March 9, 2026 • 29 mins
A gentleman and musician who doesn't take ANYTHING in his life for granted! The path his life took may not have been what he envisioned but it's fascinating to see where life took him!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, welcome to the Patent Danny podcast. And today I
just thought it would be so cool to meet this guy.
Now you may not have heard his name before, but
you've heard what he's been doing throughout the years. And
this is Gordon Kennedy. Gordon, welcome so much to our podcast, Danny.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward
to spending some time with you this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Oh gosh, yes, So just to kind of get started
and give a little flavor you come from. I don't
want to say like a long line of musicians, but
your dad was an incredible musician. Is that kind of
how you got started?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, certainly, I you know, I'm a second generation musician,
music person. Who you know, My parents were both in
music when they were teenagers, and they were both performers
on the Louisiana Hay Ride in Shreveport, Louisiana. That's how
they met each other. Somebody at some point said Jerry Glenn,
(01:02):
which he was going by his middle name, and Linda Brannon,
my mom. Somebody said the two of them should get
together and do a duet on the hay Ride show.
So they got together and performed who Where's short?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Short?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Did that fun and it went over really well, and
somebody said, you got to do it again. They started dating,
got married at seventeen, had me at nineteen, and moved
to Nashville in March of sixty one. My dad got
talked into moving to Nashville to put his toe in
the water. Here. Said if you want to be in music,
(01:37):
you got to come to Nashville. So he was going
to give it one month. And after a month it
wasn't picking up as fast as he had hoped or whatever.
But I mean, Hue gives it a month and expects,
you know, I know, thanks so just But they had
packed the U haul were ready to go back to
Shreveport when Shelby Singleton, who was the guy that talked
(01:59):
my dad into moving to Nashville, another Shreveport guy, Shelby said,
he came in and said, stop, don't go anywhere. Mercury
Records out of Chicago is going to open a Nashville office.
So that's what gave my dad a job and enabled
him to stay in Nashville in the early sixties. And
he at that point started watching his career as a
(02:22):
session guitarist start to really explode, and at the Ripe
old age of twenty four years old. He became the
head of Mercury Records in Nashville and was signing artists
like Roger Miller to his first record deal. You know,
he knew him as a songwriter. But so Dad produced
all of Rogers' hits that you're familiar with, King of
(02:45):
the Road and Dangne and Chug Loug England Swings, all
that stuff. He did all of Jerry Lee Lewis's country catalog,
signed the Statler Brothers at some point, produced them for
thirty one years. I believe Tom c all of that
catalog of Tom T. Hall's was. You know, Dad produced
(03:05):
Johnny Rodriguez and signed Reeba her first deal and did
her first handful of albums. You know he's a player.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, And that just wanted to say, the hair on
the back of my neck just stood up. You started
naming all these names, and I'm michaelh My gosh, it's
like a who's who.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, I'll share something with you in a second, but
that'll that'll do the same thing to you because it
does me and a little more because my dad is
in a rehab place right now. Probably sadly to say
not long for this world at this point, and he's
eighty five years old. He's had quite a life, you know,
(03:47):
will continue to talk about. But on the second day
that he was at this place, at this rehab place,
I went to go visit day two and I walked
in and turned the hall, turned to go down the
hall his room was, and there's the cafeteria room where
the people who are there and assemble to eat. But
on this occasion there was a guy sitting and playing
(04:08):
guitar and singing songs for him, and he was singing
King of the Road, and I wanted to walk in
and go, hey, if you just walk down the hall,
you know, a little further. But we also at some
point put the TV in his room on music channel
Country Classics, and sitting there for days listening to this
(04:29):
this particular station. He is as a player or a
producer or both on about one out of every three
or four songs.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That is incredible, incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah. So, and and I'll just mention real briefly some
of the songs that your audience will know that he's
played on. He's he's electric guitar on songs like Oh
Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison, good Luck charm at Elvis
stand by your Man, Tammy one It, he's the He's
(05:00):
electric on Bob Dylan's blondeh and Blonde double album, Ringos
Star second solo album, Leroy Van Dyke Just Walking Home by.
He's the dobro work on Harbor Valley Pta by Geenie
c Riley. He does all that lead doughbro stuff around Nick.
But yeah, just he's in the Musicians Hall of Fame
(05:21):
with the A Team players out of Nashville, Brinda Lee
and Duckaham said, these seven gentlemen collectively account for over
one hundred and thirty thousand recording sessions.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And this was back when, yeah, and this was back
when really people were sitting around together record. It wasn't
like I'm just going to do this track and then all, well,
I would want to go back and redo this little piece.
This was a time when people mostly they were sitting
all together and doing it in like one or two takes.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Exactly exactly. Yeah, the musicians assembled in the in one room.
They could see each other and here each other communicate
with not only what they were playing, but even looking
at each other made a difference back in those days,
and it will occur occasionally these days, but like you
were mentioning and alluding to that, a lot of music
that's made today is via a thumb drive in your
(06:15):
pocket or send something through email to somebody to put
their part on in their own personal home studio space
and then send it back. So it becomes a little
bit more of a cyber assembly line kind of music
thing that can happen these days and misses some of
the magic from what it used to be back then.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I would agree with you. I mean, there's magic today,
but that's just a whole another different kind of magic
back then. So exciting that your dad was a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, absolutely, And I got to witness a little bit
of this, and of course I grew up wanting to
just do what my dad does. I just want to
do what he does. I want to do what he does.
