Kerby, fiddler son to play tandem set

Singer-songwriter Kevin Kerby will get a little help from an eighth-grader during his Friday night show.

Kerby's son, Gus, a 14-year-old student at Pulaski Heights Middle School, will play violin alongside his guitar-picking dad during a set at The Undercroft, a performance space in the basement of Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock.

"It's so much easier having your band member live in the same house," Kerby, 47, says of Gus.

It's not the first time the pair have teamed up, as Gus has accompanied the old man at the annual Holiday Hangout at the White Water Tavern in December.

"It's a hoot to see them," says Scott Walters, a priest at the church. "Kevin's out there and Gus is reserved. He glares over at his Dad like he's heard all these jokes before. He's the perfect straight man."

Apart from jamming with his Pops, Gus, who took up the violin at age 6, performs with the Arkansas Symphony's Youth Orchestra and has played Carnegie Hall in New York.

"It made me cry," Kerby says of the Carnegie Hall appearance. Gus was chosen after his teacher suggested he apply for an honors program that brought kids from all over the nation to play the hallowed hall.

"He had to send in a recording of him playing this wicked-hard piece of music," his father says. "We recorded it in our living room."

Kerby has carved his own niche as a formidable songwriter, with his longtime band Mulehead and as a solo artist, crafting wry and wise roots-rock nuggets. This is, after all, the guy who wrote, "Apathy has spread like weeds, but I don't even care," from "Apathy," a track on Mulehead's 2015 album Forever Out of Tune, released on Little Rock's Max Recordings label.

He has been working on a solo album, the follow-up to 2012's Apostle's Tongues, for the past couple of years with Mulehead band mate Geoff Curran producing.

"Gus is going to play on that," Kerby says. "I haven't gotten him in the studio yet. He's got this sneaker obsession, so if I offer him money he'll jump on it."

In concert, Gus is able to add his own stamp on his dad's songs.

"He's able to listen to the song and come up with his own parts," Kerby says (Gus was still in school at the time of Kerby's interview). "He's been working with a private teacher who is helping him learn how to drop in and out [of the song] where he should."

That kind of musical communication is a two-way street for the Kerbys, as Kevin is learning from his son as their partnership develops.

"He's reteaching me how to listen and react to another player," he says.

There are moments, too, when Gus' considerable training creeps in.

"It's kind of weird," Kerby begins. "He still plays fiddle, but he has that classical training. If I ask him to 'country something up,' he usually does it when we play at home, but when we play it live, he does classical runs. I'm convinced he's just messing with me, but it always comes out really nice."

The Undercroft space is relatively new to the Little Rock music scene. Kerby and others have played there over the past three years or so. He's hoping to produce monthly shows, perhaps with a food truck outside and also coordinating with the Second Friday Art Night events at places like the nearby Historic Arkansas Museum.

"I've loved that room ever since I got here," says Walters of The Undercroft. "It's a nice size. It's got stone walls and is in the basement of the church. There's a door right onto the street. It's like walking down into a pub."

Weekend on 02/09/2017