New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Tarrytown, NY-based folk-rock duo The Kennedys (Pete and Maura Kennedy) are set to release their first album of all newly minted, original songs in five years. Entitled Headwinds, the album finds the couple producing, engineering, and mixing the album themselves, as well as playing all of the instruments, with the exception of drums contributed by Vince Santoro on the song "New Set of Wheels." Pete mastered the tracks himself.
For the songwriting pair, it's a strong return to the studio and stage after three years of weekly live-streamed, lockdown-era concerts. They took the opportunity to explore classic songwriting in depth, performing over a thousand songs during the pandemic. That vast overview strengthened and refined their own writing and laid the foundation for this new collection of original, socially conscious songs.
"After such a deep dive into American roots music, we felt like we had a new set of writing tools," says Maura. "We were ready to create this body of work, and there's just so much to write about. During our five-year hiatus from writing and recording,
America changed in massive ways, divisive ways that have shaken our whole foundation. That has to be addressed by creative artists, those of us who have a voice to speak for others."
In addition to singing and writing, Pete and Maura are multi-instrumentalists. The 13 songs are cast in a soundscape that draws from the classic canon of American roots, in keeping with the theme of getting back "home" as a nation. Acoustic and electric guitars, a vintage steel guitar, a gospel-inflected piano/organ mix, and even a slide ukulele all add colors to a songbag of sounds that have drawn us together during hard times. Pete and Maura believe that those sounds still have the power to pull us through again.
The first single, the title track "Headwinds," was released on July 21st, with the song and its accompanying video premiering earlier that week at Americana UK, who dubbed it "...a song that sounds instantly like a classic, a timeless piece of music that could easily be a lost gem from the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette or Nanci Griffith."
The song, and the album's title, were born on a clear day, with blustery winds blowing from the east, when Maura and Pete were riding bicycles on a rail trail in the Florida Keys. The old, overseas trestle had been partially destroyed in the hurricane of 1935, but on this sunny day the two cyclists could ride out on the remaining section, with the turquoise glisten of the Gulf of Mexico on their right, and the darker Atlantic on their left. Underneath the trestle, sharks and manta rays cruised in the crystalline water. The strong tailwind propelled them to their destination, a tiny island called Pigeon Key. Relaxing on the sand, they shared lunch and talked about the difficulty of emerging from the twin crises of the pandemic and political chaos: their own personal emergence and the nation's emergence, as well. Both situations, they agreed, were a sort of difficult, even hazardous, journey toward a place of comfort, security, and refuge. After lunch, they biked back toward Marathon Key, and Maura noticed that, due to headwinds, she was pedaling twice as hard as she did on the way out. That was the moment when her songwriting instinct kicked in.
"Our love of the great things about this country, things that are under threat, is the reason we decided to make 'Headwinds' the title track of the album," says Maura. "Political and social headwinds are making it hard to get back 'home' to our greatness as a nation. We want to push back in a positive way against those winds. The title refers to the re-emergence, on both a personal and a cultural level, of our generation from the twin crises of the pandemic and political turmoil, and our collective challenges in the realm of ecological sustainability." The Kennedys are always direct without being preachy, opting instead to paint a picture or tell a story and allow the listener to come to their own conclusions.
Maura grew up in Syracuse, NY, while Pete grew up in Arlington, VA. The pair met in Austin, TX, where Maura was based in the early '90s, and they were subsequently based in the DC area as well as the East Village in New York City for many years, before settling in the Hudson Valley. The Kennedys began their writing and touring life three decades ago as members of Nanci Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra, developing their own sound as a frequent support act on Griffith's tours across America, Ireland, Scotland, and England. "We were both writing independently before we met in the early '90s, and we found that we had great, effortless chemistry when writing together," remembered Maura. Collaborations with Griffith continued, both on-stage and co-writing songs, culminating in Pete and Maura producing her final album, Intersections. Along the way, they hosted a nationwide radio program, "The Dharma Café," on SiriusXM, wrote and released 16 albums of original music, and have been core artists on folk radio, expanding their audience further with the inception of the AAA and Americana formats.
Their album, River of Fallen Stars (1993) was named Best Adult Contemporary Album by the
National Association of Independent Record Distributors. They were bestowed dozens of Wammie Awards during their time based in Washington, DC, including Artist of the Year, Musician of the Year, and Song of the Year. The couple was also proud to serve as Artists in Residence at the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedys have already been on tour this summer in advance of and in support of Headwinds, with plenty more tour dates to come (tour dates below). While on the road, they have taped or are taping segments for or appearing on SiriusXM's The Village, Acoustic Café, WFUV's Sunday Supper, WFMT's Folk Stage, WLRN, WUSB, WFDU, WPKN, WIOX, FolkScene, and Voice of
America "Border Crossings," among others.
