The Kenneth Brian Band
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The Kenneth Brian Band

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | INDIE

Nashville, Tennessee, United States | INDIE
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"Kenneth Brian Band brings Belle native back to town"

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Travis Stephens can tell you in two words why he moved to Nashville: Hank Williams.

"Hank Williams made music there, so that's where I wanted to make music," said the Belle native, who moved to Music City in 2002. He returns to Charleston Friday to bring in the new year at The Empty Glass as part of The Kenneth Brian Band.

If you told Stephens as a teen that the country great would become one of his biggest influences, he might have laughed in your face.

"I grew up listening to punk and New Wave," he said. "If you heard it in a John Hughes movie, I liked it."

The 1996 Dupont High School graduate played in several bands in Charleston, the longest of which was SMD, which he called "prog metal experimental garage craziness."

It wasn't until he turned 20 that he began to really get into country, but he insists that there's not as much difference between the two genres as people think.

"Country music is punk music," he said. "When you read about guys like Hank Williams and Faron Young -- the legendary old country guys -- those guys were the first punk rockers. They weren't a whole lot different; they were young poor people with a whole lot to say."

Stephens and Kenneth Brian have a lot to say, too, but at first, they didn't realize it was something they should be saying together.

WANT TO GO?

Kenneth Brian Band

WHEN: 10 p.m. Friday

WHERE: The Empty Glass, 410 Elizabeth St.

COST: $8

INFO: www.myspace.com/theemptyglass or 304-345-3914



CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Travis Stephens can tell you in two words why he moved to Nashville: Hank Williams.
"Hank Williams made music there, so that's where I wanted to make music," said the Belle native, who moved to Music City in 2002. He returns to Charleston Friday to bring in the new year at The Empty Glass as part of The Kenneth Brian Band.

If you told Stephens as a teen that the country great would become one of his biggest influences, he might have laughed in your face.

"I grew up listening to punk and New Wave," he said. "If you heard it in a John Hughes movie, I liked it."

The 1996 Dupont High School graduate played in several bands in Charleston, the longest of which was SMD, which he called "prog metal experimental garage craziness."

It wasn't until he turned 20 that he began to really get into country, but he insists that there's not as much difference between the two genres as people think.

"Country music is punk music," he said. "When you read about guys like Hank Williams and Faron Young -- the legendary old country guys -- those guys were the first punk rockers. They weren't a whole lot different; they were young poor people with a whole lot to say."

Stephens and Kenneth Brian have a lot to say, too, but at first, they didn't realize it was something they should be saying together.

"Kenneth and I moved to Nashville within a month of each other and were kind of like the dynamic duo of Nashville for a long time," Stephens said. "It never occurred to us to do something together musically. We would sit around at parties and play guitar together, but we never thought about forming a band."

At the time, Brian was doing his own thing and Stephens, a rhythm guitar player and harmony vocalist, was playing with punkabilly artist Rosie Flores.

"I was a huge fan of Rosie before I ever went to Nashville," he said, before recalling how he came to be in her band.

"Two weeks to the day I moved to Nashville, Rosie was playing a show. I met her between sets and asked to sing with her. I did, and after the show, she said, 'Come over and get a rehearsal CD; I'm playing a party tomorrow.' I said I didn't need one, that I had all her albums. She said, 'No. If you're going to join my band, you need a rehearsal CD' and wrote her address on my hand."

It was through Flores, in a way, that the Kenneth Brian Band came to be.

"Kenneth went to Austin, and I met up with him there -- I was there hanging out with Rosie. He came over with his guitar and played me some his new songs. I said, 'OK, we gotta do this. I'm in the band.' "

The two found bassist Zach Graham and drummer Richard Deimer Pryor and hooked up with producer Johnny Sandlin, who has worked with The Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker. Their CD, "Welcome to Alabama," will be released March 15.

Stephens said of the band's sound, "[It's] country rock. We do rock; we have Marshall amps and play Les Pauls [guitars]. But it's still country, just big and loud."

"There are lots of legendary players on the record," he noted. "The bassist, David Hood, played for Aretha Franklin, and the keyboard player, Chuck Leavell, played with the Rolling Stones. Bonnie Bramlett's on it."

In the new year, the band will be touring "as much as possible" in support of the record. They'll also finish shooting the video for its first single -- the title track -- that will come out around the same time as the album.

"We just shot the live portion," Stephens said. "The rest is going to be us just hanging out in our element. It should be a good representation of what we're about."

Stephens also fronts his own band, Travis Stephens and The Invisible Kids. (He'll showcase some of its material in a short set Friday.) That group will release an album in 2011, too.

"My New Year's resolution is to stay busy," he said. "That's all I can do, and in music, if you can stay busy, that's a good thing."


