ENTERTAINMENT

Micky Dolenz: Former Monkee will revisit hits at Brown County Music Center

Band's last surviving member to perform at Brown County Music Center

Connie Shakalis
Special to the H-T

Hey, hey, he's a Monkee, or at least he used to be. Micky Dolenz described his old performing group of four buoyant young men (the Monkees) as "the Beatles meets the Marx Brothers."

Micky Dolenz

"'The Monkees' were TV, radio, record companies and the music business all in one," he said over the phone. Until the 1960s, each had been fairly much its own separate industry.

Dolenz and his band will revisit the group's hits, including "Daydream Believer," "I'm a Believer" and "Last Train to Clarksville," along with other songs when he takes the stage at the Brown County Music Center in Nashville at 8 p.m. April 8.

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The Monkees pop-rock group was created as a reaction to the Beatles' popularity. Dolenz, born George Michael Dolenz in 1945, is the only surviving member. Davy Jones died in 2012, Peter Tork in 2019 and Mike Nesmith in 2021.

More than 400 performers applied for Monkee-ism. Four won the jobs of playing frisky mock Beatles in an American TV series "The Monkees," broadcast from 1966-68. Before being cast, Nesmith had written a few songs, and Tork had sung folk (and had that scrumptious smile). Jones had his appealing British accent and was also “the cute one” (according to rollingstone.com).

The Monkees, clockwise from from top left,  Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones,  were a band created for a TV show that ran from 1966 to 1968.

"The Monkees were much more like the Marx Brothers than the Beatles," Dolenz said.

Dolenz had acted as a child and had starred in the late 1950s TV series "Circus Boy." But on weekends, his father had him cleaning the swimming pool — no coddling for this actor.

By their third album, the Monkees had won the opportunity to play their instruments, instead of being backed by studio musicians.

"It was a lot of hard work. We did 52 episodes, and we were on the air for only two years." Today, that would be more like the equivalent of five years.

Dolenz grew up in a Hollywood-business family; both parents performed regularly. They could have chosen a Hollywood lifestyle but instead lived on little ranches, with horses.

"Both my parents were down to earth. I thought everybody's father was an actor," Dolenz recalled.

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"Dolenz Sings Nesmith" is Dolenz' new solo studio album, his first in nine years. It is songs Michael Nesmith wrote during his career, but reimagined. Nesmith’s son, Christian Nesmith, produced it for Monkees fans. 

"I am very, very proud of this album," Dolenz said. He mentioned, specifically, "Circle Sky" (from the 1968 movie "Head," an American musical satire written and produced by Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson starring the Monkees). Dolenz said the new version, on his album, vastly differs in style from the original.

"('Dolenz Sings Nesmith') just all came together. Mike (Nesmith) was such an incredible songwriter, and his son did such a wonderful job of restyling the songs."

It had occurred to Dolenz to make the album years ago, and he thinks maybe that's because he heard the album of his friend Harry Nilsson, "Nilsson Sings Newman." Dolenz' finished recording last year and also features some Monkees deep cuts, numbers that are less commercial.

His advice to music-business students is this: Get a good lawyer.

If you go

WHAT: Micky Dolenz of the Monkees.

WHEN: 8 p.m. April 8.

WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville, 812-988-5323.

TICKETS: browncountymusiccenter.com.