Although formed in 1984, the roots of the Headhunters go back to the late ’60s and the group, The Itchy Brothers.
“Greg and Fred and I have played together 41 years,” Young said. “We started our first band in 1968. We were just out there all that time being a bunch of kids in the ’70s and we’ve kept playing together off and on all these years.
“Everything is going great now,” he added. “Every year or two goes by and I think, ‘Well, we got two more under our belt.’ Then it’ll go two more years, and then two more and we’re still at it.”
The Kentucky Headhunters, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of “Pickin’ on Nashville, perform at McGuffy’s House of Rock on Saturday, Oct. 10.
“We’ve created such a great following through the years because we’ve been so persistent about touring,” Young said. “We’ve still got perseverance. We want to strive and do it, so we’ve kept a great cult following just about everywhere in North America you’d want to go.”
Young and his band mates are presently culling through their massive personal archives for a series of retrospective releases. The first album is the recently released “Authorized Bootleg,” a live recording from a concert at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland in 1990.
“I think we did the smart thing here because the only live music we have that’s really recorded well on multi-track is this ‘Authorized Bootleg’ from Cleveland,” Young said. “I’m glad to have it out because it was such a great night. The crowd was jammed into the place and we happened to be hitting on eight cylinders.
“We’ve got more coming,” he added. “I’ve got multi-track tapes to the yazoo in my house. There’s so much great music people never got to hear so we made a pact between ourselves to put some of this stuff out.”
CONTACT contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com..
how to go
WHO: Kentucky Headhunters, with Kings Landing.
WHERE: McGuffy’s House of Rock, 5418 Burkhardt Road, Dayton.
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 10. Doors open at 7 p.m.
COST: $20 advance, $25 day of show.
MORE INFO: (937) 256-3005 or wwwmcguffys.net.
ARTIST INFO: www.kentuckyheadhunters.com.
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