- The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)


"Kenneth Brian Band embraces Southern roots"

Kenneth Brian Band embraces Southern roots - The Decatur Daily (Decatur, AL)


"Strong Enough To Survive"

On his self titled cd Kenneth Brian comes ripping through the speakers like a bat out of hell. The album is a blistering set of rocking swingers, that conjure the bars with sawdust still on the floor. In a world that finds Kenny Chesney auto-wittering about the beach bum life style this is an album that will get your soul moving and your feet tapping. With a rockabilly sound that is equal parts Reverend Horton Heat and a twang reminiscent of Johnny Horton Brian brings a much needed breath of fresh air to the genre of Punkabilly.

The album opens with “Wildcat Daddy,” a barn burner of a song with a wry and well used mid-song tempo change. “Wide Open Spaces” finds Brian’s voice in fine heartbreak form on such well spun lines as “Yesterday is just a memory/when your love has lost its light/and tomorrow won’t mean anything/if I can’t make it through tonight.” “The River” finds Bryan mining swing territory and adding an effective delta blues edge to his country voice, which couples with some very fine steel guitar and impeccable fiddle for one of the albums stand out tracks. “Closin’ Time” is a great old styled cheatin’ in the vein of Leroy Van Dykes’ “Walk On By” or Loretta and Conway’s “After The Fire Is Gone.” “Road to Run” is a balls to the wall truck driving rocker sure to make any Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash fan sit up and take notice. “349” is a great up tempo heartbreak song about trying to outrun the memory of an old love, which serves as a morning after moment to “Closin’ Time.” “Ride,” with its dark intro and eerily emotive vocals drives straight into the marrow of a listener. “First of the Month” returns to the standard punkabilly instrumentals, with the darkly humorous edge of a Robert Earle Keen, finding Bryan quipping “You don’t stumble in till half past three/I’m telling you gal you about as bad as me.” “Blood Runs Deep” rapidly emerges as a stand out track, an epic ballad of American immigration and migration which couples poetic lyrics, amazing instrumentals (especially the fiddle and drums), and breathtaking vocals. On Jukebox, Bryan brings the album full circle with another fun song about barrooms, this one finds him taking over a too pop bars stage, “Rosin up that fiddle/pass the mike to me/we’re gonna honky tonk to 1953/Tune up that steel guitar/We’re gonna play all night/Cause something’s wrong with the jukebox/we’re gonna make it right.” Brian closes the album by taking the Prince song “When You Were Mine” and twisting it upside down and backwards until it sounds like a Hank Williams classic.

In the great ocean of new wave rockabilly and so called punkabilly, what makes Brain stand out is the diversity and the lack of novelty songs. Sure, the album is replete with the revved up instrumentals and triple timed tempos that have become trademarks of the genre, however there are none of the playing to see how fast we can play or the almost nonsensical songs that, as much as I love them, The Revered Horton Heat built their career on. The vocals always fit and blend, behind a group of musicians who really know their stuff and never use speed or volume as a cover. Likewise, the songs are not amped up to breath life into them, rather the opposite is true. These are songs which can be amped up because they are strong enough to survive that. So, if you have been veering away from the so-called Punkabilly movement because it has begun to show the same weaknesses as the alt-rock genre that was its mother, or even if you are just looking for some good new old country with a twist, give this cd a listen. - Real Country Music Online Review


"Ass-kickin' country"



If you like country music, Kenneth Brian is your guy.

Country, like Hank and Dwight and the old rockabilly boys of the '50s did it. Real country music. Not the crap you hear on the radio these days, although there are a few artists I enjoy.

I was showing a couple of visitors around town Saturday night and we ended up at the Jack of the Wood. We ran into Kenneth, jammin' with a badass bassist, guitarist and hammerin' drummer.

Kenneth, all leather fringe and 10-gallon hat, crooned and yodeled and rocked. The kid ain't but about 25, 26. But he sure did sound a lot like Dwight Yoakum, one of my all-time favorites. And he played plenty of homage to Hank Williams. But he had a few songs all his own, and I have to say that it was refreshing to hear some real roots country music.

Keep your eye on this guy. He's got a new record out in April and he's touring like a madman. This kid could be going places - I hope. - Ash Vegas Music Reveiw


"Spotlight on Kenneth Brian"

