For Kimmie Rhodes and Co., Monday Nights at Saxon Pub Are a HOME for “Old Austin”

Kimmie Rhodes (photo by Jme Lacombe)

Kimmie Rhodes has plenty of material to fill a weekly Saxon Pub residency, but even if the series touts the veteran singer-songwriter’s name, Monday nights at the South Lamar venue aren’t really about her.

For the second annual Kimmie & Friends Play for HOME series, Rhodes taps a slew of fellow Austin lifers to share music, writing, comedy, and more, all for the benefit of Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers.

“It’s like Willie said: ‘Life I love is playing music with my friends,’” says Rhodes, a board member of the nonprofit. She began the Saxon Pub series last year, after owner Joe Ables asked her to play her own music.

“I said, ‘Well, I don't really want to just go play my songs every week and do a residency, but I would love to try this idea I’ve had for a long time, which is to just bring back the old Austin spirit of people [playing together],” she explains. “When I first came to town in ’79, we would all go to each other’s gigs and sit in and play. I couldn’t have a band that didn’t turn into a 10-piece band pretty quickly in the early days.”

All of the proceeds from the series – tickets are $15 – go to HOME, which provides grants to aging Austin musicians to help them pay rent, utilities, and other housing expenses. Originally launched in 2012 to help secure shelter for local blues legend Miss Lavelle White, the organization now touts 27 clients, according to founding member Marcia Ball.

Rhodes, who graduated from HOME’s advisory board to its regular board a couple of months ago, says she focuses more on fundraising and awareness rather than client relations. According to the musician, last year’s residency raised $25,000 for the nonprofit, while a guitar signed by participating artists went for $18,000. Another raffle is live now; the winner will be drawn at the final show of this year’s series, which lands on Monday, Nov. 11.

Earlier this week, Ball joined Lawrence and Gordon Wright in kicking off the 2024 residency with songs from the musical version of Mr. Texas, Lawrence Wright’s 2023 novel of the same name. Next week, long-running Beatles cover band The Eggmen takes the stage, while other upcoming shows feature appearances by playwright Jaston Williams, singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin, and Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson.

Underlining the program’s charitable focus, Rhodes reminds, “All the musicians are playing for free. I come from the Willie Nelson Farm Aid school of, ‘All the money goes to the cause.’ And I’m all for paying musicians, but on this one, it’s musicians helping musicians.”

The spirit of collaboration is so strong, Rhodes says, that she formed a new band out of last year’s residency. What started as a song called “Happyland” now acts as a group – rounded out by Johnny Goudie, Shawn Pander, John Chipman, and Harmoni Kelley, plus Rhodes’ son, Gabriel, and grandson, Louis – that the singer describes as “Just a feel good band, no bummers.” The outfit performs Nov. 11.

The gigs run from 6-7:30pm every Monday – the perfect time, Rhodes says, as few musicians have shows on Monday nights. “And by 7:30, we’re done and we go eat tacos and party and enjoy our adrenaline rush that we’re having from all the fun we had,” she adds. “We hang out with the audience members a lot on the patio. It’s just a party every Monday night.”

Despite its spirit of fun, the series was borne out of a vital need to support Austin’s elders, Rhodes notes. Besides the obvious difficulties faced by every musician in the city – a rising cost of living, depleted financial gains due to the streaming model, the COVID-19 gap – she emphasizes that it was the work of past generations that made Austin such a desirable destination.

“The people that came here to play music, that were at the top of their game when I first came here, are older now, and it’s hard to pay your rent and still live here,” Rhodes says. “And so we want to keep Austin rockin’. We want those people to still be able to play music.

“We don’t want our legendary, valuable musicians, who gave their whole life to playing music in this town, to have to move outside of Austin now. It just seems wrong.”