History According To Kerry Kearney
The Blues Don't Have To Be Sad

-by Barbara Bales

“W.C. Handy was the first musician to use the word 'blues' in a song. Robert Johnson was just 27 when he died, and he only wrote 29 songs. I think B.B. King is the ambassador for the blues. . ." So begins recording artist Kerry Kearney, who is as enthusiastic about the history of the blues as he is about the history of his own musical career.

"Let me tell you how all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place for me," continues the mercurial guitar player/singer/songwriter. "I'm from Queens, but in the late '80s I relocated to San Francisco, where I played the club circuit. After fin­ishing a gig one night, Marty Balin of The Jefferson Starship approached me. He said he heard the set and liked my guitar playing. He asked me to join his band! For the next five years I toured with Marty. We played all over the States, Germany, Russia. It was great. We recorded a full-length album called Better Generation which got airplay on WXRK here in New York. That's when deejay Pete Fornatale had us per­form live on his show, when he was still with WXRK. I had always been a sideman, but when Marty decid­ed to go to Florida to pursue his other interest, paint­ing, I came back to New York to do my own thing. I continued for a while playing in various bands throughout Queens, knowing I'd one day have my own band. Marty Balin gave me a real boost musi­cally; he encouraged me to be a vocalist as well."

That was the first part of the "puzzle". Soon, more pieces fell into place. A friend of Kerry's, Peter Hoffman, invested money in Kerry's demo. "It was a little independent CD and we only pressed a few hundred copies. But it was through Peter that I eventually met a huge agent, John Podell from ICM (International Creative Management). His roster has included artists like Peter Gabriel and The Allman Brothers. Since my friend Peter is a doctor, he has been behind the scenes at many concerts; I believe that nowadays a doctor is required to be at each show in case of a medical emergency. At one of those shows, Peter met John Podell and handed him my CD. John seemed impressed, so he asked David Wilkes of Mercury Records to come to one of our gigs."

Although Wilkes saw potential in Kearney, he passed on signing him because, according to Kerry, "Mercury Records was not taking on any electric Delta blues artists." But Wilkes urged some folks at the Greenwich Village-based Palmetto Records to check out the CD. "Meanwhile, John became our agent. We had an agent before we had a record deal," Kerry laughs. More puzzle pieces to follow....

Upon hearing his disc, the Palmetto Records crew did not feel the music was "rootsy enough" for their label. So he had to send them addi­tional material. "I taped myself playing the dobro in my bathtub, minus the water, of course. I then for­warded the tape to Palmetto. For one of our gigs at Manny's Car Wash in Manhattan, the Palmetto reps showed up and they were hooked! That's it." A bath­tub and a dream....

Within a week of hooking Palmetto Records with their sound, Kerry and his bandmates - Eileen "Little Steamrolller" Murphy, drums; Frank Celenza, bass; Jack Licitra, keyboards/accordion/backing vocals; Charlie Wolfe, harmonica - were signed. It was then that agent extraordinaire Podell told them to hurry up and put an album together. Explains Kerry, "John pushed us to complete an album really fast, and if we did, he promised to add us to The Allman Brothers tour by the summer of '99. So we went to a farm in Pennsylvania and recorded in a 200-year-old barn which had been converted into a studio." The CD borne out of that barn is entitled Kerry Kearney. The group kept their end of the deal and so did Podell. They opened for The Allman Brothers "all the way from Chicago to Boston for a total of ten shows. The tour was dubbed the NASCAR Rocks Tour," says Kerry. "It was a big promotion for NASCAR, which is not well known on the East Coast."

Other highlights of his musical career include several awards. A few years ago, Kerry met a WUSB deejay and member of the Long Island Blues Society named Bobby Sherman. (Note: Sorry girls, not "Bobby-the-teen-idol-whose-face-adorned-many-a-lunch -box Sherman.") "Bobby had heard my music on the radio station WGBB and invited me to be a guest on his show on WUSB, Stony Brook College's station. He introduced me to some people in the Long Island Blues Society. In 1998, the Long Island Blues Society held a contest. Their panel voted us Best Blues Band. We won the opportunity to play live at Bluestock in Memphis and to play at the Buck's County Blues Festival, the biggest one on the East Coast. In 1999, the Long Island Voice voted me Best Guitarist. I'm amazed at what's happened in the past few years!"

Although Kerry is no longer with Palmetto, he has had the utmost respect for them. "Palmetto Records' Matt Balisaris, Pat Rustici and Terry Coen had all been there for me since the beginning. We did a radio tour in the Northeast. The CD actually sold thousands of units around Long Island within a few months. We're stocked in Tower, HMV, Digital Disc, all the big chains, as well as the mom-and-pops. In Mississippi, we bumped Kenny Wayne Shepherd from the number one spot! Palmetto Records was listed in Gavin as hav­ing five jazz albums in the Top 20. In 1999, Palmetto had one jazz album included in The New York Times Top 10 Jazz Albums. It was a great label to be a part of."

Not surprisingly, Kerry cites as influences W.C. Handy, Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Mississippi John Hurt, Fred McDowell and Eric Clapton. "I try to incorporate the five or so different kinds of blues into my sets. Many people don't realize that each part of the country had its own blues style," he explains, "and not all blues tunes are about being sad. There's a happy, ragtime style of blues, too. Whenever an audience member asks us what kind of music we've played, then I feel we've succeeded. We want to bring all these forgotten voices into the new millennium."

Visit: www.kerrykearney.com
Listen to Kerry Kearney on webcds.com