Carson’s renegade honky-tonk here March 24-26

Carson’s renegade honky-tonk here March 24-26

By Fran Thompson
Kim Carson will bring her own style of New Orleans’ honky-tonk to the Alabama Gulf Coast for gigs on Friday, March 24 poolside at 2 p.m. at the Beach Club on Ft. Morgan Rd., Saturday, March 25 at 6 p.m. at Moe’s Original BBQ in Orange Beach and Sunday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m. in the Flora-Bama Dome on Perdido Key.
Carson has been spreading her “Don’t Fear the Twang” mantra all over the Gulf Coast from her Big Easy home base for more than 20 years. In fact, her 12th album, a compilation of fan favorites, is titled “Don’t Fear The Twang.’’ Already available at CD Baby and on I-tunes, Kim is hoping to have hard copies in hand by the time she plays this year’s New Orleans Jazz Fest for the 22nd time (Friday, April 28 at 4:20 p.m. on the Lagniappe Stage). A Big Easy resident, hurricanes aside, since June 1, 1990, Kim played her first gigs at the Frank Brown Songwriters Fest in 1998. The Texas native is also a mainstay at the French Quarter Festival (she plays the main stage on April 6).
Her style, self described as “renegade honky-tonk,” is also popular in Europe, where she has toured yearly for the past 22 years. She leaves June 7 for a 90 day European tour.
“I have so many friends over there and a lot of them come to visit me here. Just in April and May, I have four different groups from Austria, Switzerland and Germany coming over,’’ she said.
A songstress who relates more to Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette and George Jones more than any of the artists on Top 100 Country Radio, Carson said she always looks forward to her bi-monthly working vacations on the Alabama Gulf Coast.
“I just love the beach,’’ she said. “I just get to the water and start walking. It’s so beautiful there.’’
Carson will have her full band, including a peddle steel guitar player, for the Flora-Bama gig.
A recipient of OffBeat Magazine’s Best Country Artist Award eight times, Kim also has played the Shrimp Festival many times and has collaborated with a long list of local musicians, including Kathy Pace and Donna Slater of Jezebel’s Chillin. And luckily, for her fans, playing live never gets old as her musical journey continues.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m sick, sad or tired,’’ she said in an earlier interview. “When I get onstage and the audience is there and I start playing music with my friends I feel great.’’