• Jeffrey Gaines & The Kennedys presented by WFUV
• 7:30pm Seating / 8:00pm Show

WFUV and City Winery Presents Jeffrey Gaines and The Kennedys in concert.

THE KENNEDYS RETURN TO THE INDIE ROCK CIRCUIT WITH A FULL BAND CONCERT, SEPT. 19, THEIR FIRST BAND SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY IN OVER A DECADE.

After an extended stretch on the road as a songwriting duo, Pete and Maura Kennedy return to the rock/pop circuit with their first full band all-electric show since 2000, with a full concert in the comfortable confines of City Winery. Featuring hard-hitting drummer Tommy Allen and Brooklyn phenom Ward White on bass and vocals, Pete and Maura will once again wield Stratocasters and Rickenbackers in a plugged-in show that marks a striking reinvention of the string of electric gigs they played at the legendary Bottom Line. For longtime fans who go back to "Evolver", and for new fans who prefer a dose of power with their pop, this new Kennedys band debut is a show not to be missed. Jeffrey Gaines shares the bill, with a set of powerful songs that will free your mind, and you know what follows...

ABOUT THE KENNEDYS.

The story of Pete and Maura Kennedy’s personal and professional relationship, now in its second decade, is somewhere between fate and a fairytale. How else can you explain a chance meeting in Austin between two East Coast-born musicians that immediately sparked a songwriting collaboration, a first date at Buddy Holly’s grave, an enduring romance, and a creative partnership that radiates warmth, positive energy, and captivating music?

In 1992, Virginia native Pete Kennedy was playing a solo show at Austin’s Continental 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. The duo “instantly connected on a soul level, or maybe even something deeper,” according to Pete. 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. And that’s how it started . . .

When Griffith needed a harmony singer to replace Iris Dement on short notice for a British tour in Spring ’93, Maura was the obvious choice, and her touring life alongside Pete began. While boarding the plane to England, Nanci informed the duo that they would serve as the opening act for many of the shows on her tour, as well as performing in her backing band. With a need for material to fill their set, Pete and Maura wrote an inspired set of songs in Dublin that would become the basis for 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 wedding is a reflection of their musical and philosophical influences and experiences separately and as a couple. A child of the ’50s, Pete was compelled to pick up his older sister’s guitar after seeing The Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and was soon playing “Louie Louie” and “Satisfaction” in a garage band while also absorbing the new sounds of The Byrds and folk-rock. After a year of studies at Boston College and with disco music just around the corner, Pete “started to lose interest in pop and got into taking the long view of the guitar.” He returned to Virginia and immersed himself in classical and jazz guitar, studying with master players Joe Pass and Johnny Smith in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The rise of the “alt.country” scene in the mid-’80s reignited Pete’s interest in contemporary music and he became a first-call session player in the Washington, DC, area. When fellow picker John Jennings took a sabbatical from his role as Mary Chapin Carpenter’s lead guitarist, Pete stepped into his shoes. On a final show with Carpenter in 1991 (on “Austin City Limits”) before she took a hiatus for songwriting, Pete sat in with fellow guest Nanci Griffith, was invited to join her band, and accepted.

Meanwhile, Maura Boudreau was learning there was more to music than pop when she started working in a used record store in Syracuse in the mid-’80s. There she discovered the British Invasion bands of two decades earlier, England’s groundbreaking folk-rock group Fairport Convention, and, most significantly, country-rock singer Emmylou Harris, whose recordings led Maura to the traditional music of Patsy Cline and the Louvin Brothers. She subsequently switched from playing Fairport-influenced material to forming the country-oriented Delta Rays and also started writing her own songs. A trip to Austin’s SXSW music showcase in the late ’80s convinced Maura to relocate her band there, although all but one of the original Delta Rays opted out of the move.

After Pete and Maura’s fateful 1992 meeting (the subject of their first Appleseed CD’s title song, “Half a Million Miles”) and several years of touring and recording with Nanci Griffith, the duo seceded amicably from Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra and became The Kennedys, recording CDs that encompass their favorite musical styles while incorporating the naturalistic, transcendental and mythological teachings of Joseph Campbell, Eckhart Tolle, Walt Whitman, and various Eastern-oriented philosophers into their songs and lives. Their goal is to live in the moment, appreciating every second of sensation, which imbues their music with a constant sense of wonder and freshness.

With the release of their tenth CD as The Kennedys and recent CDs by their Strangelings and Stringbusters side projects added to their discography, Pete and Maura remain the Energizer bunnies of the folk/rock world. Their touring schedule makes Bob Dylan seem lazy – they’ve played about 1500 gigs in the last 12 years, everywhere from house concerts to major festivals. And when they’re not recording, performing, or conducting monthly guitar workshops, they’re airing their favorite music on their “Dharma Café” show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s channel 70.