The Kennedys Tour Schedule:
2023 Dates:
August 27th - Sunday Street Concerts | Stony Brook, NY
August 31st - Bass Hall | Peterborough, NH
September 3rd - Plymouth Folk & Blues Fest | Plymouth, VT
September 8th - Godfrey Daniels | Bethlehem, PA
September 9th - Colorscape Chenango Festival | Norwich, NY
September 10th - Colorscape Chenango Festival | Norwich, NY
September 11th - Muldoon's Picnic | New York, NY
September 14th - Caffe Lena |
Saratoga Springs, NY
September 16th - Turning Point | Piermont, NY
September 17th - North Square's Village Nights | New York, NY
September 22nd - The Burren Back Room | Somerville, MA
September 23rd - Stone Church Coffeehouse | Bristol, RI
September 28th - Acoustic Café | Ann Arbor, MI
September 30th - WFMT's Folk Stage @ Acoustic Renaissance | Hinsdale, IL|
October 1st - Cafe Carpe | Ft. Atkinson, WI
October 3rd - House Concert | Columbus, OH
October 5th - Clubhouse of Catonsville | Baltimore, MD
October 7th - Cellar Door Celebration @ The Hamilton | Washington, DC
October 8th - Mike Lofgren's Guitar Lounge | Olney, MD
October 14th - La La Land Listening Room Concerts | Ithaca, NY
October 20th - Unitarian Meeting House | Sag Harbor, NY
November 4th - Musical Lairs, Villanova | PA
November 5th -
Joni Mitchell Tribute @ City Winery | New York, NY
November 11th - Jammin' Java | Vienna, VA
November 18th - Rose Garden Café | Mansfield, MA
November 19th -
Bread Box Theater | Willimantic, CT
December 2nd - Annual
John Lennon Tribute, Town Hall | New York, NY
December 15th - The Kennedys holiday show @ Godfrey Daniels | Bethlehem, PA
2024 Dates:
January 6th - Creative Cauldron | Falls Church, VA
January 20th - Luna Zoot Concerts | Tampa, FL
January 21st - Listening Room of Sarasota | Sarasota, FL
January 27th - Big Pine Concert | Big Pine Key, FL
January 30th - Marathon Library | Marathon Key, FL
January 31st - Key West Library | Key West, FL
February 1st - Islamorada Library | Islamorada Key, FL
February 2nd - 1st Fridays Concerts | Key Largo, FL
February 21st - 25th - International Folk Alliance Conference | Kansas City, MO
March 3rd - WLRN
Radio visit | Miami, FL
March 7th - Broward Folk Club | Hollywood, FL
March 16th - Pretty Cool
Music | St. Augustine, FL
March 23rd - Unity Center for Peace | Chapel Hill, NC
March 24th - Live at Ted's | Wilmington, NC
March 25th - Live at Ted's | Wilmington, NC
April 5th - Me & Thee Coffeehouse | Marblehead, MA
April 7th -
Music at the Ridge | Danbury, CT
April 28th - Blues Café | Southbury, CT
May 4th - Montpelier Arts Center | Laurel, MD
May 5th - Avalon Theater | Easton, MD
May 19th - Long Island Museum | Stony Brook, NY
June 2nd - Frenchtown Bookshop | Frenchtown, NJ
September 17th - Reston Folk Club | Reston, VA
Press praise for The Kennedys:
"The Kennedys have carried on the spirit of the wide-eyed optimism that was once the signature style of many a band that drifted down from the sun-speckled canyons of Southern California while bathing the charts in full folk rock ecstasy… an equal blend of jangle and joy… upbeat, uplifting and flush with ample appeal." - Goldmine Magazine
"…each of Pete and Maura Kennedy's songs is a lush exercise in lyrical prowess and instrumental grace." - AllMusic
"…a beguiling blend of world-bleary street-smarts and bug-eyed spiritual innocence; set to jingle-jangle, folk-rock melodies, cheek-to-cheek harmonies, and superbly realized arrangements." -
Boston Globe
"…a jangly musical amalgam that draws mostly from folk, rock and country…" - No Depression
"…always lovely and often affecting…" - Washington Post
"The Kennedys' clear-headed optimism that the world can be a better place comes not from ignoring the pain and suffering out there, but in the knowledge that there is just as much beauty to see." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"…sixties-flecked folk rock full of broad vistas." - The New Yorker
"…sweet and soulful acoustic alternative folk-pop music. You will truly enjoy the wonderful songs on this marvellous album. Maura's voice is sweet & charming." -
Maverick Magazine
"…combines frothy pop exuberance with rootsy instrumental textures… The arrangements put Maura's shimmering voice up front, then build a wall of sound behind her that sounds something like Phil Ramone meets the Byrds… Folk-pop is alive and well." - Vintage Guitar
"…effortlessly catchy…" - Philadelphia Inquirer
"…folk-rock that's organic, charming and melodic." - Top40-Charts
"…an exuberant aura throughout; exquisite melodies that beg repeated listens are skillfully and attentively played out, effortlessly supporting the pensive, intelligent lyrics that both engage and inspire. . . . Sparkling folk-tinged pop songs with memorable, catchy choruses…" - Folking
"…Safe Until Tomorrow… covered me with goosebumps from the thrill of their jangle guitars and Maura's sparkling, pure voice…" -
Music Matters Review.
