A New York Evening with Lenny Kaye

MODERATED BY MICHAEL IMPERIOLI

The Grammy Museum is thrilled to welcome Lenny Kaye to City Winery Loft in NYC for an evening discussing his debut solo album, Goin’ Local, his creative process, and more, with a special live performance.

This event is part of the Grammy Museum’s New York City program series, which brings the Museum’s renowned education and public programs to the city. “A New York Evening With…” is generously supported by the Dawn and Brian Hoesterey Family Foundation.

ABOUT LENNY KAYE

“I feel like I’m a new artist,” says Lenny Kaye, on his debut solo album, Goin’ Local, out July 17 via Yep Roc Records.

“I think this album will surprise those who think they know me from what I’ve done previously. The songs are personal, written over a period of years, and I’ve kept them to myself. I believe a song exists because there is a need for it to be written, to explain the dynamics of the human relationship, to look at yourself as if in a mirror and get in touch with a deeper emotion, one that needs to be sung.”

In a career spanning more than half a century, Kaye has remained defiantly uncategorizable. The longest-serving member of the Patti Smith Group, he has also curated the game-changing garage rock anthology Nuggets – “one of the most influential compilations ever” (The Guardian) – co-wrote Waylon Jennings’ autobiography, penned music to Allen Ginsberg’s poetry alongside Paul McCartney and Philip Glass – and produced projects for Suzanne Vega, Soul Asylum, Jessi Colter, Kristin Hersh and more.

Goin’ Local began with sessions co-produced by Lenny’s long-time bandmate Tony Shanahan, whom he met at casual jam sessions in their shared home town of New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the 1990s, and who later became the bassist in Patti Smith and Her Band. Six of the tracks they worked on became the starting point of the album, including the title song, “Goin’ Local”; but it wasn’t until two years ago that he determined to complete the record he’d begun, adding songs written in the interval, many of which began acoustically. Additional collaborators include jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone, The Jayhawks’ John Jackson, and multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield (Bob Dylan, T-Bone Burnett, Lucinda Williams). The twelve-song collection finds Kaye fully embracing his expansive musical sensibility, while marking his most autobiographical and introspective turn yet.

“It is a great blessing to be able to make music at this time in my life for the pure enjoyment and enlightenment it gifts me, the freedom of playing without expectation, to take on new challenges knowing that the work itself is its own reward.”

Check-In: 5:15 pm

Show Time: 6:00 pm