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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.
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