Jefferson Starship landing at The Arena as part of Bret Michaels' 'Parti-Gras'

Jul. 25—CORBIN — Jefferson Starship is preparing to touch down at The Corbin Arena this Thursday, opening for Bret Michael's Parti-Gras 2023 tour.

This iteration of the cross-generational rock group is comprised of David Freiberg (vocals, guitar), Donny Baldwin (drums), Chris Smith (keyboards, bass), Jude Gold (lead guitar), and Cathy Richardson (vocals).

Richardson is celebrating 15 years with the band.

"I was always a huge fan growing up," the Illinois native said. "I had all the albums on vinyl, went to all of the concerts and bought all of the t-shirts....When the opportunity came along [to join], I didn't even have to think about it."

With just a 30-minute set and three distinct incarnations with Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship, Richardson said the hardest part of performing Thursday will be deciding which songs from the band's iconic repertoire will have to be cut.

"Every song is great," she said. "I love playing them all."

While the audience can expect to hear a solid set of hits, Richardson noted that she and her bandmates do like to explore each song without trying to sound exactly like the original record.

"We don't use backing tracks; we really play and sing," she said. "What you hear is the band; it's fun and authentic."

In addition to Parti-Gras, Jefferson Starship has been touring this year in support of their latest album of new material.

"This tour is skewing younger than our normal crowd...," Richardson said of Parti-Gras, adding that some hits have been revived such as the use of "White Rabbit" on Netflix's Stranger Things or "Jane" as the walk-on theme for professional wrestler Orange Cassidy. "The fans keep recycling, and I think the band, very wisely as they evolved through the name changes and different incarnations, changed musically too, to stay with the times.

"At the end of the day, you have a canon of unbeatable classic rock hits," Richardson said.

Parti-Gras 2023 starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Ticket are still available through The Arena's box office (606-258-2020) or Ticketmaster.com.