|
Singer songwriter Liz Kennedy joined with award-winning producer and engineer Joel Jaffe in recording her debut album "Clean White Shirt", followed by 2 more cds, "Nothing Like An Angel" and "A Good Peach". Kennedy cites as her influences Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Randy Newman and Carole King. Her albums reflect elements and influences of folk, jazz and blues. Her clean, straightforward and basic approach is like a "Clean White Shirt," which goes with just about anything. "Clean White Shirt" is symbolic of all that is fresh and clean. One listen proves that Liz Kennedy wears it well.
Jaffe offers that Kennedy is "one of the greatest lyricists and has musicality that you seldom find. Her lyrical content locks you up in its web. I have never heard anybody whose lyrics grab me like hers." Such props are pretty heavy acclaim when they come from a master studio producer and engineer that has worked with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur and Ringo Star, and from someone whose studio has housed artists like Kirk Franklin and other pop icons.
Surrounded by first class studio musicians, a few of which include Eamon Flynn (The Commitments, Elvin Bishop), Jamie Brewer (Whisperers, Michelle Shocked), Billy Johnson (Santana, Maze), Jim Pugh (Chris Isaacs, Robert Cray), Jim Rothermel (Boz Skaggs, Van Morrison, John Prine), George Brooks, Mike Rinta and others. Kennedy tantalizingly flaunts her skills as a crafter of songs, while her delivery is flawless. Kennedy explains, "I really like the mix of electric and acoustic music on the albums." It is solely Kennedy who plays acoustic piano on the first album. Unlike many songwriters, Kennedy's approach is to write her music first, which then inspires her deeply felt, highly reflective lyrics. Great background vocals add to many of the tracks, Jeannie Tracy, Keta Bill, Sakai, Claythoven Richardson and Larry Batiste.
Her daughter, Samantha Riney, contributes acoustic guitar and voice on several tracks, most notably, "The Mother In Me," in which Kennedy sings, "I'm the woman behind the man you'll never be." She says "it's a song about valuing ourselves as a woman and as a mother." Witnessing the critical acclaim she is receiving, Kennedy says that the strong positive response to certain songs has brought her to the conclusion that "some men seem to like strongly female driven music." When it is sung with a voice like Kennedy's, it would be impossible to not be attracted to it.
|
