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JCCC Lights up Fridays in August 2019

April 19, 2019

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (April 15, 2019) – End the summer with three free Friday concerts sure to fire you up and chill you out.

The Carlsen Center Presents Light Up the Lawn, a hometown tradition of songs under the stars on the lawn at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. The music starts as the sun goes down—roughly 8:30 p.m.—so bring your lawn chairs, blankets and picnic baskets and settle in for a treat.

Kicking it off on Aug. 16 is Kansas City’s own Hembree, one of NPR's Spotlight Artists and Rolling Stone’s “Best Band We Saw at SXSW 2018.” Their debut album House on Fire, released April 26, is a compilation of 10 songs that reveal a band filled with the confidence that is required of those who sound self-assured while discussing themes of indecision and uncertain identity.

The following week, Aug. 23, local fave Pawnshop Troubadours bring to the stage a flavorful musical soup consisting of equal parts rock, blues, R&B, soul, funk, volume and just a dash of flop-sweat. Born from the still-smoldering ashes of blues-fueled rockers The Polly Ester Slacks Museum, Pawnshop Troubadours features the soulful vocal stylings of Lorri Love, the bowel-shaking bass thumps of Brian “Dynamite” White, the primal rhythmic chops of Mike Fraser (neé Turner), the front-porch howling of harmonicist Dave “Toots” Krug and the fiery six-string flailings of Randy Erickson.

Light Up the Lawn closes out with father-daughter duo Bob and Una Walkenhorst. Bob Walkenhorst has been a fixture on the Kansas City and international music scene since the 1980s as lead singer and songwriter for the critically acclaimed band The Rainmakers. Bob has the great joy to now collaborate with his daughter Una, a singer-songwriter in her own right, from her 2014 release “Scars” to her recent years as part of the New Orleans indie music scene. Their common love of traditional songs and two-part family harmony is bringing about new songs, new visions and new recordings. Their album, For Tomorrow, is available for purchase and streaming. The title song was voted Top Song of 2018 by listeners of The Bridge 90.9 FM.

Light Up the Lawn is free and open to the public. Please note: JCCC does not allow alcohol on campus.

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