The Kennedys-Better Dreams (2008-VBR-Country&Folk)

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-=Review=- by Jeff Lincoln



Think the Sixties are over? The hipster-hippie duo of husband and wife Pete and Maura Kennedy say nay, and have devoted an entire album "inspired by their dreams" to prove it. They hail from Northampton, Mass. where political leanings turn left, and some of the lyrical content here bears that out, as in "Give Me Back My Country" and "American Wish." Heavy-handed grave calls for Jefferson and Franklin could definitely roll the eyes of those not so like-minded.



Still, this record can really grow on you, with jingle-jangle guitar arrangements that evoke Roger McGuinn and appeals to a sitar when all else fails. (There is a country vibe on several tracks, but this is not exactly straightahead country or roots music).



The best tracks are almost all front-loaded, with the opener "Breathe" a breezy standout, followed by the catchy "Speed of Soul." Maura Kennedy's vocal delivery charms on command and ironically harmonizes best with people other than her husband. Her voice's most distinctive quality is how it holds together without turning ghoulish down at the lower registers.



When they focus more on singular topics that can serve as a metaphor, as in the haunting "Sago Mine," their twin talents win over new converts for sure. A little musical time travel can shed some light on the present, and the Kennedys have an agreeable peace train ride waiting for the willing.



-=About the Artist=-



Pete and Maura Kennedy's personal and professional relationship, now in its second decade, is a cross between fate and a fairytale, in which a chance meeting in Austin between the two East Coast-born musicians sparked a songwriting collaboration, a first date at Buddy Holly's grave, and a romantic and creative partnership that radiates warmth, positive energy, and captivating music.



In 1992, Virginia native Pete Kennedy was playing at an Austin club on a brief sabbatical from his duties as country-folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith's lead guitarist when he met former Syracuse, NY, resident Maura Boudreau, enjoying a night off from performing with her own country-rock band, The Delta Rays. They wrote their first song together the following day before Pete returned to the road, and rendezvoused ten days later at mutual hero Buddy Holly's grave in Lubbock, Tex., 500 miles equidistant between them.



When Griffith needed a harmony singer on short notice for a British tour in Spring '93, Maura was the obvious choice, and her touring life alongside Pete began. En route to England, Nanci informed the duo that they would serve as the opening act for many of the tour's shows, as well as performing in her backing band. Needing material to fill their set, Pete and Maura wrote an inspired batch of songs in Dublin that became the basis of their first album, 1995's River of Fallen Stars , which earned an "Indie" award as "Best Adult Contemporary CD" by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors.



The body of work The Kennedys have created since their 1994 marriage reflects their musical and philosophical influences and experiences separately and together. A child of the '50s, Pete picked up a guitar after seeing The Beatles perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and was soon playing in a garage band while absorbing the new sounds of folk-rock. After a year of studies at Boston College, Pete "started to lose interest in pop and got into taking the long view of the guitar." Back in Virginia, he immersed himself in studying classical and jazz guitar with master players Joe Pass and Johnny Smith. The rise of the "alt.country" scene in the mid-'80s reignited his interest in contemporary music and Pete became a first-call session player in the Washington, DC, area. When a vacancy opened as Mary Chapin Carpenter's lead guitarist, Pete moved into her band. On a final show with Carpenter in 1991, Pete sat in with fellow performer Nanci Griffith, was invited to join her group, and accepted.



Meanwhile, Maura Boudreau was working in a used record store in Syracuse in the mid-'80s, discovering Fairport Convention, the British Invasion bands of the Sixties, and country-rock singer Emmylou Harris, whose recordings led Maura to the music of Patsy Cline and the Louvin Brothers. She subsequently formed the Delta Rays and started writing original songs. A trip to Austin's SXSW music showcase convinced Maura to relocate her band there.



After Pete and Maura's 1992 meeting and several years of touring and recording together with Griffith, the duo seceded amicably from her group and became The Kennedys, recording CDs that encompass their favorite musical styles and incorporating the naturalistic, transcendental and mythological teachings of Campbell, Tolle, Whitman, and various Eastern-oriented philosophers into their music and lives. Their goal is to live in and appreciate every second of sensation, imbuing their music with a sense of wonder and freshness.



