Melt winter blues with Lexington’s spring music: Chris Stapleton, Elton John & more

Just in case the ample servings of cold, snow and grey over the last few weeks haven’t clued you in, we are now in the annual frozen void known as the dead of winter. We all know it well. The cheer of the holidays has long been buried (or at least stowed away in attic boxes until next December) with the prospect of spring seeming, even by the glass-half-full standards, remote.

But cheer up. Unlike last year at this time, when COVID-19 vaccinations were just rolling out, live music abounds to chase at least some of the winter blues away. We’ve already had a taste of prime concert entertainment, courtesy of Lexington Opera House concerts by Marty Stuart and Elle King. Rupp Arena will follow next weekend with the return of country music empress Reba McEntire.

There are loads of other delights, too, from modest priced club shows by a variety of world-class artists to a big money arena concert that may you have to skip a boat payment to be able to afford.

They’re all coming our way starting tonight and running well into the spring. So put down the snow shovels and grab your calendars. Time to get rocking this winter.

And for crying out loud, get vaccinated and wear a mask.

Jan. 21: John Paul White/Alexa Rose

8 pm, $16 – The Burl, 375 Thompson Rd., theburlky.com/events

Audiences will likely know Southern song stylist White best as half of The Civil Wars, the folk/Americana duo that chalked up four Grammy Awards during its brief five-year lifespan. The music White has created since then has broadened stylistically to take in the late ’60s country accents that sparked 2019’s “The Hurting Kind” album. This return outing to Lexington will be a solo acoustic performance.

Jan. 27: Robert Earl Keen

7:30 pm, Sold Out – Grand Theatre, 308 St. Clair St. in Frankfort, thegrandky.com

Champion Texas songsmith Keen – who mixes dark narrative storytelling with wry Western wit - has been a regular visitor to Central Kentucky, having played both editions of Railbird in 2019 and 2021. Consider yourself fortunate, though, if you scored a ticket to this sold out return to Frankfort’s Grand Theatre. Last week, Keen announced he will be retiring from touring and performance work in September.

Jan. 28: Todd Snider

8 pm, $30 – Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester St., manchestermusichall.com/events

Nashville renegade Snider has been a local favorite for close to three decades. Though he occasionally records and collaborates with full band configurations, Snider’s most frequent and popular concert persona is as an unaccompanied solo artist offering songs that shift from stoner humor reveries to the kinds of detailed human chronicles that recall one his foremost inspirations, John Prine.

Feb. 19: Lucinda Williams

8 pm, $39.50 – Manchester Music Hall manchestermusichall.com/events

As one of the most celebrated songwriters of her generation, Williams is responsible for a trio of late ’80s-to-mid ’90s albums that balanced a literary knack for storytelling with sensibilities that borrow regularly from raw elements of blues, country, folk and often- searing rock ‘n’ roll. Curiously, she released five full-length albums over the last nine months of cover tunes ranging from old school Southern soul to Christmas music.

Mar. 25: Old Crow Medicine Show

7:30 pm, $35-$75 – EKU Center for the Arts, 822 Hall Dr. in Richmond, ekucenter.com

The vintage string sounds of Old Crow Medicine Show, which would have right at home in a Prohibition Era speakeasy, have become more streamlined through the years. But the boundless cheer of fiddler/frontman Ketch Secor still sits comfortably in the driver’s seat. A hit at the inaugural Railbird (especially when co-headliner Brandi Carlile sat in), the Old Crow crew is gearing up for the April release of its new “Paint This Town” album.

Mar. 27: Buddy Guy

7:30 p.m., $95.50 – Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short lexingtonoperahouse.com/events

Count bluesman Guy as one several artists whose return concert to Lexington has been postponed several times due to the pandemic. But the wait should prove worthwhile. At age 85, he stands as one of the few remaining survivors of a groundbreaking team of Southern-born artists who traveled north to create a wildly influential electric blues sound out of Chicago. Guy’s guitarwork and singing still pack volcanic intensity.

April 8: The Wood Brothers

8 pm, $28 – Manchester Music Hall, manchestermusichall.com/events

Nearly two decades on, the trio of guitarist/vocalist Oliver Wood, sibling bassist Chris Wood and percussionist Jano Rix are at the front of a roots music charge that sounds like no one else. Within it are hints of the blues, grooves that often recall Southern R&B and touches of the wily improvisational adventures the bassist conjures with his other band, the avant jam unit Medeski Martin & Wood.

April 9: Elton John

8 pm, $110-$2,425 – Rupp Arena, 430 W. Vine, rupparena.com/events

Sometimes your last chorus can also be your longest. Granted, that wasn’t the intention when pop colossus John ventured out on his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour” in 2018. Then again, no one figured on the pandemic, either. Initially scheduled to play here in the spring of 2020, the pianist will bring over a half-century of peerless pop hits to Lexington in April with one of the steepest ticket prices in Rupp history.

April 23: Chris Stapleton/Willie Nelson/Sheryl Crow/Yola

6 pm, $49-$296 – Kroger Field, 1540 University Dr., ticketmaster.com

As with Elton John’s Rupp show, tickets for Lexington native Stapleton’s massive outdoor concert at Kroger Field – the first event of its kind at the facility – went on sale in the fall of 2019. Amazingly, the full bill for the original April 2020 concert date, which includes 88-year old Willie Nelson, has been retained. This will be the third try at staging the concert, a benefit for Stapleton’s Outlaw Kind of State charitable fund.

April 23: Robyn Hitchcock

8 pm, $20 – The Burl, theburlky.com/events

Hitchcock’s pop journey stems back to New Wave-era beginnings with the Soft Boys. But it was with a subsequent and wildly prolific solo career that the often-surrealistic pop tapestries within Hitchcock’s songs took shape. Though a frequent performer to the region through the years, Hitchcock has seldom made his way to Central Kentucky. That will make his April 25 solo performance at The Burl all the more special.

April 25: Son Volt/S.G. Goodman

8 pm, $25 – The Burl, theburlky.com/events

Jay Farrer formed the first Son Volt band in 1994 following the demise of Americana juggernaut Uncle Tupelo (the band his co-led with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy). Members have come and gone, but Farrar’s wry variations on folk-rock fortitude and his bandmates oak-solid electric support never wavered. Absent from Lexington stages for several years, Son Volt returns to showcase music from its fine 2021 album “Electro Melodier” album.

April 28: Los Lobos

8 pm, $32 – The Burl, theburlky.com/events

Wrapping up what will be an especially fruitful week of live music at The Burl will be an outdoor performance by Los Lobos. With all its original members on board since 1973 (the addition of keyboardist/saxophonist Steve Berlin in the early ’80s has been the only change), Los Lobos’ repertoire has regularly run from expert original rock compositions to playful psychedelia to traditional Tex Mex music, nortenos and cumbias.