Bonnie Prince Billy, Armand Hammer, William Parker + more to play Tubby's 5 yr Anniversary Fest

Kingston, NY: On the last weekend of September, Tubby's (586 Broadway, Kingston, NY) is throwing a weekend of shows to celebrate their five-year anniversary. The Friday and Saturday shows, which are already sold out, are at Tubby's. Sunday is the peak with an all-day block party in a cul-de-sac down the street (Field Court) which still has tickets available.

The festival boasts a diverse roster of musicians from the who's who of the underground, featuring both recent bands and more established veterans. The lineup spans multiple genres, including outsider rock (Bush Tetras, ONO), jazz (William Parker Joe McPhee Cooper-Moore), hip hop (Armand Hammer/billy woods, Akai Solo), ambient/drone (Bitchin Bajas, Photay), slowcore pioneers (Codeine), and the iconic Bonnie Prince Billy.

Among the notable acts hailing from the five boroughs are 75 Dollar Bill, Frankie Rose, Zenizen, P.E., Weak Signal, and Weeping Icon. Additionally, there is a strong presence of artists from the Midwest and Texas, including Idle Ray, Water Damage, and Hidden Ritual. From across the globe, Egyptian artist Nadah El Shazly and South Korea's TENGGER round out this three-day festival. As the date approaches, DJs and additional acts will be sprinkled in.

Tubby's, established in 2018 in an unassuming brick corner building that has been a bar since the early 1900s, swiftly gained a reputation as a popular Hudson Valley venue and local hangout. Inside this modest location, a scene of emerging and well-established bands cross paths on a near-nightly basis. Focusing mostly on touring acts either leaving or heading to NYC, the stream of great bands is seemingly endless. Bands that have no business playing in a neighborhood bar perform here regularly: past shows include Iceage, Sheer Mag, Black Midi, !!!, Steve Gunn, Jeff Parker, OFF!, Onedia, MIKE, Ted Leo, Meridian Brothers, Protomartyr, Woods, Kevin Morby, Quasi, Bridget St John, Wolf Eyes, Black Marble – the list goes on. It's a special place where mind-blowing experimental jazz, noisy punk rock, heartfelt indie rock, and avant garde ambient sounds go down right next to the neighborhood barflys.

Tubby's is run by four owners and a small staff of mostly touring musicians. Cory Plump toured in various bands for about 10 years while living in Austin, TX. He and Morgan Coy ran a label (Monofonus Press) for many years in Austin before Morgan moved to the Hudson Valley and Cory and his wife, Katy McElroy, moved to Mexico City. One weekend, Cory and Katy visited Morgan and the dream was hatched: A Kingston neighborhood bar/venue with a focus on treating musicians with extreme respect – euro style. Cory and Katy packed up again and moved to Kingston and the three of them made it happen in 2018. Cory continues to book all the shows at Tubby’s. The fourth partner, Drew Piraino, is a seasoned musician himself who came up in the Baltimore straight edge scene before moving over into the post rock and trad folk world. He took the reins as bar manager when the bar reopened in 2021 after the pandemic, and in 2022, he became an owner.