Songwriter, Storyteller Liz Kennedy Releases "Hike Up Your Socks" Featuring Blues Great Taj Mahal Friday, September 15thThe eclectic singer rolls out a new collection of rootsy songs featuring top Bay area players and produced by veteran producer Joel Jaffe.
By: Liz Kennedy The 12 track collection is produced by Joel Jaffe whose credits include Maria Muldaur, Lenny Williams and Magic Christian. Jaffe helmed Kennedy's previous recordings, Clean White Shirt, A Good Peach, Nothing Like an Angel and Speed Bump. Jaffe plays guitars, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and ebow joining several other Bay Area greats including keyboardist Eammon Flynn, drummer Billy Johnson, bassist Marc Levine, accordionist Pete Contino, fiddler Suzy Thompson, and background vocalists Omega Rae and Lorin Rowan. "Everyone Knows How It Goes" introduces the sound of the album. Kennedy wrote the tune after heading off with a pack of her old friends to Desert Trip, the 2016 classic rock festival in Indio, CA some affectionately dubbed "Oldchella". "This song is a tribute to Neil Young and also to Taj Mahal, who joined me in recording it," Kennedy says. "It is a tribute to the fine music that defined us and still does. We would all just be lumps of skin and hair in a corner somewhere without that music holding us together, giving us shape and form. We worshiped them all, and we learned their songs in cramped rooms 'with candles and wine.' " The fascinating part of Kennedy's writing process is the wide and unexpected sources of inspiration. Sometimes sad, as on the plaintive, haunting "Not Ready," a song about her late husband Michael's passing. "His death was awful, yet beautiful. It's strange how sadness can enrich feelings." Other times, it's from a more whimsical thought, as on the jaunty title track "Hike Up Your Socks." When it comes to love, Kennedy can be happily blindsided ("Hello Romance,") cleverly cautious ("Heart Test") or longing to rediscover the joy that seems to be adrift ("On the Water"). One of the most entertaining moments is "The Best Worst Times," a French and New Orleans flavored romp about a trip with college friends to Europe gone awry. "The album is more rootsy than anything I've done before in two ways," she says. "First, there's the overall acoustic sound of the instruments, incorporating rock and blues elements, coupled with the fact that I'm digging deeper into my own folk music roots as a kid of the 60's." http://www.lizkennedymusic.com Media Contact Open All Nite Entertainment steve@openallnite.com 8188925564 Photos: https://www.prlog.org/ https://www.prlog.org/ https://www.prlog.org/ End
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