There was a time… long ago, when physical paper posters proclaimed: ‘Heat the Tar & Pluck the Hen – It’s Washboard Hank & Reverend Ken’!

Xerox machines fueled the frenzied furor that ensued as this small town duo began their life-long musical journey…first as street musicians playing pop-up shows from Nashville to Memphis & from Vancouver to San Francisco. Washboard Hank – Reverend Ken & their pal Wheatstraw the Wonderdog cruised the continent in a pickup truck living the carefree Kerouac inspired hand-to-mouth existence of buskers. For them….a week of musical panhandling in one town & it was high time to move on.

These two wacky itinerants claimed to be members of the ‘Church of the Open Bottle’ whose motto was ‘Let The Spirits Enter The Body’. They staged ‘Appliance Healing’ sessions, made their own tubas from kitchen sinks & roasted TV Evangelists with ironic comedy songs that had people rolling in the aisles with laughter. An early love of bluegrass, country folk & gospel music gave Hank & Ken a foundation for tunes they created as musical nomads in a pre-digital age.

After a subsequent swing through the 80’s of festival & television appearances with their band “The Lost Followers’ Hank & Ken parted ways to lead separate musical careers. Now 50 years later…. these old pals have reunited to bring levity and fun to new & younger audiences – & to the older ‘Lost Followers’ who were singing along with them in the good old days. Stewart Park music fans might remember the lads from workshops and late night hijinx at Blue Skies festival in Lanark County.