ABOUT JEFFREY GAINES

The only live records I had as a kid,” Jeffrey Gaines explains, “were just unreal and completely crazy, like KISS’ Alive II. They set this precedent that there was no way anyone could ever match what I came to know as a live album. There’s just no way!”

Swapping riotous pyrotechnics and campy costume makeup for his compellingly personal and passionate songs of hope and unwavering faith, Gaines has captured the magic and intensity of his much awed and revered concert performances on Jeffrey Gaines Live, his first ever career spanning live album.

With only his voice and a guitar for accompaniment, Gaines has earned a reputation as a captivating performer entertaining his audiences everywhere he goes. On the road for over 150 nights a year, he recorded and documented one special night in November 2003, hosted by WXPN at the Theatre of the Living Arts in his home city of Philadelphia to record this album. “Some artists record their whole tour, picking the best stuff to release. We didn’t do that here. This is one show, one night being captured. It’s a snapshot of the truth. It’s like ‘Hey, look over here, the picture has been taken.’”

The photo album Gaines collected from that magical night contains fourteen sensitive and melodic portraits including the inspirational “Hero in Me,” the sensual “Without You” and a heart-leaping, spellbinding version of the Sam Cooke staple “Change is Gonna Come.” Gaines is backed on the record by Don Piper (lapsteel, percussion, guitar) of A Don Piper Situation and Matt Thomas (pianos, organ, accordion).

Included with the live audio disc is a twelve song video culled from the same night appearing on the new DVD Plus format. Jeffrey Gaines Live is the first full-length album ever released in the U.S. as a DVD Plus, which incorporates the audio portion of the show on one side of the disc and the video segment on the other side. Exclusively featured on the DVD is Gaines’ chart-topping rendition of Peter Gabriel’s classic “In Your Eyes,” complete with a roof-raising sing-along from everyone in the audience. “They just got completely into it,” recalls Gaines, “I just played a little lighter so I could enjoy that moment myself because it was simply amazing to hear them all singing along.”

Raised in Harrisburg, PA by parents more inclined to spin soul classics by Aretha and Otis than the New Wave and Brit Rock blasting from their son’s room, a teenaged Gaines began playing guitar in several local garage bands covering The Who, The Kinks, and The Jam. He soon decided to set out on his own and quickly landed a record deal in 1992, releasing Jeffrey Gaines, the first of his five studio releases. The album garnered four stars from The Philadelphia Inquirer, describing Gaines as “…an ethereal soul...insistent, impassioned, full of self-knowledge.” 1994’s Somewhat Slightly Dazed, and 1998’s Galore followed suit. Interview Magazine called Gaines’ music “soul-searching” and “refreshingly free of jargon, sentiment or cliché.”

In 2001, Gaines released Always Be (Artemis) to both critical and commercial praise. Featuring his emotional interpretation of “In Your Eyes” and his own soaringly beautiful “Always Be,” the album hit #5 on R&R Callout America CHR/Pop list, also reaching #45 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. The New York Post proclaimed Always Be as “a dozen-song mix…that completely illustrates the depth he is capable of.”

Gaines’ impressive catalogue grew with 2002’s Toward The Sun, produced by Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, and Crowded House). The Boston Globe declared that “Gaines’ soulful, wounded vocals make a case for his being one of pop’s finest singers…an artist who deserves far more attention than some of his more hyped, yet less talented peers.” Mojo noted, “This established soul-folkie’s sexy growl has an underlying edge, making it a memorable album. Heartfelt unpretentious.”

Throughout his career, Gaines has built a rapport with his fans unlike any other in popular music today. Gaines goes as far as letting his fans influence the songs he performs each night. “When it's just me playing, I only know the first song I’m going to play, but from there the energy and the vibe tell me what the next song is gonna be. Someone may yell a song, and I’m like ‘Exactly! Good call.’ That’s so fun to me, keeping it really exciting and spontaneous. I don’t even know what's around the corner, and the crowd doesn’t either.”

Jeffrey Gaines Live is the singer/songwriter's sixth release and perhaps the one which means the most to him since it is a special tribute to his fans. “This live CD/DVD-Plus is really cool for me, something I am so very proud of. We have songs from every little period of my career and it’s sort of a thank you to the fans who have been with me, and for those who are new to my music, I would love it if they come on board. We’re ready for you. We’ve always been ready for you, so c’mon.”