Honky-Tonk Warrior
Luke McQueary
1 On a dreary January evening in Nashville, the line to get into Robert’s Western World stretches more than twenty people deep. Robert’s is the last vestige of true honky-tonk music on neon-soaked Lower Broadway, and onstage is Luke McQueary, who is absolutely shredding his solo on Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” The twenty-two-year-old guitarist and Kentucky native is a member of Kelley’s Heroes, a spin-off of the legendary Don Kelley Band, which ruled the Robert’s stage for more than twenty years and served as a vital incubator for rising musicians. Don Kelley himself retired in the early months of COVID, leaving McQueary, upright bassist Joe Fick, and drummer Billy Van Vleet to continue in his absence.
McQueary’s father turned him on to Kelley, and by the time he was seventeen, he was subbing in on Sunday nights before becoming a full-time player in 2020. “All I listened to as a kid was the Don Kelley Band,” he says in his thick drawl over a plate of barbecue before he hits the stage. The band plays essentially the same set of covers each night, but some are almost unrecognizable thanks to the members’ frenetic pace and monster solos. “We can make them sound so different than the originals,” McQueary says. “Just gotta jack up the energy.” With all of the hoots and hollers exploding from the crowd, mission accomplished.—MH
