Speed Bump

Lizkennedymusic.com Facebook.com/lizkennedymusic Review - Nate Seltenrich - East Bay Express 'Kennedy sings from her piano bench with the subdued tone of an artist not seeking attention but earning it'. Influenced by legendary artists like Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon and Randy Newman, San Francisco based Liz Kennedy puts the unique, inviting stamp of her sandpaper and honey tinged vocals on her latest release Speed Bump. Here is folk rock with Liz's own quirky stamp. The songs are honest and smart, storytelling often infused with mischievous humor and covering a good bit of ground. The 14 dynamic folk/blues influenced pop/rock tracks were produced by renowned engineer and producer Joel Jaffe, who helmed Kennedy's previous recordings, Clean White Shirt, A Good Peach and Nothing Like An Angel. Jaffe's credits include Maria Muldaur, Lenny Williams and Magic Christian, and he's also the pivotal guitarist on all the tracks. This latest CD features Liz's piano, guitar and vocals, and highlight the talents of a number of heavyweight musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area. Eamonn Flynn on keyboards (The Commitments, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Zigaboo Modeliste), Billy Johnson on drums (Santana, Maze, Joyce Cooling), Don Bassey on bass (Danny Click and the Hell Yeahs!, The North Bay All Stars, and the Volker Strifler Band,) and Omega Brooks providing additional vocals, keeping the rhythms and harmonies vibrant. Also George Brooks on sax (Terry Riley, John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Larry Coryell, Etta James), the late Jim Rothermel on horns (Boz Skaggs, Van Morrison, John Prine), Carlos Reyes on violin (Chuck Mangione, Bill Evans, Clark Terry) and Doug Harmon on cello (Jonah Peterson, The Oster-Welker Jazz Alliance). From the high flying opening title track through the horn fired, whimsical closing track expressing her desire to write A Hit Song, Kennedy, who recorded her first songs in her late forties and began performing in her 50s, tells cleverly spun, deeply lived stories that she could not have hosed off and mined in her younger days. I'm proud of my age and though I've been writing music since I was 12, maybe I'm finally getting somewhere with all this at 62. The talented musicians who join her, among the Bay Areas finest, help propel the tracks towards magical stops where the heart and mind can get off and walk around. Stowaway is a piano driven pop/folk ballad about a woman being left alone in a new lover's home, wishing she were squirreled away in the pocket of your coat. Colored beautifully with a violin, the traditional flavored tune Half Sad reflects the precarious junction of longing and moving on. Kennedy also has a moment of spirited fun with male/female communication in Take A Break before engaging the listener with the love song Arugula ... you're the sting on my lips ... and the image rich, autobiographical Raised By The Orange Trees. One of the most touching pieces is the haunting and poignant How Was Your Life, a speculation on how past lovers might catch up after 30 years have passed. The songs and production on Speed Bump are what I have always envisioned as an artist, says Kennedy. I'm proud of the diversity of the songs and I guess that might come from being of a certain age. I'm old enough to have stumbled upon some style. I don't know why I'm doing this. But I sincerely enjoy the surprise of what I can create and you never know, maybe other lives will be nudged by my songs.