The Jayhawks bring their 40th-anniversary tour to the Kentucky Theater

Touring 'Sanctuary Park,' their first album in six years, the Jayhawks play downtown Lexington on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Forty years is a long time to keep a band together, and longer still to keep it making records people want to hear. The Jayhawks are marking the milestone the best way a band can, with new songs and a long tour, and that tour reaches Lexington in two weeks: The Jayhawks play the Kentucky Theater on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are sold through the theater's ticketing link on this page.

The tour is billed as the Sanctuary Park Tour, celebrating 40 years of the Jayhawks, and it's built around the band's new album. Sanctuary Park came out Aug. 28 on Thirty Tigers, the band's first new album in six years. It was previewed with the lead single "Keeping Our Heads Above Water."

The record also reunites the band with a familiar collaborator. Bob Ezrin produced Sanctuary Park, the first time he has worked with the Jayhawks since producing their 2000 album, Smile. A 40th-anniversary record made with the producer from a quarter-century ago is a neat bit of symmetry for a band looking back and forward at the same time.

A 40th-anniversary record made with the producer from a quarter-century ago.

The Jayhawks have been on the road since summer, with fall dates added along the way, including New York's Town Hall on Oct. 23. The Lexington show sits in the middle of a busy November swing: Chapel Hill–Carrboro on Nov. 11, Atlanta on Nov. 12, Nashville on Nov. 13 and St. Louis on Nov. 14 before Lexington, then Indianapolis on Nov. 18 and Chicago on Nov. 19, on the way to a hometown stop at Minneapolis's State Theatre on Nov. 21.

Our show records don't include an earlier Lexington date for the band, which makes this one worth circling for anyone who has had to drive to Louisville, Nashville or Cincinnati to see them.

The Kentucky Theater is a good fit. The Jayhawks' usual headline rooms run about 830 capacity, and a downtown movie palace on a Tuesday night suits a band whose sound depends on harmonies you want to actually hear. It's a listening room as much as a concert, which is what this music rewards.

The listing files the Jayhawks under country, folk and rock, and the band has always lived somewhere in the overlap of all three. Expect the new Sanctuary Park songs alongside the catalog that has kept fans coming back for four decades.

Practical notes: the show starts at 7:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, so it's an easy weeknight out, with plenty of downtown options for dinner beforehand. Tickets are through the link on this page.

Some anniversary tours are victory laps. This one comes with a new record worth hearing, in a room built for hearing it.

Sources: The Jayhawks Celebrate 40 Years With New Album 'Sanctuary Park,' Single & Tour (JamBase) (jambase.com); The Jayhawks announce new album, tour, listen to 'Keeping Our Heads Above Water' (BrooklynVegan) (brooklynvegan.com); The Jayhawks announce new tour dates (American Songwriter) (americansongwriter.com); Sanctuary Park Tour: Celebrating 40 Years of the Jayhawks (Country Music Hall of Fame) (countrymusichalloffame.org); The Jayhawks 11/18/2026 Indianapolis (Forty5) (forty5.com); The Jayhawks 2026 (Hennepin Arts) (hennepinarts.org); The Jayhawks at Kentucky Theater (JamBase) (jambase.com)