And at the point where I grow up and somebody's
actually pointing to the plate that I'm supposed to walk
up to and take my swing at it, at that
point I kind of got a little nervous, like, wait
(07:05):
a minute, he worked on l Yeah, well, I mean
the list of names and people that he's worked with
was it's pretty it casts along shadow, right, and so
but I, you know, for somehow or another, got in
it and survived and made my own path. And now
I look over my shoulder and see a whole list
(07:27):
of names that you know, kind of are are our
current Elvis or Orbison or you know, it's a it's
a whole list of names that sort of qualify that,
you know, in the same way that those names that
were so intimidating back when I was growing up, thinking
this is what I want to do, until it got
to be my turn and the first time I got
(07:49):
thrown into the studio with the actual players that were
my heroes when I was growing up, the session players
that scared me to death. But fortunately, fortunately they were
so kind and so good to me, probably because you know,
they loved my dad. Looking back on it, they probably
loved my dad so much that they'd treated his son,
you know, with you know, kindness, and certain guys that
(08:11):
I could mention, you know, really took me under their
wing and showed me the ropes. But I was very
fortunate to grow up in a house where there were
tons of guitar cases and amplifiers and things laying around.
Although my dad never taught me how to play the guitar.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's interesting, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's kind of wild because but a lot of people
would assume that I never wanted to ask him. But
it was like that's that was the house that I
grew up in. I couldn't escape it, so it was
there for if I wanted it, I could lean into it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know, Gordon, you obviously got a lot of your
dad's talent, a lot of it because even you know,
you're talking about your dad and I'm like overwhelmed and
like whoa, my head is blowing up. But you yourself have,
like I want to say, sheered a path of your own.
And again, as you were talking about big names, you
(09:08):
have been there for so many great recordings and you
yourself have written some great things. Just talk a little
bit about now you were mentioning as you started to
come into playing about your career and kind of where
it went, and definitely definitely mentioned some of these big
songs because people their jaws will drop.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Well, I, like I said, I grew up just wanting to,
you know, to do what my dad did. It was
all I ever wanted to do. I never wanted to
do anything else. And so, but you know, I would
have to say a little bit of having your your father,
you know, as an influence, but not really wanting to
(09:52):
go to him to ask questions. Maybe I was a
little too embarrassed and not know the answers or or
you know, or maybe I was afraid he would look
at me and go, well, Billy, it's this or whatever.
You know. I remember asking him one question one time,
and I was embarrassed that I didn't know the answer.
There's a technical question guitar wise, But when he told me,
(10:12):
I kind of did the Chris Farley thing where I
walked away hit my head going idiot, you know, but
I had asked, yeah, I was learning, and but I
tell you, you know, it's one thing to have your your
parents as an influence, but when you go to school
with and for me, it was a guy named Dan
Huff who if you were to look him up, yes, yeah,
(10:36):
so he He and I were sort of like the
perfect iron sharpens iron thing for me in high school
as far as being a musician. If I wanted to
be good, if I want, if I wanted to keep
up with him, I had to stay on it. And
so he was a critical thing for me in the
high school days, and so you know, and and I
(11:00):
would have to just pause also and say that for
me when I talked to, like, say, students at Belmont
University here in town or whatever, and that you know,
we always have Q and A and everything. And it
dawned on me one time to tell these kids that,
you know, do you want to be rich and famous?
You want to be a star? I sat where all
of you are sitting, you know, and this is what
(11:21):
crosses your mind. And that's all well and good if
that's what you want to do. Or is this a
calling that's on your life? And so I realized at
some point in my life that this is a calling
that's on my life. So I go back to a
moment in the eighties when Dan Huff asked me he
was in a Christian rock band, Wow Whiteheart, and he
(11:41):
had they had done two albums, asked me if I
would sub for him for three shows because he wanted
to go to Los Angeles to do some session work,
which was really what he was wanting to be a
session guy. And so I said yes, and he never
came back. Oh I. So I stayed in this band
(12:02):
for six years.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And By the way, I've probably heard you play on
that because that's one of my passions is Christian music
and the music from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, well, I'll the album to listen to from my
tenure with that group is an album called Freedom by Whiteheartado.
It's two people still come up to me all these
years later say, still one of the best ever in
that genre.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So, but anyway, had I said no to Dan, or
the fact that I said yes and if he had
come back, I would not be married to who I'm
married to now. I would never have met Tommy Simms.
There would be no clapping recording our song. I mean,
all these things that happened just because I answered this
(12:48):
calling on my life. So, but going back to what
your initial question was, you know, yes, in the eighties,
I found myself in this band, which was my first
foray into writing songs with a purpose and a destination.
Like I was writing for the band. I got a
publishing deal because obviously you walk into a publishing company
and say I'm writing songs for a band that's on
(13:11):
a label. Would you be my publisher? Yes, don't you
have to think about it. They don't have to do anything,
and it's just yes, we'll be your publisher. So that
was my you know, entre to being a songwriter with
a publishing deal. So I always had it in one
side of my path to write songs and kind of
do that every once in a while. But I also
(13:31):
was playing sessions, you know, from the eighties into the nineties.
I was in that band, and I was doing all
this stuff when and at some point I met a
friend and was working with a guy named Wayne Kirkpatrick.
He's worked with Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, but he's
also produced Little Big Town and worked on their first
(13:55):
three albums and a whole host of artists. He's a
fabulous songwriter and has made some great records over the years,
and he's always leaned on me for you know, guitar work.
And then at some point we decided we would start
writing songs together. We tried to get a record deal
in the nineties and a set of sessions that we
did under this under that particular developmental deal produced the
(14:18):
demo for Change the World, and but the label in
New York turned us down saying they didn't hear the hit.
