.

Besides, look at what fun Record Store Day has become. Among the artists releasing exclusive recordings on Saturday will be The Avett Brothers with Randy Travis, Marco Benevento, The Black Keys, David Bowie, Billy Bragg, Eric Church, Elizabeth Cool, Mike Cooley, Bob Dylan, Justin Townes Earle, Alejandro Escovedo, The Flaming Lips, The Grateful Dead, Patty Griffin, Grizzly Bear, Iron and Wine, King Crimson, Tift Merritt, Mumford & Sons, Willie Nelson, Ra Ra Riot, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, The Roots, Josh Rouse, Sigur Ros, Richard Thompson, Paul Weller and Steven Wilson.

At CD Central, which will open an hour earlier than usual, Record Store Day comes with a full lineup of free live music from Lexington and beyond. Here’s the lineup: Italian Beaches (1 p.m.); 193 Sound showcase featuring Birmingham, Ala., visual artist/musician Lonnie Holley (2 pm), Fifth on the Floor (3 p.m.) and Blood Pheasant (4 p.m.).

Over at Pops Resale on Leestown Rd, Shozo will perform.

For more information on the kind of local, global and cultural event Record Store Day has become, go to Recordstoreday.com.

Record Store Day will be celebrated today starting at 9 a.m. at CD Central, 377 South Limestone, and 11 a.m. at Pop’s Resale, 1423 Leestown Rd.

The Engines: Tim Daisy, Dave Rempis, Nate McBride, Jeb Bishop

Often the best and most fruitful of artistic collaborations are the least exclusive.

Take, for instance, the musicians making up the free jazz and improvisational music communities in Chicago – artists who have become frequent performance guests in Lexington over the past decade with the Outside the Spotlight concert series. These are players who regularly cross-pollinate one another’s touring and recording projects.

Building on that work philosophy is a quartet called The Engines. The group – saxophonist Dave Rempis, drummer Tim Daisy, trombonist Jeb Bishop and bassist Nate McBride – have played Lexington for OTS in more than a dozen group configurations. But on its newest recording, Other Violets, The Engines enlisted a collaborator from another jazz generation – Danish saxophonist John Tchicai.

“I’ve been really lucky to play with some fantastic musicians over the years,” said Rempis, who will return to Lexington with The Engines for a concert tonight at Mecca (with bassist Kent Kessler substituting for McBride). “I think John was really of the legend status in a lot of ways. The thing that was most striking about working with him was he was somebody who had all these great credentials under his belt, but he was working his entire life as a musician. He was out touring with a lot of different people. He was playing the same clubs that all of the musicians I know were playing. He’s staying with his fellow musicians and not in some 4-star hotel. He was just somebody who worked his whole life as a musician and was very open and very interested in contributing to his own artistic development by working with other people.”

A veteran of recordings with Albert Ayler (1964’s New York Eye and Ear Control) and John Coltrane (1965’s Ascension), Tchicai teamed with The Engines in 2011 for an evening at The Hungry Brain, one of Chicago’s more established performance homes for improvisational music. Other Violets is a recorded document of that concert.

But there is a bittersweet catch to the project. Tchicai died in October after suffering a brain hemorrhage in June. He was 76.

“For me, John was very influential,” Rempis said. “And not just in his playing, but also as an artist with this really unique voice. I have an immense amount of respect for him. So it was really a pleasure to get a chance to work together.”

Indicative of the teamwork between Tchicai and The Engines is a 20-minute suite on Other Violets that piggybacks Tchicai’s song Cool Copy with Bishop’s more fractured Looking. It begins with spacious, unison lines between Tchicai and Rempis and a sense of swing that rapidly deflates. But even as the exchanges dissolve into free improvisation, the resulting music is never hurried. Such a pace, Rempis suggested, just wasn’t part of Tchicai’s style.

