Nashville singer Kat Jones plays Black Friday music festival at Peeve’s Public House

Kat Jones gets back to Fresno about once a year, usually around the holidays. It’s generally a family visit.

The Nashville singer-songwriter (by way of Fresno, then Portland) books at least one gig while she’s in town.

“Fresno is such a huge part of my etymology. It’s a huge part of who I am as a performer,” says Jones, who is part of the Taking Black Friday mini-music festival 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27, at Peeve’s Public House on the Fulton Mall. The free, all-ages concert features a lineup of mostly local bands, including Brother Luke and the Comrades, Sleeve, Beastmaker, Conversation, Light Thieves, Reptoid, Slow Sword, Planets Live in Houses and Dirty Limbs.

During a stretch in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jones was counted as one of Fresno’s biggest musical advocates and ambassadors. She played locally and toured regionally. She mentored like-minded artists and got mentions in Esquire and Paste.

Jones was likewise active in Nashville, Tenn., and Portland, Ore., while continuing to tour and market her songs. She recently inked a licensing deal that might get her music on television. Fingers crossed.

For the past year, Jones been playing with a collection of Nashville musicians under the name the Prophets – as in Kat Jones & the Prophets. The group (Andrew Collins, Ryan Stubbs, Chris Murphy and Megan Coleman) is working on an album for next year.

“Every show has just been weird,” Jones says of the band’s initial live outings.

She means weird in a good way.

The band’s first gig was played to an audience that included Rolling Stone guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. The pair somehow managed to sneak into the club and stand at the end of the bar, incognito.

“No one except me and the bartender saw them,” Jones says.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Nashville singer Kat Jones plays Black Friday music festival at Peeve’s Public House."