And I'm giving.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
You the short version of yeah and ha ha ha,
I'm going to laugh at them in a moment.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, so we we were told that, you know, they're
going to pass on us. And I am at this point,
you know, just tread and water, trying to you know,
people say what do you do? I always the short
answer is whatever they let me do. I'm playing sessions,
I'm writing songs. You know, somebody needs me to play live,
I'll do. I'm doing whatever they let me do. And
(14:57):
and I had been asked by the same Christian music label,
Sparrow Records, five years after I left that Whiteheart group,
if I would do just do an album for them,
And so I decided, you know, I had this conversation
with the Lord above, you know, I said, you want
me to do this music again. You want me to
(15:19):
have this opportunity to share this message again and music.
I'll do it. So I've poured my heart and soul
into it. Now this is all parallel to the fact
that we've just been told as a group with me
and Wayne, that they're not going to sign us. We
got the song Changed the World, which was part of
the songs from that project placed with Winona Judd Wow,
(15:44):
and then we were told we were told in nineteen
ninety two that that was going to be a single
for her. Well, it went on her album Revelations, but
the album took two and a half years to come out.
Then we watched them do one, then two, then three
singles from that album, which and they and it wasn't
Changed the World. So now for the second time, we're
(16:08):
looking at the song change the World and saying to ourselves, well,
we failed, and then you just kind of walk away
and go back to work. Now I keep bouncing between
these two things because it happens simultaneously. The Christian label
has asked me and my friend Jimmy Lee Slows if
we would do this record. We did it, put it out,
and then the industry as a whole sort of and
I remember the CCM magazine article reviews saying this sounds
(16:32):
too much like the Beatles, too much like the Eagles,
and you know, a whole host of other horrible groups, right,
And they sort of put as a as an industry.
They were sort of just politely showing us the door.
So I'm in the studio and now I'm thinking, well, gosh,
I've that conversation I had with God above, you know,
(16:52):
I thought you wanted me to do this again. I'm confused,
what's going on? So I just go back to work.
I'm in the studio with Tommy Simms working on a
Nicole Smith album one day in the summer of ninety
six when he says to me, g K, by the way,
we're getting another cut don't change the world? And I
said who? And he said Eric Clapton.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Oh, oh, just somebody.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah. But the thing, Danny, that I failed to mention
earlier is that when I turned that song into my
new publishing deal with the publisher by the name of
Doug Howard, PolyGram Music, that was the first song I
turned into him and I said, can you get this
to Clapton?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And that. But that's not how it happened. It's a
whole another story. But OK. So here I am in
this in the summer of ninety six, hearing that Clapton
has recorded this song, and then it goes to the Grammys.
It gets nominated for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, which
he won. Record of the Year, which is another one
of the Big Four, which he and Babyface they won,
(17:53):
and then in the middle of the night they gave
Song of the Year to you know, the Grammy Song
of the Year for Change the World.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I got to walk up on stage in front of
you know, the people at Madison Square Garden and Wayne,
my pal and Tommy. We're all up on stage and
Wayne sticks his elbow in my ribs and says, are
you going to talk? You know, like you go first?
I had prepared nothing, but I did get to walk
up to the mic, and the first thing out of
(18:22):
my mouth was that my Lord Jesus is strong, weak
in no way. And then I made my little thank you.
And all of this to say that I realized later
that night that oh God did want me to have
this conversation or have this chance to do this again,
to share this message again. But it didn't look like
(18:44):
how many years would I've had to have ridden that
gospel bus to have shared what I shared in front
of a TV audience of one point five billion around
the world in ten seconds?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, and so yeah, Gordon, and that's it's his time.
You know how the Lord works, right, It's so crazy, yep.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And so all that to say is that, yes, I
feel like this has always been a calling. That's all
my life. I have enjoyed this. So I mean it's
an adventure. You know. Who would have ever thought that
I would be the age I'm at now and for
the last five years, you know, touring doing stadiums with
(19:24):
Garth Brooks.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, that you must, you must talk about that because
you've also written for Garth.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I've had I think maybe somewhere around I tried to
count the other day and maybe around fifteen songs recorded
by him. But you got to remember that ten of
them are on that Chris Gaines album. Huh so his
alter ego, you know. But he was a guy that
was listening to that group I was doing with Wayne.
(19:52):
He always wanted to keep up with what we were doing.
And as it turns out, three of the songs out
of that batch of songs wound up on that Chris
Gaines record. And I know somebody that listens to something
and keeps a makes a note and maybe eight years
later comes to fruition.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, And I would say, I mean, I've listened to
the Chris Gaines stuff and I enjoy it. I mean
it's different than what Garth does in the Countryside, but
it's enjoyable. It's really fun.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well, Tricia came up to me on stage at one
of the stadium shows one time and sidled up next
to me and whispered in my ear. You know that
Chris Gaines's album is my favorite Garth album. I love her.
She is so far, She's hilarious, hilarious. But yeah, so,
(20:42):
like I said, you know, you were asking me to
talk about some of the things that I've been blessed
to be a part of. You know, I've I've I
turn around, like I said, I look over my shoulder
and I see that I've worked with people like Clapped
and Bonnie Rait has been so good to cut bunch
of my songs. And Peter Frampton. We've been working together
(21:05):
since nineteen ninety nine and I love that guy. What
a talent and what a guitar player. He's phenomenal. But yeah,
Alison Krauss, she actually recorded that our song called Maybe
that I wrote with Phil Madeira, and just a beautiful
version of that song. Gosh, who else I've had songs
(21:26):
recorded by Tricia Faith Faith till Tim McGraw. Ricky Skaggs
has been somebody else that I've had the pleasure of
working with on two entire albums that we produced together
of his stuff, and he is one of my favorite humans.