-=Product Description=-



Inspiration is where you find it - or it finds you. Open to every moment, the much-traveled married duo of Pete and Maura Kennedy have spun their personal experiences, musical influences and philosophical beliefs into nine previous albums of winsome original songs, frequently seasoned with exquisitely-performed cover tunes, that blend acoustic-based folk, rock, country, pop and secular gospel into an inclusively delightful sound that's all their own.



After celebrating some of their favorite "road music" by other songwriters on their previous CD, Songs of the Open Road , The Kennedys recorded Better Dreams, their first CD of all-original material in seven years, inspired by a pair of seminars they conducted on "using dreams to unlock your creativity." "All of these songs have something to do with the dreamtime," where "we have a different kind of freedom there," they explain.



Time and space become fluid in the dreams The Kennedys have translated into these songs. The cleansing "eternal now" flows through the CD-opening "Breathe," which counsels, "Breathe into a new life, breathe out all the old times." The tricky path to love is illuminated on "I Found a Road" and "Light My Way." Real life nightmares rush into folk history ("Sago Mine," about the January 2006 mining disaster in West Virginia) or flood the modern day (both "Give Me Back My Country" and "American Wish" lament the draining of civil liberties in post-9/11 America). The dream state itself can be a lifeboat (as on the Eastern-tinged title song and "In My Dreams"), an exhausting anchor ("No Mornings"), or, to mix metaphors, an exhilarating rocket ride to a metaphysical sock-hop ("Speed of Soul"). Appropriately, the CD concludes with an ethereal, near wordless hymn to the ultimate dream - peace ("Pacé")



Whatever the scenario, The Kennedys use their full palette of vocal and instrumental colors to bring their songs to glowing life. Maura's lead vocals range from comforting to yearning, from girlish to womanly, from exuberant to delicate, sometimes bolstered by her own sweet harmonies and those of Pete and several guests. As usual, multi-instrumentalist Pete provides a vibrant tapestry of chiming, jangling and twanging guitars, as well as mandolin, keyboards, bass and drums, interwoven with Maura's sturdy acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica and glockenspiel.



____________________________________________________________________



ARTIST: The Kennedys

TITLE: Better Dreams

LABEL: Village Records

GENRE: Folk-Rock

TIME: 39:04 min

SIZE: 52,4 MB

RIP DATE: Feb-15-2008

RELEASE DATE: Jan-22-2008

WEBSITE: n/a



Track List:



01. Breathe 04:08

02. Speed of Soul 03:08

03. I Found A Road 03:04

04. No Mornings 03:08

05. Better Dreams 02:31

06. Give Me Back My Country 03:06

07. American Wish 04:02

08. Sago Mine 03:48

09. Light My Way 03:23

10. In My Dreams 02:38

11. Kindred Spirits 03:09

12. Pace 02:59



Release Notes:



2008 studio release from The Kennedys. Inspiration

is where you find it - or it finds you. Open to

every moment, the much-traveled married duo of Pete

and Maura Kennedy have spun their personal

experiences, musical influences and philosophical

beliefs into nine previous albums of winsome

original songs, frequently seasoned with

exquisitely-performed cover tunes, that blend

acoustic-based folk, rock, country, pop and secular

gospel into an inclusively delightful sound that's

all their own. 5 stars. The Kennedys ease back on

the poppier side of their upbeat brand of folk-rock

on their ninth studio album, Better Dreams, in favor

of a more introspective approach. While Maura

Kennedy and Pete Kennedy remain as tuneful as ever

on these 12 new songs, a more subdued approach seems

to have been dictated by the material; most of the

songs on Better Dreams were inspired by images from

Maura and Pete's own dreams, and while "Breathe" and

"Speed of Soul" find playful and upbeat stories to

tell in their after-dark reveries, much of the album

deals with weightier themes. Better Dreams is a

thoughtful album that reflects on a somber time in

American history, but it also speaks of a sincere

belief in better days and higher ideals, and it

demonstrates why the Kennedys are one of the most

compelling acts on the contemporary folk

scene. AMG.