Exile’s 60 Years Of Music To Be Featured In Two New KET Productions

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Pictured (L-R): Exile’s JP Pennington, Steve Goetzman, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire and Marlon Hargis. Photo: KET

Exile will be featured in in two new productions—Exile: 60 Years of Music and Exile: Live in Concert by KET (The Kentucky Network)—in March. The projects commemorate the award-winning band’s 60th anniversary as performers and songwriters.

Premiering March 2 at 5:30 p.m. CT on KET, Exile: 60 Years of Music chronicles the band’s rock ‘n’ roll roots in Richmond, Kentucky to their 1978 pop hit “Kiss You All Over” that topped the Billboard charts, to their reinvention as a hit-making country band. Through rare photos and home movies filmed over 50 years ago, and rarely seen archival musical footage, this documentary chronicles 60 years on the road with a true Kentucky original.

Exile: Live in Concert, scheduled for March 5 at 7 p.m. CT, was recorded at the historic Renfro Valley Entertainment Center in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky, and celebrates the band’s 60th anniversary. The one-hour film captures the band in classic form, sporting all five of its central members, including J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny Lemaire, Marlon Hargis and Steve Goetzman. The performance, recorded Nov. 4, 2023, features many of their biggest hits, including “Kiss You All Over,” “Keep It in the Middle of the Road,” “She’s a Miracle,” “It’ll Be Me,” “Give Me One More Chance” and more.

“We’re excited to have our journey documented by KET,” says Exile. “We’re in hopes that our fans, old and and new, enjoy seeing it as much as we did making it.”

“I wanted viewers of this film to know the full story, which traces the band’s history back to 1963,” says KET Producer Thomas Thurman. “I feature some of their earliest recordings, like ‘It’s Alligator Time’ and ‘A Game Called Hurt,’ from 1966. The timing of making this documentary was perfect for me as the director. It coincided with the release of their new album A Million Miles Later, so it allowed me to portray just how relevant and powerful this band remains. So many people know the song ‘Kiss You All Over’ and the band’s massive success in country music. But the band is so much more than that. That’s what I try to present to viewers. A documentary about Exile wouldn’t be fair or accurate without emphasizing the importance of their original lead singer Jimmy Stokley, who died in 1985. In many ways, he’s at the heart of this story I tell,”

Earlier this year, Exile announced the release of A Million Miles Later, the group’s first album of original music in over 30 years.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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