Just I think the guy's anointed and so talented that
(21:47):
I've gotten to work with him. I got to work
with him and Bruce Hornsby on their duet record. And
I don't know if you've ever heard of a group
called BlackBerry Smoke, but they're like the new Leonard Skinner
to me. They're so good out there.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
People love them around here too. They are just so
good they.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Are, And so if you go see them there, you
know they've done two of my songs. But there's one
that they do that's sort of a pivotal thing in
their show called Sleeping Dog Lie. Just let us Sleeping
Dog Lie check that song out because that sort of
is there. They jam on it, they throw a cover
in in the middle of it, and and it's just
a moment for the live show. And so those guys
(22:26):
are awesome. George straight Nickel Creek, Don Henley and Stevie
Nick they covered a song that was on the Garth
Chris Gaines record called it Don't Matter to the Sun.
And I got to work in the studio with Don
Henley because of that. Wow. Whyna Laurie Morgan carry Underwood's
(22:46):
recorded one of my songs called the more boys I meet,
the more I love my dog.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I love that, I mean.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
But anyway, there's just a whole bunch of people that
I've gotten to work with. Or there are people that
have recorded my songs that I've never met, like George
Strait or how about Engelbert Humperden has recorded one of
my songs.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You are kidding me right now?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
No, No, Rita Coolidge, I spoke to her on the phone.
Even the Statler Brothers, who my dad produced for so
many years and they wrote all their own songs, did
a song that I wrote with Steve Warrener, which was
a high honor for me to have them do a song.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
He is such a nice man.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh gosh, yeah, one of the nicest guys in the business.
But anyway, so that those are some of the people
that I've gotten to cross paths with and have been
very blessed to be a part I say. I describe
it as being them allowing me to be a part
of their music, you know, all right, and I have
(23:53):
something to do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I think it is so important for people who are
aspiring musicians. Just like you've talked about, it doesn't have
to be right there in front of the spotlight, number
one superstar, have a million albums out. You can be
so successful at just honing your talent and letting God
(24:16):
really work through you and letting that talent spread like wildfire,
you know, just across whatever genre it ends up being.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, you're never going to be as happy as you
are when you know you are in His will right
right at this very moment in time. There is nothing
like that feeling. Because I can have goals, and I
can have you know what I think is supposed to happen,
and pray about it and be so sure that, oh
(24:47):
I've prayed about it, and this is the bull's eye.
And I take that arrow off the quiver off my back,
which represents my gift, you know, my gifts and skills,
and and I pulled that thing back and I pray
about it. There's the bulls eye. Drew it right there,
and then who goes twenty five feet over to the
other side and missus and land somewhere else, and you go,
what happened? I'm so sure? But I've learned in my
(25:10):
life that you do that you have something you're aiming at. Obviously,
you can't just sit around and wait for something to
fall out of the sky. It's not going to happen.
So you have something you're aiming at, take that arrow,
your skills, you know what you're good at, and take
the best shot you can and wherever that arrow lands,
let God paint the bullseye around that. And when I
(25:33):
see that happen, there is nothing like it in the world.
There is no feeling like that when you realize, oh,
now I get it. I see why this was disappointing.
This didn't happen when I thought it was going to
all these kinds of things. You know, Garth has that
unanswered prayers. Yeah, and so that's another way to say
(25:56):
what I'm saying. But I just I just have seen
it too many times to ignore it and to not
share it with you. That this is one way to
look at it and have better way to look at it.
And I've learned that many times over the years of
my life.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Gordon Kennedy. I want people to go to your site,
Gordon kennedymusic dot com. They'll be, I think, very excited
to one hear your stuff, see whose lives have touched
you and you have touched and just to get that
sense of a new person that they can glean I
(26:37):
think some really great advice from and just live in
the world like you live in the world. You're so inspiring.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Well, Danny. I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to
say anything because and hopefully I do say you know,
something in front of people from time to time that
might encourage somebody or or let them they're not wasting
their time, or not be disappointed when the answer is no,
because you know, if you're a songwriter, you're gonna get
and you're a successful songwriter, you're still gonna get told
(27:09):
no nine out of ten times, right, So you know,
it's just having that perspective and to realize there's a
bigger picture than what it is we're you know, we're
all so focused on our little tile. You know, Ricky
and I did an album called Mosaic, and we talk
about this, you know, our little tile that's our life
and everything in that we're so hyper focused on. And
(27:31):
then at some point I start to get a glimpse
of oh, there's Danny's tile that's near mine, and why
are our tiles close together at this point because then
we see a little a glimmer or a snapshot or
a nippet of the big picture, and that sometimes is
enough to keep us going while God sees the whole
(27:52):
thing finished. But we every once in a while get
just a little bit of a taste of you know
why mine and Ricky Skaggs tiles connected at some point
and made this album called Mosaic, and so those are
That's what I'm talking about when in those times when
you realize there is a bigger picture and we are
(28:12):
part of that, and you know, not be so torn
up about what's going on in your own little tile
and be disappointed if things don't go the way you
think they are because there's some other picture happening that
you're a part of. Sometimes you don't realize. We do realize.
It's like, oh, give me more, I just want more.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Gordon so Well said. So Well said, We're gonna kind
of leave it on that positive note, but you know what,
go out and put some more tiles out there and
touch some more people, because what you're doing is amazing.
It's very inspiring. And I'm so so so so glad
that we got a chance to meet and talk and
other people will be able to hear this too. Once
(28:50):
again Gordon kennedymusic dot com and thank you Gordon for
everything you've done today and we look forward to talking
to you again in the future.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Anytime Danny's just let me know.
