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Harrison “Sweet Taste” Kennedy

www.harrisonkennedy.ca

The usual blues alchemy doesn’t often include being born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, or singing for four years with one of the hottest Detroit soul bands.  And it certainly doesn’t include a long career working as a supervisor in a chemical plant.  Clearly, Harrison Kennedy didn’t follow any traditional formula in becoming a bluesman.

But, explore a little, and you will find that all the basic elements that make up a deep bluesman were there from the start. For example, Harrison’s family made the traditional journey from the southern U.S. to the North. (They just kept going to steel country in Canada, and stayed there). And Harrison’s family was active musically—everyone played, sang, or listened to music. Touring musicians often joined the family at their dinner table and played and sang in their living room. Harrison says that he heard Lonnie Johnson at home many times and met Billie Holiday, among many others.

If you’ve got the voice - which Harrison Kennedy has - and you’ve got the story - again a big thumbs up - then there’s not much else you need to make a great blues album and - yes you’ve guessed it - Harrison Kennedy has made a great blues album.  Being born into a musical family with a banjo playing aunt who taught him “Hummin Blues” has obviously helped his cause.

However Voice and Story is built on the foundation of Harrison Kennedy’s own passion and talent.  In the 70s he was a member of the Detroit scene with Chairman Of The Board and after selling squillions of singles Kennedy hit the road to hone his talent as a blues man.

There’s a natural easiness about Harrison Kennedy’s take on the blues, his rich, velvety voice wraps around the lyrics like a cupped hand.  Everything on Voice and Story is rooted in something, whether it’s the gritty 40 Acres And A Mule (the promise made to freed slaves) or the relaxed “heat of the day” Recipe For Loving.

Harrison Kennedy provides his blues with a solid base; everything feels like it’s in the perfect place.  Voice and Story is not only the sum of 50 years experience but the culmination of generations of sometimes bitter history.