My name is Pat Kay. I'm a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist saluting the music traditional to the Ozarks; where Old-Time Fiddle music received a quick flash fry of foot stompin’ Country Blues as it made its way across the Mississippi River. The songs I play are a collection of stories spanning over a hundred years of American music history. Many are my own, and many more are from a bygone era. The latter, I find to be absolutely timeless... and an endangered species.
This juxtaposition of new and old is something I find key to my mission of perpetuating Ozark music culture. Much of the latter refrains and melodies that once filled the barns of our ancestors on Saturday nights and again in churches on Sunday morning have been largely forgotten. These stories were kept alive for centuries through a combination of oral tradition and generational contribution. Let's compare what we think of as a 'song' to one of grandma's recipes. Ya know. That one you assumed she had written down? But no one can find it. And you realize that she didn't write any of them down. And just like me, you wish you'd spent more time paying attention in the kitchen. She was an artist. But you did get some from her over the years and you did take some liberties with them. I mean, we have measuring spoons now so this whole "two fingers of this" and "half eggshell of that" could be more practical (oh the irony). Its okay to change things. I learned to make chili from my grandmother without ever seeing a recipe. I can make it in my sleep. A few years ago her actual recipe turned up on a piece of paper in some old book and I'm pretty sure its definitely probably wrong. I think. I don't remember a roux and I've been making her chili for 20 years now. So.... yeah, there you go. Thats the blog-recipe rundown of how I view old time music oral tradition.
A musician's catalog prior to the 20th century was a 'cookbook' composed of songs learned from their parents & friends, many of which having come by them the same way, and all of which having added their own flavor to a song with or without knowing it. Some wrote em down. Some didn't. Some didn't know how to write. None troubled themselves to post a youtube video of it from their cell phone. Without the ease of access to recording equipment we have today to document how the song went, these songs could only evolve over time as they were passed from teacher to student.... reinterpreted by different hands... different instruments... voices of different generations.... subtle shifts in melody from one player to another... accidental misinterpretations of lyrics in phonetic transmission giving way to entire passages being forgotten, only to be replaced with entirely new relevant lyrics, characters, and settings. It is not only the music itself that I strive to carry forward, but also the spirit of delivery. I love rattling a tin roof with foot stomping old time banjo cookers on a wild Saturday night, and bringing families together on picnic tables with gospel bluegrass on Sunday afternoons and watching my kids sing along. I relish the notion that our ancestors were doing this long before me ...in the same barn ...on the same river bank. ...marveling at their own kids singing the same songs... all of it still every bit as relevant now as it was over a hundred years ago.
Pat Kay plays clawhammer banjo & guitar with his hands, bass drum & tambourines with his feet, vocals & harmonica with his face, and enjoys sharing exceedingly tall tales in between. Apart from these one-man-band solo shows, he also performs with his two bands, the Kay Brothers and The Spooklights.
The Kay Brothers feature Pat performing the same material but in a trio format alongside his brother Bryan Kay (upright bass) and their mascot, Shakin' Jake (shakers, washboard, leg kicks). The Spooklights present an interesting and highly innovative vehicle for this old time music culture. A collaboration between Kay and fellow Ozark music torchbearer, Ben Miller, this duo weaves old time music DNA with electronic dance music instruments & elements. "Its an incredibly fun science project." Read more on this below.
2025 SHOWS
∞ Pat Kay
∆ The Spooklights
Ω The Kay Brothers
1.10 --- KANSAS CITY, MO ---------- Knuckleheads Saloon ∆
1/18 -- CALIFORNIA, MO -- [SOLD OUT] -- Finke Theatre Ω
1.24 --- PETTIGREW, AR -------------- Buffalo Headwaters ∆
2.01 --- COLUMBIA, MO ----------------------- The Penguin ∞
2.02 -- MISSOURI RIVER ----------------- Coopers Landing ∞
3.05 --- CHARLOTTE, NC ------------------ Visulite Theatre ∆
3.06 --- ATLANTA, GA ----------------------- Terminal West ∆
3.07 --- CHARLESTON, SC -------- Charleston Pour House ∆
3.08 --- DURHAM, NC -------------------------- Cats Cradle ∆
3.17 --- COLUMBIA, MO - Paddy's Day @ Rose Music Hall Ω
3.30 -- MISSOURI RIVER ----------------- Coopers Landing ∞
5.02 -- JASPER, AR ---------------- Dawn of Times Festival ∆
5.03 --- FULTON, MO ------- Morels & Microbrews Festival Ω
5.10 --- JADWIN, MO ----------- Rendezvous on the Ridge Ω
5.17 --- DES MOINES, IA --------- Greenbelt Music Festival ∆
5.30 --- COLUMBIA, MO --------------------------------- TBA ∞
6.12 --- YUBA, WI -------------------- Bonfire Music Festival ∆
6.13 --- EDMONTON, KY ----------------- PlayThink Festival ∆
7.25 --- GLEASON, WI --------- Moon Dance Music Festival ∆
8.08 --- MELBOURNE, AR ----------------- Off the Grid Fest ∆
THE SPOOKLIGHTS [continued]
On their own, Pat Kay and Ben Miller can each be found performing their own "stompgrass" or "Ozark stomp," respectively, in what they consider conventional utilitarian methods using an arsenal of tools true to a time & place in the past... homemade instruments, banjos, harmonicas, foot drums, etc. The pioneers of old time Americana used only what they had, and they didn't have much. With so little, however, they were able to successfully perpetuate songs for generations. But what happens for these songs, if those restraints are removed? What if they had synthesizers and electronic dance beats in the 1800s? Take, for example, the litmus in a dance remix of the old time standard "Cotton Eyed Joe" (1994) skyrocketing to a #1 hit lighting up dance floors alongside the most massive pop hits of the time, ultimately cementing the song as a household name for a generation. Whether you love it or hate it, you know it. The chorus of that song was penned 200 years ago and an entire living generation can sing it.
Working to provide pieces of American oral music tradition a new lease on life through this kind of drastic contemporary reinterpretation is precisely the collaborative aim. Kay and Miller together hope to reinvigorate more classic Old Time songs on the ever expanding 'endangered list', while reimagining original works of their own with the same shiny new set of tools. Having gained some traction with their debut album release "MK Ultra," The Spooklights have become a national touring act for clubs and festivals across the country. "No matter the audience, there's something magical about seeing large crowds sing and dance to a song their great great grandparents likely did. We love it so much when people can identify and appreciate that. We love it no less when they don't, and in those instances we perhaps find the greatest reward: a new person to help keep a 200 year old song alive."
For show listings, videos, streamable music and more, click HERE.
Pat performing both banjo and synthesizers on "Cluck Ol' Hen" with The Spooklights to a packed house in Chicago, IL.
"Mountain Song"
"Queen Bee"
"Aint Gonna Work Tomorrow"
"Cuckoo"
"Find Your Love"
"Crawdad Hole"