Hey, welcome to the Patent Danny podcast. And today I
just thought it would be so cool to meet this guy.
Now you may not have heard his name before, but
you've heard what he's been doing throughout the years. And
this is Gordon Kennedy. Gordon, welcome so much to our podcast, Danny.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward
to spending some time with you this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Oh gosh, yes, So just to kind of get started
and give a little flavor you come from. I don't
want to say like a long line of musicians, but
your dad was an incredible musician. Is that kind of
how you got started?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, certainly, I you know, I'm a second generation musician,
music person. Who you know, My parents were both in
music when they were teenagers, and they were both performers
on the Louisiana Hay Ride in Shreveport, Louisiana. That's how
they met each other. Somebody at some point said Jerry Glenn,
(01:02):
which he was going by his middle name, and Linda Brannon,
my mom. Somebody said the two of them should get
together and do a duet on the hay Ride show.
So they got together and performed who Where's short?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Short?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Did that fun and it went over really well, and
somebody said, you got to do it again. They started dating,
got married at seventeen, had me at nineteen, and moved
to Nashville in March of sixty one. My dad got
talked into moving to Nashville to put his toe in
the water. Here. Said if you want to be in music,
(01:37):
you got to come to Nashville. So he was going
to give it one month. And after a month it
wasn't picking up as fast as he had hoped or whatever.
But I mean, Hue gives it a month and expects,
you know, I know, thanks so just But they had
packed the U haul were ready to go back to
Shreveport when Shelby Singleton, who was the guy that talked
(01:59):
my dad into moving to Nashville, another Shreveport guy, Shelby said,
he came in and said, stop, don't go anywhere. Mercury
Records out of Chicago is going to open a Nashville office.
So that's what gave my dad a job and enabled
him to stay in Nashville in the early sixties. And
he at that point started watching his career as a
(02:22):
session guitarist start to really explode, and at the Ripe
old age of twenty four years old. He became the
head of Mercury Records in Nashville and was signing artists
like Roger Miller to his first record deal. You know,
he knew him as a songwriter. But so Dad produced
all of Rogers' hits that you're familiar with, King of
(02:45):
the Road and Dangne and Chug Loug England Swings, all
that stuff. He did all of Jerry Lee Lewis's country catalog,
signed the Statler Brothers at some point, produced them for
thirty one years. I believe Tom c all of that
catalog of Tom T. Hall's was. You know, Dad produced
(03:05):
Johnny Rodriguez and signed Reeba her first deal and did
her first handful of albums. You know he's a player.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, And that just wanted to say, the hair on
the back of my neck just stood up. You started
naming all these names, and I'm michaelh My gosh, it's
like a who's who.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, I'll share something with you in a second, but
that'll that'll do the same thing to you because it
does me and a little more because my dad is
in a rehab place right now. Probably sadly to say
not long for this world at this point, and he's
eighty five years old. He's had quite a life, you know,
(03:47):
will continue to talk about. But on the second day
that he was at this place, at this rehab place,
I went to go visit day two and I walked
in and turned the hall, turned to go down the
hall his room was, and there's the cafeteria room where
the people who are there and assemble to eat. But
on this occasion there was a guy sitting and playing
(04:08):
guitar and singing songs for him, and he was singing
King of the Road, and I wanted to walk in
and go, hey, if you just walk down the hall,
you know, a little further. But we also at some
point put the TV in his room on music channel
Country Classics, and sitting there for days listening to this
(04:29):
this particular station. He is as a player or a
producer or both on about one out of every three
or four songs.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
That is incredible, incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah. So, and and I'll just mention real briefly some
of the songs that your audience will know that he's
played on. He's he's electric guitar on songs like Oh
Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison, good Luck charm at Elvis
stand by your Man, Tammy one It, he's the He's
(05:00):
electric on Bob Dylan's blondeh and Blonde double album, Ringos
Star second solo album, Leroy Van Dyke Just Walking Home by.
He's the dobro work on Harbor Valley Pta by Geenie
c Riley. He does all that lead doughbro stuff around Nick.
But yeah, just he's in the Musicians Hall of Fame
(05:21):
with the A Team players out of Nashville, Brinda Lee
and Duckaham said, these seven gentlemen collectively account for over
one hundred and thirty thousand recording sessions.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And this was back when, yeah, and this was back
when really people were sitting around together record. It wasn't
like I'm just going to do this track and then all, well,
I would want to go back and redo this little piece.
This was a time when people mostly they were sitting
all together and doing it in like one or two takes.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Exactly exactly. Yeah, the musicians assembled in the in one room.
They could see each other and here each other communicate
with not only what they were playing, but even looking
at each other made a difference back in those days,
and it will occur occasionally these days, but like you
were mentioning and alluding to that, a lot of music
that's made today is via a thumb drive in your
(06:15):
pocket or send something through email to somebody to put
their part on in their own personal home studio space
and then send it back. So it becomes a little
bit more of a cyber assembly line kind of music
thing that can happen these days and misses some of
the magic from what it used to be back then.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I would agree with you. I mean, there's magic today,
but that's just a whole another different kind of magic
back then. So exciting that your dad was a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, absolutely, And I got to witness a little bit
of this, and of course I grew up wanting to
just do what my dad does. I just want to
do what he does. I want to do what he does.
