Several years ago, veteran bass player Guthrie Kennard was strolling through one of the Virgin Megastore locations in London. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him: He wanted to see how many of the countless albums on which he’d done session work were stocked by the retailer. He walked through the aisles and located CDs by Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Paul Byrd, The Rocky Athas Group, and several other U.S. musicians who’d employed his fat, ominous bass lines on their tunes.
“It struck me that my playing was in this record store and nobody knew it but me,” the gravel-voiced 58-year-old said. “And then I thought, ‘If I’m gonna be broke, I might as well be my own bitch. Why shouldn’t I have a CD with my name on it?'”
This was hardly the first time Kennard had imagined himself a headliner. He’d been writing songs and jamming with friends since he was a teenager in his hometown of Richmond, Va. While in high school, he ran away to play clubs in Atlanta and was brought back to his parents by police. He moved to Texas in 1971 and has been here ever since, living in Austin, Fort Worth, and Irving, among other places. His resumé is stellar: He’s shared stages with Delbert McClinton, Robert Ealey, and Steve Earle. As a member of various opening acts, he’s toured the United States and Europe with ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Taj Mahal, and Leon Russell. Legendary hillbilly mystics Black Oak Arkansas tapped him for a tour, and he’s been the primary bass player for progressive-country wizard Ray Wylie Hubbard’s band since 1983.
Throughout a quietly remarkable career, Kennard has kept the bassist’s traditional low profile because he’s always been a basically shy person and because he’s always maintained a purist’s dedication to his instrument. Among early idols, Johnny Winter’s original rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer “Uncle John” Turner inspired an awe in Kennard that was almost religious.
“I loved the Beatles, but being from the South, I was drawn to the rock ‘n’ roll-blues thing,” he said. “Tommy Shannon’s playing was a primal thing to me. His bass lines were the band’s solid foundation, but they also said something on their own. I’ve never shaken that.”
Many years later Kennard would savor the thrill of playing on stage with “Uncle John” Turner shortly before the latter’s death.
Immediately after his U.K. music store epiphany, Kennard called up Hubbard and asked if he’d produce a Guthrie Kennard solo CD that would include some of the best songs he’d written over the years. Hubbard’s immediate reaction was a snicker — the bass player wants to do a solo album — but he quickly agreed to the project after Kennard performed a few tunes for him. Featuring a backup roster of musical friends and associates, 2005’s Ranch Road 12 was a bleak, sumptuous, literary slice of country blues that showcased Kennard’s surprisingly expressive sing-talk style. Bob Dylan is the first vocalist comparison that many listeners make, but Kennard’s voice is richer. At his best, he sounds like Howlin’ Wolf in a twilight mood.
Ranch Road 12 was released by the English company Armadillo Music Limited. Kennard was happy with the glowing critical notices his CD received but felt that Armadillo didn’t do enough to promote the album stateside. He’s now taking the reins by self-releasing his still-untitled sophomore CD this August.
Like the first album, it’s produced by Hubbard and was recorded at his Zone Recording Studios in Dripping Springs. Kennard said Hubbard has a more intense presence on these songs, playing instruments along with Hubbard’s 14-year-old guitar prodigy son, Lucas. Tunes like the sweet sing-along “The Motorcycle Song” and the lovely “Bristol” document some of Kennard’s experiences at Tarrant County biker bars and English seaside pubs. What Guthrie won’t do is play his beloved bass on his own CD. In keeping with his recently donned identity as a singer-songwriter, he’s adopted a new instrument for his solo material.
“I practice the guitar every day,” he said, “but I don’t bother with chords or anything like that. I’m learning to be just good enough to nail each song. I’m not a lead guitarist, and I’m not interested in becoming one. I’d rather rely on great kids like Lucas and my Fort Worth group.”
The “kids” to whom Kennard refers are local twentysomethings Nate Coon on drums, Austin Morgan on guitar, and Scott Lee on double bass. They’ve been rehearsing Kennard’s material from both albums and, after the new CD is released, will perform with him at U.S. and European gigs. He has just returned from a six-week networking/performing jaunt in England at the invitation of his friend, the Anglo-Irish blues artist John Fenlon. BBC Radio interviewed Kennard for broadcast at a later date.
Guthrie’s producer and longtime friend Hubbard is a working example of the “never a prophet in your own country” axiom — he’s enjoyed a bigger audience abroad than in the States for years now. Kennard has a similarly atypical geographic strategy for his solo career.
“The goal is to establish ourselves in Texas, Oklahoma, England, Ireland, and Scotland,” he said. “If I can break out in Texas [as a headliner], that’ll help me in Europe. They love Texas music there. It’s not manufactured. It’s real cats filtering through all the fakeness.”
