Bourbon & Beyond 2018 Preview

We all know that Louisville is the home of the finest Bourbon, but it goes Beyond that with music, food, and more (including bourbon, of course), on Saturday & Sunday, September 22nd & 23rd:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd

Oak Stage Lenny Kravitz, 8:05 PM – 9:25 PM Lenny Kravitz brought back retro-rock in the nineties by aping Jimi Hendrix on Let Love Rule, and never really stopped, including four straight wins for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammy. He also dabbled in acting, such as in the Hunger Games trilogy, but comes to Bourbon & Beyond behind his latest, Raise Vibration.
Sheryl Crow, 5:55 PM – 6:55 PM You already know hit songstress Sheryl Crow (QRO photos outdoors). She’s mixed country, pop, and rock to become a Top 40 mainstay for far more years than most women in music are allowed. She’s racked up Grammy nominations & wins, appeared on everything from Cougar Town to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, worked with everyone from Michael Jackson to Kid Rock. She (QRO photos outdoors) comes to Bourbon & Beyond behind last year’s Be Myself.
Keb’ Mo’, 3:45 PM – 4:45 PM Four time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’ (QRO photos) is a living link back to the Delta Blues of the Mississippi River.
Joseph, 2:20 PM – 2:50 PM Sisters Allison, Meagan, and Natalie Closner form Portland’s Joseph (QRO photos) have been getting serious notice for their folk sound, including at festivals (QRO photos at a festival).
Also: Larkin Poe, 1:10 PM – 1:40 PM – QRO photos at a festival
Barrel Stage John Mayer, 9:30 PM – 10:50 PM Do you really need to be told who John Mayer (QRO live review) is? He became one of the top pop vocalists at the start of this century/millennium with such songs as “Your Body Is a Wonderland”, before shifting to a more blues-inspired sound. He (QRO photos) had some issues with the media and his superstar status before 2012’s Born and Raised (QRO review), but after recovering from vocal chord granuloma, he shifted to more country on 2013’s Paradise Valley (QRO review). He (QRO photos) also teamed up with former Grateful Dead musicians to make Dead and Company (QRO photos at a festival), and has even done comedy (like guest judging an episode of Roast Battle). Mayer comes to Bourbon & Beyond behind last year’s The Search of Everything.
David Byrne, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM If you like music, you like David Byrne (QRO photos). The lead Talking Head became the art-rock icon in the eighties behind amazing songs like “Psycho Killer”, “Once In a Lifetime”, “Burning Down the House”, “And She Was”, and so much more, like the classic live full concert movie/album, Stop Making Sense. Since The Heads, he’s become the most recognized & influential art-rock artist since David Bowie, teaming up with everyone from Brian Eno to St. Vincent (QRO photos at a festival with St. Vincent), with 2012’s Love This Ghost (QRO review), but this year has come out solo on American Utopia (QRO review). And his live show features a massive, all-dancing (including drummers) ensemble (QRO photos at a festival).
Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot!, 4:50 PM – 5:50 PM There was a big fifties revival in the eighties (think Back To the Future), including with rockabilly, most notably in The Stray Cats. Main Cat Brian Setzer then revitalized his career in the nineties fronting the Brian Setzer Orchestra (QRO photos), winning Grammys and appearing on the rock ‘n’ roll episode of The Simpsons. He comes to Bourbon & Beyond with his Rockabilly Riot!.
JJ Grey & Mofro, 2:55 PM – 3:40 PM A mix of nearly every strain of American music, JJ Grey & Mofro (QRO photos at a festival) take blues, rock, soul, funk, and much more into a jam festival favorite.
Also: Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers, 1:45 PM – 2:15 PM Swimming With Bears, 12:35 PM – 1:05 PM
Bluegrass Situation Stage Reignwolf, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Check out the wild, one-man action of Reignwolf (QRO photos at a festival).
Also: Billy Strings, 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM – QRO photos at a festival Phoebe Hunt & The Gatherers, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Lindsay Lou, 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, 12:45 PM – 1:30 PM