And at the point where I grow up and somebody's
actually pointing to the plate that I'm supposed to walk
up to and take my swing at it, at that
point I kind of got a little nervous, like, wait
(07:05):
a minute, he worked on l Yeah, well, I mean
the list of names and people that he's worked with
was it's pretty it casts along shadow, right, and so
but I, you know, for somehow or another, got in
it and survived and made my own path. And now
I look over my shoulder and see a whole list
(07:27):
of names that you know, kind of are are our
current Elvis or Orbison or you know, it's a it's
a whole list of names that sort of qualify that,
you know, in the same way that those names that
were so intimidating back when I was growing up, thinking
this is what I want to do, until it got
to be my turn and the first time I got
(07:49):
thrown into the studio with the actual players that were
my heroes when I was growing up, the session players
that scared me to death. But fortunately, fortunately they were
so kind and so good to me, probably because you know,
they loved my dad. Looking back on it, they probably
loved my dad so much that they'd treated his son,
you know, with you know, kindness, and certain guys that
(08:11):
I could mention, you know, really took me under their
wing and showed me the ropes. But I was very
fortunate to grow up in a house where there were
tons of guitar cases and amplifiers and things laying around.
Although my dad never taught me how to play the guitar.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's interesting, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's kind of wild because but a lot of people
would assume that I never wanted to ask him. But
it was like that's that was the house that I
grew up in. I couldn't escape it, so it was
there for if I wanted it, I could lean into it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know, Gordon, you obviously got a lot of your
dad's talent, a lot of it because even you know,
you're talking about your dad and I'm like overwhelmed and
like whoa, my head is blowing up. But you yourself have,
like I want to say, sheered a path of your own.
And again, as you were talking about big names, you
(09:08):
have been there for so many great recordings and you
yourself have written some great things. Just talk a little
bit about now you were mentioning as you started to
come into playing about your career and kind of where
it went, and definitely definitely mentioned some of these big
songs because people their jaws will drop.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Well, I, like I said, I grew up just wanting to,
you know, to do what my dad did. It was
all I ever wanted to do. I never wanted to
do anything else. And so, but you know, I would
have to say a little bit of having your your father,
you know, as an influence, but not really wanting to
(09:52):
go to him to ask questions. Maybe I was a
little too embarrassed and not know the answers or or
you know, or maybe I was afraid he would look
at me and go, well, Billy, it's this or whatever.
You know. I remember asking him one question one time,
and I was embarrassed that I didn't know the answer.
There's a technical question guitar wise, But when he told me,
(10:12):
I kind of did the Chris Farley thing where I
walked away hit my head going idiot, you know, but
I had asked, yeah, I was learning, and but I
tell you, you know, it's one thing to have your your
parents as an influence, but when you go to school
with and for me, it was a guy named Dan
Huff who if you were to look him up, yes, yeah,
(10:36):
so he He and I were sort of like the
perfect iron sharpens iron thing for me in high school
as far as being a musician. If I wanted to
be good, if I want, if I wanted to keep
up with him, I had to stay on it. And
so he was a critical thing for me in the
high school days, and so you know, and and I
(11:00):
would have to just pause also and say that for
me when I talked to, like, say, students at Belmont
University here in town or whatever, and that you know,
we always have Q and A and everything. And it
dawned on me one time to tell these kids that,
you know, do you want to be rich and famous?
You want to be a star? I sat where all
of you are sitting, you know, and this is what
(11:21):
crosses your mind. And that's all well and good if
that's what you want to do. Or is this a
calling that's on your life? And so I realized at
some point in my life that this is a calling
that's on my life. So I go back to a
moment in the eighties when Dan Huff asked me he
was in a Christian rock band, Wow Whiteheart, and he
(11:41):
had they had done two albums, asked me if I
would sub for him for three shows because he wanted
to go to Los Angeles to do some session work,
which was really what he was wanting to be a
session guy. And so I said yes, and he never
came back. Oh I. So I stayed in this band
(12:02):
for six years.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And By the way, I've probably heard you play on
that because that's one of my passions is Christian music
and the music from the eighties.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, well, I'll the album to listen to from my
tenure with that group is an album called Freedom by Whiteheartado.
It's two people still come up to me all these
years later say, still one of the best ever in
that genre.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So, but anyway, had I said no to Dan, or
the fact that I said yes and if he had
come back, I would not be married to who I'm
married to now. I would never have met Tommy Simms.
There would be no clapping recording our song. I mean,
all these things that happened just because I answered this
(12:48):
calling on my life. So, but going back to what
your initial question was, you know, yes, in the eighties,
I found myself in this band, which was my first
foray into writing songs with a purpose and a destination.
Like I was writing for the band. I got a
publishing deal because obviously you walk into a publishing company
and say I'm writing songs for a band that's on
(13:11):
a label. Would you be my publisher? Yes, don't you
have to think about it. They don't have to do anything,
and it's just yes, we'll be your publisher. So that
was my you know, entre to being a songwriter with
a publishing deal. So I always had it in one
side of my path to write songs and kind of
do that every once in a while. But I also
(13:31):
was playing sessions, you know, from the eighties into the nineties.
I was in that band, and I was doing all
this stuff when and at some point I met a
friend and was working with a guy named Wayne Kirkpatrick.
He's worked with Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, but he's
also produced Little Big Town and worked on their first
(13:55):
three albums and a whole host of artists. He's a
fabulous songwriter and has made some great records over the years,
and he's always leaned on me for you know, guitar work.
And then at some point we decided we would start
writing songs together. We tried to get a record deal
in the nineties and a set of sessions that we
did under this under that particular developmental deal produced the
(14:18):
demo for Change the World, and but the label in
New York turned us down saying they didn't hear the hit.
