For this week’s Local Music Monday, WUKY’s DeBraun Thomas features a Lexington native with deep creative roots.
The son of a preacher, Joe Drury has always been surrounded by music. Drury and his family moved to Lexington in 1998 and he was enrolled in the School for the Creative and Performing Arts. He went on to study voice at the University of Kentucky and has been part of the local music scene for the last 9 years. Drury says making music outside of the church choir is something he’s worked for a long time.
“You know I always wanted to play in bands and stuff, I started out playing bass as my main instrument as far as playing with other people, but when I was out of the choir scene it was a really good outlet for me to get into to be able to really do things that I loved and I really didn’t start writing my own songs or anything until several years ago.”
Drury’s songwriting has allowed him to more personally explore his passion for music. In 2012 Drury teamed up with drummer Daniel Mohler to start the band Summer Smoke. With the recent addition of Tom Hnatow on bass, Summer Smoke has become a vehicle for Drury’s original material. Drury has been known to play with multiple bands in Lexington, but says the songs of Summer Smoke were all written in a free environment.
“I would definitely say there’s a blues and rock in it with a heavy, heavy focus on melodic influence, you know there’s always got to be a serious melody or a hook for me when it comes to songwriting, but mostly it all comes quickly and naturally for my songwriting, I don’t spend a lot of time with the songs, it just kinda happens.”
Joe Drury plays in several bands in Lexington including The Fanged Robot, Vegan Death and Summer Smoke. Summer Smoke is currently working on an album to be released sometime in 2014. More information about Summer Smoke can be found on Facebook.