Kendra Flowers
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Kendra Flowers

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Review by Steve Morse"

Imagine Ani DiFranco meets Big Mama Thornton and you’ll get a rough idea of the raw and astonishing talent of this 22-year-old newcomer. She sings with a riveting, phrase-bending originality coupled with razor-sharp lyrics, that deal with relationships…and skilled 12-string guitar accompaniment that completes a highly-signable package. - Boston Globe


"Review by Fin"

Kendra plays an acoustic guitar as if it were a weapon, riffing the pants off most modern musicians. And they are good riffs, too, at times soaked in blues grit and others drenched in melancholy a la Red House Painters. - www.southofmainstream.com


"Review by Matthew Robinson"

Kendra Flowers pulls from a bluesy palette and an assortment of emotional brushes to create a variety of musical pictures…dark and smoky…lyrically breath-taking…Kendra’s guitar work ranges from strong stabs to flowing falls. Overall…Flowers has a good set of pipes and gleaming skills. - Boston Soundcheck Magazine / MusicDish.com


"Review by Matthew Robinson"

Combining mulbiple influences and multiple voicings, Flowers paints musical motifs of maturing, acceptance and difficult personalities… Where some songs are reverbaritive and airy, others are flat-pickingly pulsed and [some songs] take chapters from both musical books. - o Boston’s Weekly Dig, The Din, Vol.2/Iss.31


"Live review by Ilise S. Carter"

"Energetic and affable, Kendra sings a heartfelt blend of folk, alternative and blues with a strong, distinctive voice that recalls the power and range of Bonnie Raitt or Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. When paired with her prowess on the acoustic guitar, the resulting sound is both simple and potent; making her songs seem like a series of lyrical short stories. Drawn from such diverse sources of inspiration as her own life, favorite novels and, in the case of the instrumental, “Smackdown,” the World Wrestling Federation, the strength of her self-penned songs gives her set a uniquely personal feel. "


- www.newyorkcool.com


"Review2 by Steve Morse"

"The Delaware-bred Flowers shone brightly when she lived in Boston a few years ago before moving to Providence, then New York. She's gone from a young singer-songwriter to a mature, self-managed artist during that time -- and it shows in her often bewitching new CD, "Yesterday's Girl." Flowers always had chops -- she sings and plays guitar with an Ani DiFranco-like versatility -- and now she's dealing with more meaty subject matter. The new record recounts leaving a relationship to follow her musical destiny and includes a song about parents grieving in the wake of the Station nightclub fire ("Only Now"). "I embellished a couple of stories that I heard on the news," Flowers says of that track. The new CD is gracefully coproduced by Flowers and her brother, Bruce, who colors the songs with atmospheric piano, organ, and electric guitar. But the star is Flowers, who has a renewed confidence ("I can't afford to play the loser anymore, it's not my style," she sings). As for the title "Yesterday's Girl," she says, "It's something my mother would have said: 'Why live in the shadows of yesterday's girl?' "
- Boston Globe


Discography

Yesterday's Girl © Kendra Flowers 2004,
Severance © Kendra Flowers 2002,
Soulo © Kendra Flowers / IrisTrax Records 2000
AIRPLAY:
WERS, Boston, MA
WBOS, Boston,MA
BRTO, Holland
RADIO SINAI, Belgium
KBFR, Boulder, CO

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Classically trained in piano from a very young age, Kendra Flowers grew up in Delaware and is now based in New York City. She picked up the guitar at 15, played her first gig by 16, and was heralded by The Boston Globe as possessing "riveting, phrase-bending originality [and] razor-sharp lyrics" by the age of 22.
Her lyrics are deeply personal, inspired by relationships in all their forms: taken from life, death, books, even the evening news. When you listen to her stories you feel like she knows yours.

Flowers' most recent full-length recording Yesterday's Girl was released independently in November 2004 & produced by Bruce Flowers in NYC. Yesterday's Girl is a sonic rendering of transition and adaptation. Anyone who has been compelled to trade their safe complacency for the unknown will relate to this work.

As with previous recordings Flowers continues to experiment dramatically with tunings and voicings. Her style has been described as haunting, melancholic storytelling with tight, unforgettable hooks. Her skill is unmistakable – without being ostentatious Flowers moves effortlessly around the neck of the guitar, vocals climbing and falling to the hooks sometimes in unison, sometimes harmonizing with her own guitar playing.

Flowers' prior full-length album Severance, released independently in September 2002 was produced by Asa Brebner (who also performs on it). Severance includes among others the artistry of Morphine's Billy Conway & Dana Colley. Before that in 2000 Flowers released her debut "Soulo" on Iristrax Records.

Noteworthy performances include NEMO Boston, the Newport Folk Festival (Songwriter Showcase Stage), residencies at Boston's Kendall Café & Middle East and New York City's Baggot Inn. Flowers has also begun to enjoy national acclaim as she graces public and college radio stations as well as venues throughout the U.S.

Performing and collaborating with industry thoroughbreds including Peter Calo (Carli Simon), Pugee Bell (Erykah Badu), Dan Rieser (Norah Jones), Richard Hammond (Angelique Kidjo), Jeff Hill (Rufus Wainright), Asa Brebner (Jonathan Richman, Modern Lovers), Jon Frasier (Heavy Metal Horns) and her own brother Bruce Flowers (Betty Carter, Marcus Miller, Queen Latifah), Flowers has made a name for herself as a musician's musician.

The bottom line is Kendra Flowers conveys an intensity on stage and in her recordings that will stun you. Her live performance has been rumored to wring tears from grown men – even the sober ones. Her heart is on her sleeve and somehow her songs manage to remain open to interpretation. As Steve Morse of The Boston Globe writes: "Flowers touches on so many emotions with so much talent that you simply have to hear her sing."