And I'm giving.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
You the short version of yeah and ha ha ha,
I'm going to laugh at them in a moment.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, so we we were told that, you know, they're
going to pass on us. And I am at this point,
you know, just tread and water, trying to you know,
people say what do you do? I always the short
answer is whatever they let me do. I'm playing sessions,
I'm writing songs. You know, somebody needs me to play live,
I'll do. I'm doing whatever they let me do. And
(14:57):
and I had been asked by the same Christian music label,
Sparrow Records, five years after I left that Whiteheart group,
if I would do just do an album for them,
And so I decided, you know, I had this conversation
with the Lord above, you know, I said, you want
me to do this music again. You want me to
(15:19):
have this opportunity to share this message again and music.
I'll do it. So I've poured my heart and soul
into it. Now this is all parallel to the fact
that we've just been told as a group with me
and Wayne, that they're not going to sign us. We
got the song Changed the World, which was part of
the songs from that project placed with Winona Judd Wow,
(15:44):
and then we were told we were told in nineteen
ninety two that that was going to be a single
for her. Well, it went on her album Revelations, but
the album took two and a half years to come out.
Then we watched them do one, then two, then three
singles from that album, which and they and it wasn't
Changed the World. So now for the second time, we're
(16:08):
looking at the song change the World and saying to ourselves, well,
we failed, and then you just kind of walk away
and go back to work. Now I keep bouncing between
these two things because it happens simultaneously. The Christian label
has asked me and my friend Jimmy Lee Slows if
we would do this record. We did it, put it out,
and then the industry as a whole sort of and
I remember the CCM magazine article reviews saying this sounds
(16:32):
too much like the Beatles, too much like the Eagles,
and you know, a whole host of other horrible groups, right,
And they sort of put as a as an industry.
They were sort of just politely showing us the door.
So I'm in the studio and now I'm thinking, well, gosh,
I've that conversation I had with God above, you know,
(16:52):
I thought you wanted me to do this again. I'm confused,
what's going on? So I just go back to work.
I'm in the studio with Tommy Simms working on a
Nicole Smith album one day in the summer of ninety
six when he says to me, g K, by the way,
we're getting another cut don't change the world? And I
said who? And he said Eric Clapton.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Oh, oh, just somebody.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah. But the thing, Danny, that I failed to mention
earlier is that when I turned that song into my
new publishing deal with the publisher by the name of
Doug Howard, PolyGram Music, that was the first song I
turned into him and I said, can you get this
to Clapton?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And that. But that's not how it happened. It's a
whole another story. But OK. So here I am in
this in the summer of ninety six, hearing that Clapton
has recorded this song, and then it goes to the Grammys.
It gets nominated for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, which
he won. Record of the Year, which is another one
of the Big Four, which he and Babyface they won,
(17:53):
and then in the middle of the night they gave
Song of the Year to you know, the Grammy Song
of the Year for Change the World.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
I got to walk up on stage in front of
you know, the people at Madison Square Garden and Wayne,
my pal and Tommy. We're all up on stage and
Wayne sticks his elbow in my ribs and says, are
you going to talk? You know, like you go first?
I had prepared nothing, but I did get to walk
up to the mic, and the first thing out of
(18:22):
my mouth was that my Lord Jesus is strong, weak
in no way. And then I made my little thank you.
And all of this to say that I realized later
that night that oh God did want me to have
this conversation or have this chance to do this again,
to share this message again. But it didn't look like
(18:44):
how many years would I've had to have ridden that
gospel bus to have shared what I shared in front
of a TV audience of one point five billion around
the world in ten seconds?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, and so yeah, Gordon, and that's it's his time.
You know how the Lord works, right, It's so crazy, yep.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And so all that to say is that, yes, I
feel like this has always been a calling. That's all
my life. I have enjoyed this. So I mean it's
an adventure. You know. Who would have ever thought that
I would be the age I'm at now and for
the last five years, you know, touring doing stadiums with
(19:24):
Garth Brooks.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, that you must, you must talk about that because
you've also written for Garth.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I've had I think maybe somewhere around I tried to
count the other day and maybe around fifteen songs recorded
by him. But you got to remember that ten of
them are on that Chris Gaines album. Huh so his
alter ego, you know. But he was a guy that
was listening to that group I was doing with Wayne.
(19:52):
He always wanted to keep up with what we were doing.
And as it turns out, three of the songs out
of that batch of songs wound up on that Chris
Gaines record. And I know somebody that listens to something
and keeps a makes a note and maybe eight years
later comes to fruition.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, And I would say, I mean, I've listened to
the Chris Gaines stuff and I enjoy it. I mean
it's different than what Garth does in the Countryside, but
it's enjoyable. It's really fun.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well, Tricia came up to me on stage at one
of the stadium shows one time and sidled up next
to me and whispered in my ear. You know that
Chris Gaines's album is my favorite Garth album. I love her.
She is so far, She's hilarious, hilarious. But yeah, so,
(20:42):
like I said, you know, you were asking me to
talk about some of the things that I've been blessed
to be a part of. You know, I've I've I
turn around, like I said, I look over my shoulder
and I see that I've worked with people like Clapped
and Bonnie Rait has been so good to cut bunch
of my songs. And Peter Frampton. We've been working together
(21:05):
since nineteen ninety nine and I love that guy. What
a talent and what a guitar player. He's phenomenal. But yeah,
Alison Krauss, she actually recorded that our song called Maybe
that I wrote with Phil Madeira, and just a beautiful
version of that song. Gosh, who else I've had songs
(21:26):
recorded by Tricia Faith Faith till Tim McGraw. Ricky Skaggs
has been somebody else that I've had the pleasure of
working with on two entire albums that we produced together
of his stuff, and he is one of my favorite humans.