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd

Oak Stage Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, 7:50 PM – 9:05 PM Coming to Bourbon & Beyond is the legendary Robert Plant (QRO photos). While he’ll always be best known as the singer/frontman of Led Zeppelin, he’s also crafted a very successful solo career for over thirty years now, not to mention teams up ‘Page and Plant’ in the nineties (with Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page) and, more recently, with Alison Krauss in Raising Sand, 2011 Grammy winner for Album of the Year. And while he’ll always be best known for virtually giving birth to hard rock, his post-Zeppelin work has allowed him to venture into folk and blues, such as on 2010’s Band of Joy (QRO review) and subsequent tour (QRO live review) – and he comes to Bourbon & Beyond behind his latest outfit, the Sensational Space Shifters (QRO photos at a festival) and last year’s Carry Fire.
Gov’t Mule, 5:40 PM – 6:40 PM Many festival jam bands draw their lineage back to sixties hippie bands like The Grateful Dead, but few as directly as Gov’t Mule (QRO photos). Originally begun as a side-project to the reformed Allman Brothers Band in the early nineties, Gov’t Mule right at the cusp of breaking out on their own in 2000 when bassist Allen Woody died. But guitarist Warren Haynes and drummer Matt Abts recovered to become a festival mainstay, featuring a rotating cast of guest members and being guest members, like Haynes’ work in The Dead. They (QRO photos outdoors) come to Bourbon & Beyond (QRO photos at a festival) behind last year’s Revolution Come…Revolution Go.
Blackberry Smoke, 3:50 PM – 4:40 PM The Suthron rock of Atlanta’s Blackberry Smoke (QRO photos) brings a smoky berry flavor to Bourbon & Beyond.
Don Felder, 2:20 PM – 3:00 PM First drawn to music after seeing Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show, Don Felder worked with big sixties names like Crosby & Nash, before joining the Eagles. He wasn’t just on the massive, seminal hit Hotel California, he co-wrote its epic title track. He was part of the band’s 1980 dissolution and 1994 reformation (with film & television work in between, as well as 1983’s Airborne and “Never Surrender”), before being fired in 2001. That led to acrimonious lawsuits over the band’s profits and more. In 2012 he released his second solo record, Road to Forever, so expect a big catalogue at Bourbon & Beyond.
Del McCoury Band, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM The Del McCoury Band (QRO photos at a festival) has been in existence since 1967, but they’re anything but relics, having won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album just back in 2006 for The Company We Keep (after being nominated in 2004 for the prior It’s Just the Night).
Also: The Last Bandoleros, 11:50 AM – 12:20 PM – QRO photos
Barrel Stage Sting, 9:10 PM – 10:25 PM In Bourbon & Beyond’s roster of ‘musicians that need no introduction,’ no one is less needing than Sting (QRO photos). From his days fronting The Police to his storied solo career, this Knight of the British Empire (QRO photos) has given the world such seminal songs as “Every Breath You Take”, “Roxanne”, “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”, “Fields of Gold”, “Desert Rose”, and so many more. He’s done numerous soundtracks and acting roles, collaborated with everyone from Mary J. Blige to Dire Straits to most recently Shaggy (QRO photos with Paul Simon) – it’s a man well worthy of his one-word name.
Counting Crows, 6:45 PM – 7:45 PM In the alternative boom of the early nineties, Counting Crows (QRO photos) always leaned more to the adult contemporary side, but that didn’t stop much wondering over who “Mr. Jones” is. That hit single, and singer Adam Duritz’s trademark look (QRO photos), established them as a consistently successful act for a quarter-century (QRO photos).
Kaleo, 4:45 PM – 5:35 PM In music, Iceland is mostly known for its pioneering and experimental artists (and a number of great festivals on its own), but it’s also got a strong blues-rock scene, like Kaleo (QRO photos), who make it to Bourbon & Beyond.
Benjamin Booker, 3:05 PM – 3:45 PM The neo-garage of Benjamin Booker (QRO photos at a festival) isn’t that special, but has gotten him attention (QRO photos at a festival).
The Record Company, 1:35 PM – 2:15 PM There aren’t many acts that can pull off having a frontman playing seated slide guitar, but Los Angeles power trio The Record Company (QRO photos at a festival) manage it, as they come to Bourbon & Beyond. Also: The Magpie Salute, 12:25 PM – 12:55 PM
Bluegrass Situation Stage The Travelin’ McCourys, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – QRO photos at a festival Madisen Ward & The Mama Bear, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM River Whyless, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM – QRO photos at a festival Ben Sollee, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – QRO photos at a festival Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM

For festival website, go here: https://bourbonandbeyond.com/