Harrison Kennedy

September 24, 2010

at the Carnegie Gallery

The usual blues alchemy doesn’t often include being born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, or singing for four years with one of the hottest Detroit soul bands. And it certainly doesn’t include a long career working as a supervisor in a chemical plant. Clearly, Harrison Kennedy didn’t follow any traditional formula in becoming a bluesman.

But, explore a little, and you will find that all the basic elements that make up a deep bluesman were there from the start. For example, Harrison’s family made the traditional journey from the southern U.S. to the North. (They just kept going to steel country in Canada, and stayed there). And Harrison’s family was active musically—everyone played, sang, or listened to music. Touring musicians often joined the family at their dinner table and played and sang in their living room. Harrison says that he heard Lonnie Johnson at home many times and met Billie Holiday, among many others.

Though music has always been part of his life, it’s an accident that Harrison ended up working in the business. An audition that he hoped would help him earn some quick money for college led instead to his stint with the million-selling Chairmen of the Board in the early ’70s. Despite making serious money, appearances on the Tonight Show and Soul Train, and opening for Stevie Wonder, James Brown, B.B. King, and many others, Harrison quit the band because, he says, he couldn’t breathe.

For years, he lived in Hamilton and worked as a supervisor for Allied Chemical. He continued to work in music but stayed close to home. “Bluesy” is his description of the music he chose to sing during that time. Always a singer, he eventually got serious about playing, mastering guitar, harmonica, and banjo.

He only began touring in the past decade, in support of a growing number of recordings. It took a Dutch label to get him into the recording studio again. Then, deep blues–loving, Toronto-based Electro-Fi Records found the right musical formula. They let Harrison be Harrison—playing his own brand of modern deep blues. Electro-Fi also got him out on the road again.

Harrison is a thoughtful man with a radio announcer’s voice. He’s one of those musicians who truly enjoys talking with fans and signing CDs. With four recordings as a front man, the most recent, High Country Blues and One Dog Barkin,’ on Electro-Fi, he’s increasingly finding gigs.

Today, Harrison continues to use his voice as his main instrument. Whether soulful or gritty, he is always convincing. He writes most of his material and likes to tell stories through his songs.