Washboard Hank And Reverend Ken Reunite After 30 Years To Play Market Hall

It’s a reunion 30 years in the making, as local music legends Washboard Hank and Reverend Ken are set to play Market Hall in Peterborough on Sunday, November 3rd at 7 p.m.

Almost four decades ago, Hank Fisher and Ken Ramsden produced a remarkable musical coupling, and the result was performance art which incorporated everything from classical music to bluegrass gospel street preaching, in a spontaneous, antic conflagration best viewed through welder’s goggles.

Washboard Hank & Reverend Ken back in the day (photo courtesy Washboard Hank)

Peterborough locals, as well as Trent and Fleming alumni from the Eighties, may well remember the weekly Wednesday night “Red Dog Howls” at the Legendary Red Dog Tavern on Hunter Street which featured Washboard Hank, the Reverend Ken and' The Lost Followers' Band from the Church of the Open Bottle.

Hank and Ken also toured all over North America, by whatever means were available, putting on “Gospel Gumbo” street shows from Vancouver to Calgary to Edmonton, from Nashville to Memphis, from Oregon to San Francisco, and everywhere in between.

Washboard Hank & Reverend Ken back in the day (photo courtesy Wayne Eardley)

Accompanying Hank and Ken for this unique reunion at Market Hall will be Hank’s backup band, the Wringers, comprised of Tyson Galloway on Upright Bass and Sean Conway on Lead Guitar and Mandolin.

Recent photo courtesy Washboard Hank.

The program will also feature The McDonnel Street Gospel Quartet, featuring authentic vintage/roots gospel songs from the 1930s and 1940s era, as well as a rare screening of Terry McEvoy's award-winning, Red Dog Tavern documentary film, Amateur Night.

Tickets are available in advance at the Market Hall Box Office, online, or by phone at 705.775.1503.

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