TICKETS ON SALE 3/31/25 @ 10 AM

Row A: $55+fees
Row B-P: $45+fees
Row R-GG: $35+fees

The Kentucky Headhunters created a hybrid of honky tonk, blues, and Southern rock
that appealed to fans of both rock and country music. The origins of the Kentucky
Headhunters lie in 1968, when Fredand Richard Young began playing together with
their cousins Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney at the Youngs’ grandmother’s
house. Mark Orr also later joined them. The first incarnation of the band was called the
Itchy Brothers, and the group played together informally for over a decade. After about
13 years, the bandmembers began launching separate careers: Richard Young went
off to write songs for Acuff-Rose, while Fred Young began touring with country
beauty Sylvia. Martin became a member of Ronnie McDowell’s band,
while Kenney dropped out of music. In 1985, Martin decided to reassemble the Itchy
Brothers. When Kenney declined to rejoin the group, Martin remembered Doug
Phelps, whom he had met while on tour with McDowell. Phelps joined the new project,
which was named the Kentucky Headhunters. Besides Martin and Phelps, the band
also included the Young brothers and Doug’s brother Ricky Lee Phelps.

The Headhunters started playing twice monthly on The Chitlin’ Show, a program on
Munfordville, Kentucky radio station WLOC. From these 90-minute performances, the
Headhunters built up a following. They sent an eight-song demo to Mercury, and soon
after, the label signed the group. The original demo tape was remixed, and became the
basis of the band’s first album, 1989’s Pickin’ on Nashville, which received
overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its release and quickly became a hit. “Dumas
Walker” reached number 15 in the spring of 1990, followed by the group’s biggest hit,
the number six “Oh, Lonesome Me.” In 1991, the Headhunters released their second
effort, Electric Barnyard. The album received mixed reviews, couldn’t muster a single,
and sold weakly. In summer 1992, the Phelps brothers left the group to form Brothers
Phelps, a more traditional country group.

The remaining Headhunters brought ex-Itchy Brothers Anthony Kenney and Mark
Orr to the group, and the rehashed lineup released Rave On! in 1993. The album
marked a progression toward bluesy Southern rock, which came to fruition later that
same year with That’ll Work, a collaboration with former Chuck Berry pianist Johnnie
Johnson. In 1996, Doug returned on lead vocals, and a year later the band
issued Stompin’ Grounds. Songs from the Grass String Ranch followed in 2000,
and Soul appeared in spring 2003. Big Boss Man was released in 2005 and Flying
Under the Radar in 2006, both from CBUJ Entertainment. Dixie Lullabies, the group’s
12th album, and first studio recording of new original material since 2003, appeared
from Red Dirt Records in 2011. In 2015, the Headhunters released another
collaborative album with Johnnie Johnson, Meet Me in Bluesland, drawn from
unissued sessions recorded in 2003, two years before Johnson’s death. Just before
entering the studio to record their next studio LP, bandmates Richard and Fred
Young lost their father. That loss, combined with the excitement of the band’s first
European tour, added an emotional poignancy to On Safari, which was released in
2016.