Ally Venable Band’s free concert tonight at Dodson! (W/VIDEO)

Coming home.

Not many words in the English language bring out so much emotion.

Blues guitarist and Kilgore native Ally Venable still calls the City of Stars her home – but it’ll be a different kind of homecoming on the the stage at W.L. Dodson Auditorium, on the campus of Kilgore College tonight.

And Ally, along with the members of the Ally Venable Band, is planning on playing to a full house.

Venable, whose recording career has taken her literally around the world since it took off in the last decade, will welcome friends, family, fans, and anyone who just loves great music to Dodson – that is, anyone who can still get in – at 7:30 p.m. tonight for a concert, the very same concert that Venable fans from Texas to Tucson to Tuscany pay hundreds to get into. It’s free, right here in Kilgore.

Now, there is no charge to get in, but you do have to reserve a seat. Here’s how to do that.

Go online here: Ally Venable and the Ally Venable Band at WL Dodson Auditorium, April 19. Find your seat, of the remaining seats that are available, add it to the virtual cart, and you’re set. Up to six tickets can be reserved per e-mail. Concert-goers under 16 do have to be accompanied by an adult.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the show.

For anyone who kept up with Ally’s career, especially anyone from Kilgore, they’re likely aware that Ally’s parents raised her here in Kilgore and she’s a Kilgore High School graduate – she has not even had her first high school reunion (she graduated in 2017).

Her interest in music, particularly the blues rock genre, began way before that, as a child.

She heads up The Ally Venable Band – here’s their website: Ally Venable Band: New-Age Blues Rock Music. Ally and the band is represented by Ruf Records.

Their new album, Money & Power, is available on the site already, and it’s officially released this coming Friday, April 18. Money & Power will be available at the concert, as will all sorts of AVB merchandise.

Here is the official music video for the title track, “Money & Power.”

Get to know Ally from the site, but start here.

“Ally began singing at church at four and picked up the guitar at age 12. By 13, she started her own band and through her early influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan captured the passion and yearning for more in the blues genre. Early releases No Glass Shoes (2016) and Puppet Show (2018) started her fanbase, charting radio play, and several East Texas Music Awards,” from the bio section on the website.

The band regularly charts on Blues Billboard, and Ally hit a HUGE career milestone – actually, she’s hit several in the last few years – but in 2022, Guitar World Magazine named her No. 2 on the top 15 “Young Guns Making the Gibson Les Paul Cool Again.” She also won the Road Warrior Award, a part of Independent Blues Music Awards.

She’s toured with legends and her own personal musical heroes Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, not just domestically but in Europe. She’s been able to work with legendary guitarist Joe Bonamassa. And she’s performed as a featured artist at the Experience Hendrix Show at the ACL Live at Austin’s Moody Theater.

Previous albums have also included Texas Honey (2019), which was huge, No. 2 on the Billboard Blues charts; Heart of Fire (2021), and more recently, 2023’s Real Gone.

And now, Money & Power is added to the list, her sixth album and one that might be her biggest yet.

“I’m thrilled to release this album,” Venable said, in a brief section on the site that discusses Money & Power. “For me, it’s a sonic embodiment of a woman’s unstoppable ambition, and really showcases my musicality on all fronts. I’m looking forward to seeing where this one will take me.”

Opening for Ally on Saturday will be Gary Hoey. His website: Gary Hoey | The Official Gary Hoey Website.

Ally is at the Woodlands on Friday before the Kilgore show at Dodson. The Money & Power Tour has her all over the place: dates in Oklahoma, Kansas City and St. Louis, and Tennessee round out April; May takes the band to Georgia and South Carolina, then a Northeastern swing to Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts; they’re in Chicago and Ohio in June; and they’re headed back to Europe in October.

And a special thanks to Kilgore College for hosting Ally, and helping to make this concert possible.