randykohrs.com

Article in Kalamazoo Gazette

Kohrs juggles musical genres

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Kalamazoo

BY MARK WEDEL

KALAMAZOO — Randy Kohrs is a dobro player, songwriter, band leader, studio owner, producer and session musician.

He might as well declare himself an excellent juggler as well. As Kohrs spoke recently via cell phone, he was struggling with a debit-card reader at a Nashville, Tenn., Kroger as he was thinking about an upcoming appearance on ….Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” where he was to play with Little Big Town, one of the many country/bluegrass/Americana groups who grab him when they need a supreme dobro talent.

Of the late-night shows, ….I’ve done them all, except Conan, with Dolly.” Kohrs has been a regular player with Dolly Parton in the past decade. He’s also played for Dierks Bentley, Cowboy Troy, Hank III, Tom T. Hall, Hank Thompson, Continental Divide and others. Kohrs has been on more than 500 albums since he moved from his home state of Iowa to Nashville in 1994.

At the Cooper’s Glen Music Festival, set for Friday and Saturday in Kalamazoo, Kohrs will appear with Grammy Award-winning Americana singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale. Kohrs, as producer, helped win that 2008 Grammy for Lauderdale’s ….The Bluegrass Diaries.”

But Kohrs also will perform with his own band at the festival. On his own, Kohrs has gotten attention from last year’s ….Old Photograph” (Rural Rhythm) and from a video for a gospel country song from the album ….Who’s Goin’ With Me” that received airplay on GAC and CMT Pure.

That reminded him: ….Yeah, we need to get more (videos done). Need to do a new one, but we’ve been putting it off, because we’ve been remodeling the studio (his home studio, Slack Key), producing acts, and it’s so hard to juggle everything.”

Like his career, Kohrs juggles genres in his music. Bluegrass, country and gospel are all in his sound. Elements might jump in from his bass player Elio Giordano’s ….old-school rockabilly” talents or Kohrs’ love of the blues.

….So we’re liable to pull out just about anything,” he said. ….I try to put something into my set that everybody will like at some point.”

….Make use of all the pickers,” he said, while bands take breaks from touring in the winter. ….My craziest times of the year are between November and January.”

But he’ll find time this January to come to Kalamazoo. ….It’ll be nice to look at a live crowd instead of computer monitors in the studio,” Kohrs said.