Jeff “Plank” Plankenhorn is a highly respected musician known for his skill as a slide guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist. He’s gained recognition both as a solo artist and as a sought-after session musician. Plankenhorn’s musical style encompasses elements of blues, folk, Americana, and roots music, creating a sound that’s uniquely his own.
Coming to Columbus from Vancouver, Canada, he will headline Thursday’s concert at The Barn. Opening the show will be Los Angeles artist Kris Angelis.
The audience at Thursday’s show will enjoy a free fish fry provided by Starkville’s Rosey Baby restaurant and, as usual, there will be the chance to help another local charity. Bedz4Kidz, a West Point organization that builds and delivers thousands of handcrafted beds to children in need in the Golden Triangle, will be the beneficiary of this week’s concert.
Jeff Plankenhorn’s songwriting, expressive vocals, and musicianship are front and center on his latest album, “Alone At Sea,” produced by Colin Linden (Bruce Cockburn, Keb Mo.) New sonic territory is explored on this gem of a long player. The title track, “Alone at Sea,” is a poignant ballad nestled between two of the album’s many up-tempo tunes.It envisions an adventurous soul who’s searching for self-awareness and learns to appreciate solitude, not unlike Plank’s experience of moving to Canada’s Vancouver Island from a 20-year stint in the landlocked confines of Austin, Texas.
For Jeff Plankenhorn, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of bringing people together to experience the joy music brings. He’s so good at it that he’s been recognized with Austin Music Award nominations for Musician of the Year, Best Guitarist, and Best Misc. Instrument for “The Plank,” a hybrid lap steel guitar Jeff designed himself. In 2016-2017, he also earned Album and Song of the Year nominations for his album, “SoulSlide,” and the single “Trouble Find Me.” Listeners quickly get that Plank loves a good groove, but he’s also become quite accomplished at composing ballads, as proven by two of the album’s other standouts, “Bluer Skies” and You’ll Stay.”
These days, Plank happily finds himself on the road more than 150 days a year.
“I like the idea that people get uplifted at my shows; just one of the great ways to escape the hubbub of day-to-day living,” says Plankenhorn. “I love playing to crowds from various backgrounds. Music is supposed to bring people together.”
Singer-songwriter Kris Angelis has travelled the country performing shows and has brought her music to the public through various platforms. Her album “That Siren, Hope” produced by Bill Lefler, and partially co-written with Mississippi native Garrison Starr, came out in January 2020, debuting at No. 1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart and as the highest ranking independent release that week on the Billboard Top Current Albums chart at No. 79. It also appeared on the first-round Grammy ballot and Kris was selected for the Grammy NEXT program.
The album was on the Americana Albums radio chart for 19 weeks, getting to No. 59 with spins all over the country on FM and SiriusXM, the title track was featured on Netflix’s “Atypical”, and the music video was premiered by American Songwriter Magazine. Her music video for “Photobooth” had four nominations including Video of the Year and three wins in the International Independent Music Video Awards including Best Folk/Americana Video and Fan Favorite.
Kris’s latest record, “Damn Shame Waste” came out in 2022. “Run” and “Win the Game” from that album were the No. 1 and No. 3 most played new adds on SiriusXM’s The Loft as well as being featured on iHeartRadio in the wake of her being the top fundraising artist ever for MusicBeats Cancer in March.
Steve Ellis, who produces The Barn Concert Series with his wife Kay, said he first saw Jeff Plankenhorn perform in Oklahoma.
“He headlined a show at Oklahoma City’s famous “Blue Door” venue,” Ellis said. “He captivated the crowd with his artistry on the slide guitar and when we started our shows I knew he was an artist that I wanted to bring to Columbus.”
The Barn will take its usual “heat of the summer” break after Thursday’s concert and will come back in September and October with three more outdoor shows at the Mac Davis Road location. But the Ellises will produce another show June 13, this one at The Lyceum at Lee with “Sean of the South.”
Parking and dinner for Thursday’s concert will begin at 6 p.m. with the music beginning at 7. Tickets for all of The Barn concerts, including the “Sean of the South” appearance are available online at barnconcertseries.com.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
