Kelly Thomas and The Fabulous Pickups are excited to celebrate the release of their debut album “Fly” at York Street Café in Newport, KY on Friday, November 18th.
The album was engineered and produced by Mike Montgomery at Candyland Studios in Avondale. The Fabulous Pickups are; Jeff Boling (lead guitar), John Bedinghaus (acoustic guitar) and Sylvia Mitchell (fiddle and keys).
Thomas wrote the majority of the songs with band mate, Jeff Boling. Two songs, Hello Goodbye and Worse For The Wear, were penned with Kentucky Struts lead man, Todd Lipscomb. Thomas and Lipscomb ended up creating The Tammy WhyNots based on a few tunes that came from their writing collaboration
In true “pickup” fashion there are many talented guests on the album. Kevin Hogle and Noah Sugarman, of 500 Miles to Memphis, provide the low end on drums and bass. Both came up with creative parts that add to the overall style of the songs. Brad Meinerding was the perfect complement to Boling’s style on Electric Guitar and he also provided some amazing acoustic parts and a banjo on one tune. Background vocals from Tupelo Honey (Katie Weefer-Cook and Heather Turner) add a nice layer on several songs and Kristen Kreft adds some vocal sass to a Hillbilly Blues tune and a Soulful Rocker. David Rhodes Brown on lap steel was the perfect addition to 3 songs, including an achy country soaked tune, “High Time”. Also, true to Pickups law, there were some unexpected hurdles that arose during recording and the band was able to power thru with the help of talented buddies. Great guitar picker and friend, Elton Clifton, came in at the last minute and helped with scratch tracks on 7 songs, while Sugarman hammered out 2 others due to a death in the family. Clifton was then invited to play acoustic “keeper” tracks on Hello Goodbye and Fearless so he would be “officially” on the album. The whole cast brought their “A” game and gave stellar performances.
The album was released digitally on October 13. The November 18, York Street show marks the release of the physical copies of the album. 6 great local acts are on the bill. The lineup is below. Doors are at 7:30. Music starts at 8 sharp. Presale tickets can be ordered thru November 17th at www.kellythomasonline.com for $5. $7 at the door. All ages welcome.
2nd Floor Stage 3rd Floor Art Gallery Stage (acoustic)
8 The Rubber Knife Gang 8 Kristen Kreft
9 Josh Eagle and The Harvest City 845 G. Burton and Elton Clifton
10 Kelly Thomas and The Fabulous Pickups 915 Veronica Grim of Switchblade Syndicate
1115 The Sleepin’ Dogs
