In which band does Lenny Kaye play guitar?

Lenny Kaye plays guitar in the Patti Smith Group. His partnership with singer and poet Patti Smith helped shape the band’s distinctive blend of literary performance, garage rock, and early punk.

Kaye first became closely associated with Smith in the early 1970s. He played electric guitar at her early poetry performances and helped develop the musical group that eventually became the Patti Smith Group. The lineup expanded to include musicians such as Ivan Kral, Richard Sohl, and Jay Dee Daugherty.

The group’s debut album, Horses, was released in 1975 and became a landmark of New York’s emerging punk scene. Kaye also produced Smith’s early single “Hey Joe” backed with “Piss Factory,” and he contributed to the band’s follow-up albums Radio Ethiopia, Easter, and Wave.

A related fact readers often miss is that Kaye is also a respected music historian and writer. He compiled Nuggets, a highly influential anthology of 1960s garage and psychedelic rock. Although the Patti Smith Group’s classic lineup changed over time, Kaye remained one of Smith’s most important musical collaborators.