“I think part of that is John’s influence. The warmth and beauty of his sound were some of the most striking things about his playing. In the times I heard him, he was somebody who never felt rushed. In a lot of ways, he’s kind of like a free jazz-era version of Lester Young, who established a completely different conception of how to play saxophone with the existing paradigm at the time. I think John, in a lot of ways, really filled that role for a later generation.

“Working with him felt very natural. John was like a band member, not a special guest.”

Rempis is open about the almost mentoring influence of Tchicai, but one can only assume that Tchicai was equally inspired by the drive and enthusiasm he found in the many young players he collaborated with.

“I’d love to think that’s true. I would also think part of the reason he continued doing these collaborations throughout his career was that he did find new inspiration and new thoughts in the music. I think that’s something that happens with a lot of established musicians. A lot of times they end up working with younger musicians because of the energy and life they bring to the music, as well as all the new ideas.”

The Engines perform at 8 tonight at Mecca Dance Studio, 948 Manchester St. Admission is $5.

Exile, from left: Steve Goetzman, Les Taylor, Sonny Lemaire, Marlon Hargis and J.P. Penington.

The history was there – all five decades’ worth. So was the notoriety – specifically a monster, nationwide pop hit from 1978 and a string of nine consecutive No. 1 country singles that defined their music during the ‘80s.

There was, in short, every reason imaginable for Exile’s induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. But as the long-running Central Kentucky band, now back to the lineup that made it one of country music’s most prominent acts, wasn’t about to lobby.

“We’ve discussed it over the years since the Hall came into being, and wondered if we would ever have a chance of getting in” said Exile founder, singer, guitarist and songwriter J.P. Pennington. “But we were the last guys that were going to contact anybody and say, ‘Hey, we’ve done this, we’ve done that. Can you put us in?’”

“But we found out last summer we were going to be inducted. That was quite a moment for us. We were actually in our manager’s office in Nashville. (Kentucky Music Hall of Fame executive director) Robert Lawson was in town and he wanted to stop by to ‘discuss another matter’ with us. That’s when he told us. He just dropped it right on us. We were excited beyond belief.”

Turns out Lawson had stopped by the Glasgow area enroute to Nashville to tell the Kentucky HeadHunters the same thing. The fact they will be inducted into the Hall of Fame the same night as Exile delights Pennington.

“We were doubly excited when we heard that the Headhunters were going to be put in, too. Those guys have been friends of ours for so many years.

“Years and years ago, we used to do little local gigs together in and around Kentucky. I remember vividly a band that those guys were in called Itchy Brother (a predecessor to the HeadHunters). We used to play all these gigs together. We’ve had a mutual admiration society for a long time.”

Although formed in Richmond as The Exiles in 1963, the group rose to national prominence during the summer of 1978 with a massive No. 1 hit called Kiss You All Over. Coincidentally, as Exile enters the Hall of Fame, the song is getting a second life. For his forthcoming album, country star Trace Adkins teamed with Exile’s popular ’80s lineup – Pennington, singer/guitarist Les Taylor, bassist/singer Sonny LeMaire keyboardist Marlon Hargis and drummer Steve Goetzman – to recut Kiss You All Over. It’s too soon to know if the new version will be issued as a single, but Pennington is thrilled that a new generation is getting introduced to Exile’s musical past.

“That song seems to resonate with them, especially with younger audiences,” Pennington said. “I can see it. I try to watch for it because I’m always interested in what young people think about music. They know the song, right along with the older fans. They’re right in there cheering. So, who knows? I feel like Trace’s audience might really like it.”

Even if the tune hits again, don’t expect Exile to duplicate the exhaustive touring schedule of past years. At the height of the group’s ’80s popularity, it played in excess of 230 dates a year. Today, it handles about 70.

“But it’s more fun for me now that it ever was,” Pennington said. “I think it’s the comfort factor. We’re all approaching our mid-60s now, so we don’t take ourselves so seriously these days. We’re human. Believe me, we’re very human.”

The 2013 Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will held at 6 p.m. Friday at the Lexington Convention Center. The event is sold out.

