Zeno's Pub will host Pennsylvania-based solo folk artist Kris Kehr along with varying incarnations of his band -- the Stone Poets -- every Sunday from 9 to 12 p.m., according to a band press release.
Kehr started performing at Zeno's, 100 W. College Ave., on Sunday, and will continue every Sunday night, either solo or with one or two members of his band. Once a month, the full ensemble will unite for a gig, he said. This Sunday, the entire band will be present for two sets of music.
"We change our performance every week," Kehr said. "It will never be the same. We like to keep it different and fresh."
The group, which has been playing together off and on for more than 10 years, plays a mixture songs culled from the band's three albums.
"We play about half originals and half covers, mostly of folk-inspired songs," Kehr said. "But we also branch out into stranger territory and play things like Talking Heads, though with our own spin."
Kehr described his music as modern alternative-country and cites Neil Young, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson as prominent influences.
"I listen to all sorts of music, though, lots of jazz, blues and jam band influences make their way into my music as well," Kehr said, adding he has toured the jam band circuit and shared a stage with members of Phish and the Grateful Dead.
"I like my performances to be easy for people to connect to and enjoy with both the songs I cover and with my own songs, but I also like to have a deeper element present for anyone who chooses to listen more closely," he said.
The group is no stranger to the State College bar scene, having taken up residence at Zeno's every Thursday night from 2000 to 2001, Kehr said.
According to Kehr's Web site, he formed the Stone Poets in 1997, and in 2002 disbanded the group to join country jam band The Recipe, based in North Carolina.
In 2005, he moved back to Pennsylvania and reunited the Poets, according to his Web site. In 2008, the band released Notes from the Crossroads, its third album of original material.
The Stone Poets' current lineup includes Kehr (vocals, guitar, mandolin), John Kennedy (upright bass), James Harton (keyboards) and Dave Mudgett (pedal steel guitar).
