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ERIC HARTMAN on Rickenbacker bass - KENNY on Rickenbacker guitars and lead sing-a-long
- JEFF MARINO on drums -
CHUCK VAUGHAN on Rickenbacker 12-string
The following Kenny-related projects kept Kenny off the streets and in the recording studio for a while. Some good stuff here, check 'em out:
- ORANGE HAT, with whom KH played Vox organ for many many many years - LINDSAY SMITH, whose last CD Kenny produced and played lots o' guitar on
Influences
British Invasion, Garage, Power Pop, ’80s pop. The Who, Cheap Trick, The Beatles, etc. You know what I mean.
Some reviews:
"Kenny Howes’ Lady Friend contains some of the finest tunes the guitar ace has ever committed to tape." - John Borack, Amplifier magazine
"The new Kenny Howes album Lady Friend totally rocks."
- kErrY kOMpOsT, kompost.blogspot.com
"Lady Friend is no-frills pop-rock with traces of glam, indie and garage thrown into the mix...impossible to ignore."
- Kevin Mathews, Going Underground
"Kenny Howes...is an indie power pop classic who straps on his 12-string Rickenbacker and rips up the power pop genre."
- Not Lame Recordings
"Some people get their hands on a Rickenbacker and they start making these really wussy, twangy sounds. Howes puts it through a cranked up class-A amp, hot to a 2" 16 track board...the man first caught my attention at The Troubadour in L.A. a few years ago when he tore the place up on a scorching version of The Who’s "The Seeker" with Pat DiNizio from The Smithereens and an absolutely bashing Clem Burke from Blondie. That’s where he’s coming from...this is SO my cup of tea."
- Corin Ashley, The Big Takeover (Issue 52), July 2003
"Kenny is a star with real panache and an exhilarating live presence."
- Robin Wills, UK magazine Bucketful of Brains (Issue 63), Jan 2003
"Howes digs his old Who and Big Star records and channels that enthusiasm into rousing, unpretentious rock ’n’ roll with a pronounced ’60s and ’70s bounce."
- Steve Dollar, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Although I’d never heard of Kenny Howes until I got [his] compilation of remixed and remastered songs from his first 3 CD’s (all originally on AAJ Records and now out of print); one trip through The Right Idea and I was heading to eBay to try to find the originals...hopefully someone out there will have sense enough to reissue the originals, because this stuff needs to be heard."
- Geoff Melton, In Music We Trust, June 2001
"Weaned on the masters of power pop, Howes’ sound evokes classic artists like The Beatles and The Who while retaining his own identity."
- Bill Holmes, Cosmik.com
"Kenny Howes is my hero. Why? Because he consistently creates music that is evocative of the pop spirit born in the likes of The Beatles and early Who and Kinks while often charging things up with the raucousness of Cheap Trick - and often with reverence for all points in-between...with a past like this, the future can only be bright."
- Claudio Sossi, Shake It Up! , June 2000
"The songs are smart and just the slightest bit familiar, even if you have never heard them before."
- babysue magazine, June 2000 issue
"It’s no wonder this guy has become a favorite among pop music reviewers across the country. I can’t figure out why a record company has not signed this fellow, as his material is eons better than most of the pop slop that comes into this office..."
- babysue magazine, September 1998 issue
"Rickenbacker-wielding pop star Kenny Howes is a talent deserving your ear time. "
- Bill Holmes, Consumable
"...an innocent and delightful tribute to an age when pop meant popular, and choruses were meant for singing along to."
- Hal Horowitz, Atlanta Press
"When Howes hits his mark, i.e. a bullseye on the perfect pop target, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be selling as many records as Evan Dando or Matthew Sweet."
- FOCUS magazine, June 1995
"These songs are honest and memorable."
- MOON magazine, May 1995
"Howes offers personal glimpses with a simple delivery and refined songwriting talent...infectious progressions that are both meaningful and frivolous, in a variety of sonic settings."
- JAM magazine, April 1995
"Howes is good at what he does, and it’s obviously a labor of love."
- JAM, March 1996
Kenny Howes writes songs, makes and produces records, and jumps and kicks on stage. He’s from the South, but now he’s in the West. He fully embraces his influences yet constantly redefines his own musical guidelines. He continues to carry the torch for traditional power-pop and rock-n-roll while eschewing the trappings of the form. Reverent, yes. Copycat? No!!!
He just wants to rock.
Like what you’ve heard here? You can buy Kenny Howes CDs at CD Baby, you know.
Love that photo of you and Pete Yorn! I've seen him twice, and I've seen you like a hundred times...or however many times you played at Bullwinkle's while I was behind the bar. Hope Cali is treating you well. I'm drinking a German beer and doing just fine...