Today’s Meat Puppets: Cris Kirkwood, Shandom Sahm and Curt Kirkwood. Photo by Jamie Butler.

Throughout their 30-plus year history, the Meat Puppets have taken great delight in throwing stylistic curveballs.

Born at the height of pop’s New Wave movement during the early ’80s, the trio would shift course from ribald punk to folkish psychedelia to all manner of combo sounds that sprouted.

Sometimes the turns came between albums, such as the way 1985’s Up on the Sun (arguably the best of its early works) served up jangly, Byrds-like pop as a follow-up to the psychedelic meltdown of 1984’s Meat Puppets II. That record, in turn, was a diversion from the punk onslaught of the band’s self-titled 1982 debut. In other instances, styles would leapfrog within songs.

It was a stylistic course so jagged and unpredictable that one couldn’t help but view singer/guitarist/songwriter Curt Kirkwood and his bassist brother Cris Kirkwood as restless journeymen in a booming indie pop generation.

Today – three decades, a dozen albums and two breakups (and subsequent reunions) later – Curt Kirkwood revealed that the genre-hopping punk imperative of the Meat Puppets isn’t that calculated at all. In fact, with a new album, Rat Farm, due out next week and a concert stop at Cosmic Charlie’s on tap for Wednesday, he said the band’s music – from songwriting to recordings to the sustained drive that continues to fuel its live shows – is a blend of instinct and immediacy.

“Yeah, that’s the way it goes for us,” he said. “It’s always been that way. We never really plan too much. That’s part of the cool thing about making a record to me. I mean, I’m not way into being in the studio. I like recording, but I’m not the kind of guy who likes to get hunkered down in there for too long. It’s gets to be a little bit strange. You start picking at stuff. I like to go in and then sort of see what you get. That’s a big part of the fun.”

That’s exactly what happened when the Kirkwood brothers began work on Rat Farm. Out went the comparative spit and polish of 2011’s Lollipop. In came the trippy pop of Leave Your Head Alone (which could pass as an outtake of 1967-era Pink Floyd were it not for the modest country inflection in the vocals), the Up on the Sun-savvy Time and Money and the trio rumble and pop undertow of Rat Farm’s title tune.

“I’m kind of getting my head around the record now,” Curt Kirkwood said. “I wrote a lot of it in the studio, so I just kind of let it go. Now I’m trying to learn it. A song or two a night, we’re incorporating it into the set. But, yeah, I think it’s pretty cool.

“One of the things we did was set up in the studio and played the basic tracks as a band and tried to get a sense of playing live in the way we recorded. We went for an analog sound that capitalized on what the band has going for it. We wanted Rat Farm to sound less like a studio project, which we’ve done quite a bit of recently – like with Lollipop. That was really a studio album.”

The Kirkwoods have two key allies in bringing the music of Rat Farm to life. The record’s trio sound is fleshed out by drummer Shandom Sahm, who has been a Meat Puppet, on and off, since the late ’90s. The son of the famed Texas musician Doug Sahm, the drummer has proven a vital addition to the Kirkwoods’ wayward post-punk sounds.

“Shandom plays hard,” Curt Kirkwood said. “He likes to be real deliberate. His playing is kind of simple, too. He likes to get things down to the essence. I may show him chord changes, and then if I’ve got a particular beat in mind, he’ll play that. But a lot of times we will see what he can come up with. Shandom can play just about anything. But, primarily, I like to keep things simple – drum-wise, too.”

The other contributor is another Kirkwood: Curt’s son, Elmo Kirkwood. Although not featured on Rat Farm, he will flesh out the current Meat Puppets lineup as a quartet when they play Lexington this week.

“He’s got a magical approach to music,” Curt Kirkwood said of his son. “He’s really got his own thing going on. He’s been around the band a lot and grew up with it, so he knows what it’s supposed to be like. But he can also bring in a lot of his influences, which are different than ours. I pretty much let Elmo do what he wants.

