McNurlin to perform next week in downtown Ironton

The Tuesday Night Ironton Concert Series has kicked off for the summer and next Tuesday’s performer will be the Beatnik Cowboy himself, Rob McNurlin.

McNurlin, an Americana artist who described his music as “just a big mess of everything that we like, country, blues, gospel, a little bit of everything,” is from Westwood, Kentucky, but travels frequently to Nashville, Tennessee.

He has performed at the Tuesday Night concerts since 2015 and has been performing since the 1993.

He has released several albums, including “Cowboy Boot Heel,” “Buffalo Skinners,” “Lonesome Valley Again,” “Tent of the Wicked,” “Rhinestoned,” “Gospel Guitar,” “Blood on the Saddle” and “Blue Nashville Guitar.”

When he started out in 1993, the genre was called alternative country or cow punk and included everyone from Jason and the Scorchers to the Jayhawks.

“See, therein lies the problem. Although I love the traditional country music, I also love Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but I also love gospel music and Woodie Guthrie and Arlo Guthrie and Rambling Jack Elliot. And I just wanted to play it all, so where are they going to put me?” McNurlin said. “I just say the heck with it, I’m just going to play it. To me it is all the same.”

The genre is more commonly called Americana now.

“Yeah, they finally stuck a name on it,” McNurlin said, although that name doesn’t really fit him well, since he is too country for rock and roll and too rock and roll and folky for the Gospel people. “All Americana turned out to be was all the cool songs that couldn’t get on the radio stations.”

The Tuesday Night Concert series is at 6:30 p.m. at the Ironton Farmers Market Square, on Second Street in downtown Ironton.

Concerts are free, held outdoors and family friendly.

“Our sponsors are supporting our concerts so support them please, come downtown early and have dinner at one or our unique sponsoring restaurants,” said Sam Heighton, executive director of Ironton aLive. 

This year’s concert sponsors are Phillips Funeral Home, Glockner dealerships, Perry Distributors, The Shakery, Melini’s Ristorante, Ironton Council for the Arts, The Armory Smoke House, Patties and Pints, Gold Street Auto Repair, J&J Maintenance, Appalachian Mechanical, Holliday Inn Express, Marriott TownPlace, ServPro of Scioto and West Law. Co., Ohio Valley Bank and Portable Solutions.