Previously Unreleased 1990 Concert Captures the Kentucky Headhunters at Their Crowd-Pleasin', Fun-Lovin', Grammy-Winnin', Platinum-Sellin', Southern Rockin' Best

Previously Unreleased 1990 Concert Captures the Kentucky Headhunters at Their Crowd-Pleasin', Fun-Lovin', Grammy-Winnin', Platinum-Sellin', Southern Rockin' Best

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- With their 1989 debut album, Pickin' On Nashville, the Kentucky Headhunters bucked the fashion of slick, homogenized, country pop and laid down a loose and rowdy, working class Southern rock that won fans around the world. On the 20th anniversary of Pickin' On Nashville, the Authorized Bootleg series premieres The Kentucky Headhunters Live/Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, Ohio - May 13, 1990 (Mercury/UMe), to be released on September 22, 2009. Singer and rhythm guitarist Richard Young says, "People have been waiting 20 years for us to put out a live record. This is one of our favorite nights early on; we were definitely hitting on all eight cylinders."

Not only did Pickin' On Nashville reach #2 and remain on the Country charts for 147 weeks (nearly 3 years), go double platinum and spin off four Top 40 Country hits--a cover of Bill Monroe's "Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine," "Dumas Walker," "Rock 'n' Roll Angel" and a Top 10 cover of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me"--but the band earned a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, the Best New Vocal Group award from the Academy of Country Music, and both the Album of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Producer of the Year awards from the Country Music Association. Not bad for a demo tape recorded with a borrowed $4,500 and originally intended to be sold at the live shows of a band with its Kentucky roots in a '60s group called Itchy Brother that enjoyed regional success in the '70s and morphed into the Kentucky Headhunters in the '80s.

For Live/Agora Ballroom, recorded on the tour for the Mercury released Pickin' On Nashville, the Kentucky Headhunters perform nine of the 10 songs from that album, adding "Rag Top," "Some Folks Like To Steal," "High Steppin' Daddy," "Smooth" and modern-rock hit "My Daddy Was A Milkman" to their quartet of chart makers. Renowned for their raw party atmosphere, the Cleveland show also includes covers ranging from bluegrass, traditional country and blues to '60s and '70s rock, from Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues" and a medley of "Take Me Back" and Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" to Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," and Doug Sahm's "She's About A Mover." Also, a future studio recording of this set's "Wishin' Well" and "Spirit In The Sky" would appear on the band's second album, 1991's Electric Barnyard, which peaked at #3 Country and earned gold certification and another Country Music Association Vocal Group of the Year award.

After lineup changes and the blues rock-oriented Top 30 Rave On!! in 1993, plus a greatest hits package in 1994, the Kentucky Headhunters exited Mercury. A handful of independently-released blues and southern-rock albums have followed, most recently in 2006. Today, the Kentucky Headhunters, with four of the five original members who perform on Live/Agora Ballroom, are still on stage and still rockin'.

ilovethatsong.com

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Source: Universal Music Enterprises

CONTACT: Keren Poznansky of Universal Music Enterprises,
+1-310-865-7797, keren.poznansky@umusic.com

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Profile: International Entertainment