On Nov. 14, nine days after the 2024 election, violinist Dave Kline had a booking at Blues Alley that he called “The After Party.” The aptly named Dave Kline Band (whose music might best be described as world-jazz fusion) varies in personnel, but on this night at the storied Georgetown jazz club it featured guitarists Ken Avis and Buddy Speir, bassist TJ Turqman, drummer Olaolu Ajibade, and vocalist Lynn Veronneau. Sitting in was a Grammy-winning jazz trombonist Steve Davis, but the evening’s featured special guest was a harmonica player and singer of some renown (though not necessarily musical): newly reelected Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.
Kaine has become a regular sit-in with the Kline band; they usually play once or twice a year at Blues Alley and at least annually at Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill. “Dave’s got a full-service senator,” says Kaine, referring to his band membership. “I can help him get a pothole in his street fixed, or I can come be part of his music.”
On the 14th, in keeping with the recent election, the music in question was focused on freedom. All the songs performed were American in origin and ranged from Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street” and Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times” to Kline’s violin approximation of Jimi Hendrix’s famed take on “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Kaine plied an appealingly meaty sound on the harmonica, focused on the instrument’s middle register and filled with hearty, swinging chords. As a singer, Kaine’s not winning any contests, but he’s got a not-unpleasant, folksy voice that works well on rootsier, bluesier numbers. (He’s also got a winning stage presence, but that’s to be expected from a former governor and three-term senator.)
Hitting the bandstand in a T-shirt and jeans, Kaine’s vibe is that of a White, middle-aged dad just having fun—which, of course, he is. It’s just that he also happens to be chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues. Oh, and a former nominee for vice president of the United States.
Kaine’s certainly not unique in being a musical politician; we’ve all seen Bill Clinton playing sax on the Arsenio Hall Show. Hitting the clubs when you’re an incumbent, though, is decidedly less common.
The senator, however, loves having a reason to make music. “I taught myself to play the harmonica when I was 13, because I was really jealous of all my friends that had music lessons,” he says, recalling his Kansas City childhood. When he first came to Richmond, Virginia—where he served on the city council, then as mayor—it was somewhat of a secret; the only people who knew he played were his wife and his church choir.
But when he ran for governor in 2005, Kaine and his wife visited a bluegrass festival in Galax, a small town off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the southwestern part of the state. “My wife is a really good dancer to bluegrass music, and she started dancing and there was a lot of press there filming her, so then she said, ‘Okay, you’ve got to make a fool of yourself now,’” he recalls. “I asked somebody for a harmonica and they were like, ‘Oh, you’re a city slicker. You don’t know anything.’ I said, ‘Well, just tell me what key you’re in and I’ll be fine.’” He hit the stage to play a Carter Family tune.
Since then he’s been playing as often as his official duties will allow. Back in Richmond, Kaine plays with a bluegrass band, the Cary Street Ramblers; he’s continued hitting bluegrass and other music festivals around the state, and usually travels with several harmonicas.
In 2019, just after he began his second Senate term, Kaine connected with a real estate agent, Judy Cranford, to help him buy a condo in the area. “She says, ‘Wait, don’t you play music? My partner Dave has a band. You ought to play with [him] sometime.’” Kaine first joined the band onstage that November, augmenting their Hendrix tribute with a rendition of bluesman (and Hendrix idol) Jimmy Reed’s “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby.”
“They’re great musicians, real pros. We have a lot of fun,” Kaine says. “And I was feeling really good about myself—like my musician chops were getting really good. And my wife said, ‘You know, they just want you to sit in because you sell a few more tickets when they add you to the band.’ And it does swell the crowd a bit, so I admitted, ‘Yeah, OK, I see what my purpose is here.’”
Shortly after that first sit-in, though, the pandemic put an end to those. COVID-19 wrought havoc on the live entertainment industry in 2020; Blues Alley, which turned 55 years old that year, almost closed permanently. As such, Kaine was among the legislators that worked on the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program, which allowed the Small Business Administration to provide relief to entertainment venues around the country, including Blues Alley.
“I feel a little bit of a sense of personal pride and satisfaction that I was able to do that,” he says. “I just think that that venue is so wonderful.”
The real pride, though, comes with seeing his name on the famed Georgetown marquee when he began sitting in with Kline again. “What an honor it is for me, and just a pure enjoyment to get to be on stage with musicians of that caliber,” he says.
What’s a bigger honor? I ask: being on the marquee, or being nominated for vice president?
“You know, they’re both good,” Kaine replies. “But if I had to choose … I’ve had both of these experiences; which is the one that I would willingly and excitedly choose tomorrow? It’s being on the marquee at Blues Alley.”
Correction: The story has been updated; Kaine grew up in Kansas City, not Minnesota, and plays with the Cary Street Ramblers (not Cherry Street Ramblers) in Richmond.
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