Just I think the guy's anointed and so talented that
(21:47):
I've gotten to work with him. I got to work
with him and Bruce Hornsby on their duet record. And
I don't know if you've ever heard of a group
called BlackBerry Smoke, but they're like the new Leonard Skinner
to me. They're so good out there.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
People love them around here too. They are just so
good they.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Are, And so if you go see them there, you
know they've done two of my songs. But there's one
that they do that's sort of a pivotal thing in
their show called Sleeping Dog Lie. Just let us Sleeping
Dog Lie check that song out because that sort of
is there. They jam on it, they throw a cover
in in the middle of it, and and it's just
a moment for the live show. And so those guys
(22:26):
are awesome. George straight Nickel Creek, Don Henley and Stevie
Nick they covered a song that was on the Garth
Chris Gaines record called it Don't Matter to the Sun.
And I got to work in the studio with Don
Henley because of that. Wow. Whyna Laurie Morgan carry Underwood's
(22:46):
recorded one of my songs called the more boys I meet,
the more I love my dog.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I love that, I mean.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
But anyway, there's just a whole bunch of people that
I've gotten to work with. Or there are people that
have recorded my songs that I've never met, like George
Strait or how about Engelbert Humperden has recorded one of
my songs.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You are kidding me right now?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
No, No, Rita Coolidge, I spoke to her on the phone.
Even the Statler Brothers, who my dad produced for so
many years and they wrote all their own songs, did
a song that I wrote with Steve Warrener, which was
a high honor for me to have them do a song.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
He is such a nice man.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh gosh, yeah, one of the nicest guys in the business.
But anyway, so that those are some of the people
that I've gotten to cross paths with and have been
very blessed to be a part I say. I describe
it as being them allowing me to be a part
of their music, you know, all right, and I have
(23:53):
something to do with it.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I think it is so important for people who are
aspiring musicians. Just like you've talked about, it doesn't have
to be right there in front of the spotlight, number
one superstar, have a million albums out. You can be
so successful at just honing your talent and letting God
(24:16):
really work through you and letting that talent spread like wildfire,
you know, just across whatever genre it ends up being.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, you're never going to be as happy as you
are when you know you are in His will right
right at this very moment in time. There is nothing
like that feeling. Because I can have goals, and I
can have you know what I think is supposed to happen,
and pray about it and be so sure that, oh
(24:47):
I've prayed about it, and this is the bull's eye.
And I take that arrow off the quiver off my back,
which represents my gift, you know, my gifts and skills,
and and I pulled that thing back and I pray
about it. There's the bulls eye. Drew it right there,
and then who goes twenty five feet over to the
other side and missus and land somewhere else, and you go,
what happened? I'm so sure? But I've learned in my
(25:10):
life that you do that you have something you're aiming at. Obviously,
you can't just sit around and wait for something to
fall out of the sky. It's not going to happen.
So you have something you're aiming at, take that arrow,
your skills, you know what you're good at, and take
the best shot you can and wherever that arrow lands,
let God paint the bullseye around that. And when I
(25:33):
see that happen, there is nothing like it in the world.
There is no feeling like that when you realize, oh,
now I get it. I see why this was disappointing.
This didn't happen when I thought it was going to
all these kinds of things. You know, Garth has that
unanswered prayers. Yeah, and so that's another way to say
(25:56):
what I'm saying. But I just I just have seen
it too many times to ignore it and to not
share it with you. That this is one way to
look at it and have better way to look at it.
And I've learned that many times over the years of
my life.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Gordon Kennedy. I want people to go to your site,
Gordon kennedymusic dot com. They'll be, I think, very excited
to one hear your stuff, see whose lives have touched
you and you have touched and just to get that
sense of a new person that they can glean I
(26:37):
think some really great advice from and just live in
the world like you live in the world. You're so inspiring.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Well, Danny. I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to
say anything because and hopefully I do say you know,
something in front of people from time to time that
might encourage somebody or or let them they're not wasting
their time, or not be disappointed when the answer is no,
because you know, if you're a songwriter, you're gonna get
and you're a successful songwriter, you're still gonna get told
(27:09):
no nine out of ten times, right, So you know,
it's just having that perspective and to realize there's a
bigger picture than what it is we're you know, we're
all so focused on our little tile. You know, Ricky
and I did an album called Mosaic, and we talk
about this, you know, our little tile that's our life
and everything in that we're so hyper focused on. And
(27:31):
then at some point I start to get a glimpse
of oh, there's Danny's tile that's near mine, and why
are our tiles close together at this point because then
we see a little a glimmer or a snapshot or
a nippet of the big picture, and that sometimes is
enough to keep us going while God sees the whole
(27:52):
thing finished. But we every once in a while get
just a little bit of a taste of you know
why mine and Ricky Skaggs tiles connected at some point
and made this album called Mosaic, and so those are
That's what I'm talking about when in those times when
you realize there is a bigger picture and we are
(28:12):
part of that, and you know, not be so torn
up about what's going on in your own little tile
and be disappointed if things don't go the way you
think they are because there's some other picture happening that
you're a part of. Sometimes you don't realize. We do realize.
It's like, oh, give me more, I just want more.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Gordon so Well said. So Well said, We're gonna kind
of leave it on that positive note, but you know what,
go out and put some more tiles out there and
touch some more people, because what you're doing is amazing.
It's very inspiring. And I'm so so so so glad
that we got a chance to meet and talk and
other people will be able to hear this too. Once
(28:50):
again Gordon kennedymusic dot com and thank you Gordon for
everything you've done today and we look forward to talking
to you again in the future.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Anytime Danny's just let me know.
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