Peach Jam Podcast: Kevn Kinney

 

Caption

Kevn Kinney on Peach Jam

Credit: GPB

Jeremy Powell: I've read that Kevn Kinney and Drivn N Cryin is an Atlanta institution. What does that even mean?

Kevn Kinney: Well, you know, we were lucky enough to be in the mid 80s, so I guess, you know, back before the drinking age was still 18, we played a lot of fraternities and a lot of things in that in the in the circuit of people in the south, it was very easy to play Atlanta. But then you could do we had a circuit between Birmingham, Chattanooga, Charleston, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Greenville, and then like northern Florida. So we just circled that over and over and over again. So we've kind of intertwined our our life with people's college lives. And as they grow up and as they grew up, you know, we kind of became part of the fabric of of their of their life as they grew with us from 1985 to, you know, to 1995 and 2000. And now we're kind of seeing a bit of a resurgence between their their kids are kind of coming out.

On Let’s Go Dancing: Said the Firefly to the Hurricane the forthcoming 4-LP set of tribute recordings honoring Kevn Kinney

Jeremy Powell: But you do have musicians of all different sizes from from very famous to working musicians that are fans of you and your writing and your songs. And that's why Anna is here is because she can tell us about the project that that she's working on right now. And that's what I mean about being a musician's musician, is that there are very famous people that cite you as an influence and are fans of you.

Kevn Kinney: Hmm.

Anna Jensen: And I'm taking total advantage of that. So leading up to Kevn's 60th birthday, I. I tagged along with him when he went to record a song to honor Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls. Is that correct?

Kevn Kinney: Mm hmm.

Anna Jensen: And I just thought it was such a beautiful outpouring. I mean, it was because he had passed. And I thought, what a shame, you know, that we do these things for people after they've died. And I knew that Kevn's birthday was coming up. And then it became Covid times. So we couldn't celebrate properly in person, which we had hopes for, like maybe having a group concert with some of these friends that are musicians, like at the Fox or something. But we couldn't get together in person, and I knew that most people were at home with setups for like Facebook live streams, you know, to try to get through the pandemic. So it was just kind of perfect timing to. It wasn't a huge ask to invite his friends to all cover one of his songs. And then I put it together into a video to surprise him. And because so many people love Kevn and his music, it turned into over three hours of really incredible material. And I did have a sense all along that it would be something that should turn into a proper compilation album. So I was encouraged by some of his friends to do that, and I didn't know quite how involved I would be in the process. And it turned out that I would pretty much do it almost all by myself. Although I do have a great team of people that are contributing their efforts, like on the legal side and distribution and but I'm a painter, as I mentioned, I'm not a record producer by trade or by any experience so far, but I am a music lover and very much love Kevn's body of work, and I believe in him as an artist. And I just knew that we have to make this really a spectacular affair, and it is turning out to be quite incredible. So it's going to be four vinyl installations one per season starting on November 24th, which I believe which is around right when this will be airing and then one per season after that with four total and then digitally aggregate about 100 songs or 100 even is the plan and no repeats except the title of the project is Let's Go Dancing A Celebration of Kevn Kinney. And so each main release will feature a different style of interpretation of that song.

 

 

On being friends with famous musicians

Kevn Kinney: So, you know, so I yes, I still pinch myself because I, you know, you know, even like Peter Buck, who's one of my best friends, you know, when I worked at the sewage plant, I was living in Kennesaw and I was building the Roswell sewage plant. There's my first job here for $5.50 an hour. I had two cassettes, The Violent Femmes first record, and I had R.E.M. Reckoning, and I would sit there and had my seat on my 64 Belvedere driving to work. And it's still, you know, weird to me to be, you know. Having dinner with Peter Buck going "this guy was like, This is the guy from Reckoning. This is the guy from, you know." So, you know, I said, I actually, you know, I'm very grateful, but I'm still a huge music fan. You know, I love going to opening bands that open for us or, you know, I'll go stand right. Just like old school punk rock. I'll stand in the front row and I'll watch them. And, you know, I just love I love I love watching bands practice. You know, I went to Milwaukee not long ago and watched my friend's band practice. I just loved the whole generation of how music is created and and this the stress and all the things that go with the presentation and then all the things that can go wrong, you know, it's just going to be a disaster. You know, the guitar chords don't work or the pedals don't work. And so.

Anna Jensen: There's face planting.

Kevn Kinney: Face planting, you know, I've done that a couple of times is just tripping over chords and stuff. So I just love the whole thing about it.

The Peach Jam podcast from GPB features songs and stories from a

Caption

Peach Jam Podcast Host Jeremy Powell with Anna Jensen and Kevn Kinney

Credit: GPB

variety of the incredibly talented and diverse bands and artists who call the Peach State home.

Recorded live in our GPB studios, you get a front row seat for the intimate musical performances and free-flowing conversation from a truly eclectic variety of Georgia musicians. You can find more at GPB.org/PeachJamPodcast — please download and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform as well.