“That’s how it was with me. I knew when I started to play music as a teenager that that’s what I wanted to do. I knew that much. And nothing has come up since then that has made me feel otherwise.”

Meat Puppets perform at 10 p.m. Wednesday at Cosmic Charlie’s, 388 Woodland Ave. Tickets are $12. Call (859) 309-9499 or go to Cosmic-charlies.com.

The Trio de Pumpkintown: Tim Eriksen, Zoe Darrow and Peter Irvine.

In searching for the sounds and inspirations that define their work, many musical stylists revert to their roots – specifically, to the hometowns that served as literal as well as figurative starting points for their careers.

Tim Eriksen did exactly that for his new album, Josh Billings Voyage. But instead of retreating to a home village, he invented one.

The town he devised is called Pumpkintown. It possesses all the traditional intimacy of a New England community, which shouldn’t come as surprise given that the multi-instrumentalist and composer hails from Northampton, Mass. Similarity, the multicultural music emanating from Josh Billings Voyage – and, seemingly, Pumpkintown – should be equally expected. Eriksen is a musicologist versed in everything from sacred harp singing to the construction of generations-old ballads and dance tunes. Among his credits is participation in the T Bone Burnett-produced Cold Mountain soundtrack and the subsequent Great High Mountain Tour, which played Rupp Arena in 2004.

But what is this Pumpkintown? If Josh Billings Voyage is an indication, it exists as a melting pot where Celtic, German, African, Native American influences (and more) mingle. It might or might not be a product of New England, but Eriksen, percussionist Peter Irvine and fiddler Zoe Darrow – who collectively tour as the Trio de Pumpkintown – will bring the community’s stylistically expansive sound to Willie’s Locally Known on Friday night.

“It’s been really gratifying to see the audience response to a very personal take on traditional music based on this fictional village,” Eriksen said. “It’s kind of funny. In some ways, it seems that when Americans want to tell the truth, they have go to a fictional place, like Ichabod Crane or some other fictional character in American history. When we want to tell the truth, we go to this kind of imaginary village which is both New England and maybe an imaginary Southern village as well. I think they are united in this sense of an American village that doesn’t really exist but at the same time tells some truths that we can all relate to.

“I just decided – intuitively, I guess – that I wanted to be open to any kind of possible influence recognizing our country. But I wanted it to be in this fictional village – something that could be grounded in cultural fact, psychological fact and historical fact. So this village, Pumpkintown, which provides most of the music that is the basis of our repertoire, has a very deep multi-cultural background, from the kind of Anglo-Celtic-German-Native American-African context of its origin to more recent developments due to immigration from all over the world. It’s kind of a place like all of our villages, really. It has become so multi-dimensional. At the same time, it has this deep sense of history. But even at its very roots, it was multi-cultural before there was that term. The stuff that we all listen to, be it pop music, country or whatever, it’s all coming from a bunch of different sources.”

Perhaps the essential reason for a made-up land like Pumpkintown was to provide a means to represent and communicate the traditions of music that have continually fascinated Eriksen in a present-day context.

“Even in the work of trying to encourage traditional music, there is always this engagement with what’s happening now and with what people are thinking now. So all of this kind of experimental music I’m doing and the questioning I’m doing very much feeds into my interest and encouragement of traditional music-making.

“Everybody wants to be making music that’s alive even if their interest is in historical music. They want to be part of something that’s really happening. I think for people of all musical interests, there are elements of experimentation and exploration as well as elements of remembrance, learning and reverence for prior forms. It always has to make sense right now.”

Tim Eriksen and the Trio de Pumpkintown performs:

+ 12 noon April 11 at the Niles Gallery of the University of Kentucky’s Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center. Admission is free.

+ 7 p.m. April 11, also at the Niles Gallery, for a shape note singing workshop. Admission is free.

+ 7 pm April 12 at Willie’s Locally Known, 805 N. Broadway with Ami Saraiya. Tickets are $10. Call (859) 281-1116 or go to Willieslex.com.