PORT TOWNSEND — Singer-songwriter Jeff Plankenhorn will play his invention “The Plank” and other stringed instruments during a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The concert, which is hosted by Rainshadow Recording, will be at the Palindrome at Eaglemount Cidery, 1893 S. Jacob Miller Road. Tickets are $20 each from https://plank.brown papertickets.com or at the door.
Plankenhorn plays guitar, lap steel, mandolin, piano and upright bass. His patented lap slide guitar, “the Plank,” with a distinctive sound derived from the instrument’s square neck and electric guitar body, netted him Austin Music Awards 2017 “Best Miscellaneous Instrument.”
He began his career as a boy soprano in Ohio. After studying music theory and composition at University of Michigan, Texas beckoned when Ray Wylie Hubbard enticed Jeff to join his band. Plankenhorn spent his early career backing the likes of Hubbard and Joe Ely.
Now he performs soulful roots rock and sings baritone. He is a member of the Purgatory Players Gospel brunch, which contributed 153,275 meals to the Texas Food Bank in 2019. He also worked to raise funds for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. He has collaborated with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Joe Ely, Patty Griffin, Ruthie Foster, Bob Schneider, the Flatlanders and “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb.
“Over the course of the last two decades, Jeff Plankenhorn has worked tirelessly to earn his rep as one of the most reliably can-do, right-dude-for-the-job musicians in Austin, Texas,” said Lone Star Music.
“As an exceptionally talented acoustic, electric, slide, and lap-steel guitarist with a keen understanding of the importance of playing to and for a song rather than all over it, he’s been called on countless times to back a veritable who’s who of Texas and Americana music’s finest singers and songwriters, including Ray Wylie Hubbard, Joe Ely, Eliza Gilkyson, Ruthie Foster, and the late Jimmy LaFave.”