(Omaha World-Herald) - "Country music that's on the radio is just a bad version of pop music," Brian said in a phone interview from a tour stop in Daytona Beach, Fla. "My goal is to bring country music back to its roots." With a style that blends honky-tonk, Western swing and rockabilly, Brian - who performed at Mick's Music & Bar as part of the "Sunday Roadhouse Americana Music Series" - has been called "the past, present and future of country music." Brian, who sings and plays acoustic and electric guitars, will be accompanied at a local show by musicians Chris Rhoades (upright bass, electric bass); Rich Gilbert (pedal steel guitar, electric guitar); and Cassady Feasby (drums). Brian learned to play guitar while a teen growing up in northwest Florida. Throughout high school, he performed in punk and metal bands. Country music, though, was his true calling.
"I grew up listening to country," said Brian, whose influences include Johnny Horton, Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt. In 2000, armed with an arsenal of original material, Brian assembled a backing band and took his show on the road. Three years later, Brian relocated to Nashville, where he has become a staple in the city's honky-tonk clubs.
"I just write about my life, things I go through and life on the road," said the 24-year-old, who has released two albums and has a new one due in April. "If people want some real good American, rootsy country music," Brian said, "my show's the place to be."
- Omaha World Herald


"Something's Wrong with the Jukebox, He's Gonna Make it Right"

The legends of country music are fading away, dying off

leaving us with cellophane-thin artists singing songs penned by attorneys, lawyers and marketing departments. Fortunately some of those legends are being reborn in future legends like Kenneth Brian. Now a Nashville resident, with a hand in Western swing, rockabilly and real country, he bucks any similarity to anything else coming out of that town, except Willie Heath Neal. Nasal and fired up like a backwoods hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, Brian harkens back to the old days and has been called The Modern Day Johnny Horton. Hell, he even looks like he could stand in for the original Hank. In other words, this Blue Moon Saloon show, Thursday, Aug. 5, is a must for anyone who knows George Jones ain't just a name on a dog-food bag. For more information, call 234-2422.

- The Times of Acadiana


"The Past And Future Of Country"

KB is the past and future of country music and it's best present (if it has one) all rolled up into one sweaty ass-haulin'
no sht takin' ball. all he's got now is a self-made demo but that will change soon. one of the best live performers workin' today
with out a net of nashvillianPOP bullshit. KB has thrown down the gauntlet of DEATH TO FALSE COUNTRY!
and if he has his way (and he usually does) it'll bygawd stay down. All hail the HonkyTonk Prince of N.FL !
- Rick Saunders Country Review


"KB Steals The Show"

Kenneth Brian stole the show right out from underneath The Weary Boys. Kenneth Brian play country music. I'm not talking about the crap you'll hear on the radio, or got help us, see on CMT. He plays real foot stompin', honky tonkin', juke joint rockin' country music. He leads a talented three piece (who can also be seen playing with Willie Heath Neal) that tears through his origional songs. Yes, that's right, a country preformer who writes his own songs, and their not even about Iraq or Key West.

With Kenneth sporting his vintage suit it almost makes you feel like your in the audience at the Lousiana Hayride watching Lefty Frizzell or George Jones. If nothing else you can't deny the kids got style. He looks like a country musician, not some Abercrombie model with frosted hair and fifty dollar faded jeans.

There is so much garbage lumped together under the title country music it's a real treat to her it done right. Some live highlights were Kenneth's songs "Juke Box", "349:, and "Wildcat Daddy". He also played a couple of new scorchers, but I didn't catch their names.

Kenneth has made him self some what of a regular on the Tallahassee scene, and were lucky to have him. I encourage anyone who enjoys good live music of any kind to make an effort to see Kenneth Brian the next time he comes through town.

- Erik Nelson of Tallahaseeshows.com


Discography

Albums:
KENNETH BRIAN (self titled album 2003)
Brighter Day (2006)
Breath of a Dove (2007)
Fallin Down Slow (2008)
Welcome To Alabama (2011)

Tracks with airplay:
Burn Me Down
Rambler
349
Wide Open Spaces
Jukebox
The River
Brighter Day
Nashville Line
High Time

Photos

Bio

"The Past, Present, and Future of Outlaw Country Music" - The Gainesville Sun
The Kenneth Brian Band has been working very hard, finishing up their new record, produced by the legendary, Johnny Sandlin. Sandlin's impressive body of work speaks for itself. He played in Hour Glass (with his pals Duane and Gregg Allman), he then became Vice-President and head of A&R at Capricorn Records and went on to engineer and produce some of the most influential records and artists of our time including: The Allman Bros., Bonnie Bramlett, Wet Willie, Delbert McClinton, Cher, Widespread Panic, Leroy Parnell, Marshall Tucker Band, Derek Trucks and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to name just a few. Johnny's experience in the classic/southern rock genre (he is one of the pioneers in the field) is a perfect match for Kenneth Brian's southern sensibilities, musically and otherwise.
In the fall of 2002 Kenneth Brian packed a suitcase and his guitar and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. With eight years of experience playing in an eclectic assortment of country, metal,
and punk bands behind him, Kenneth followed his dream up to Music City and hasn’t looked back since, touring nonstop around the US and Europe. Kenneth's writing draws inspiration from his life growing up in North Central Florida, and his family's Georgia/West Virginia hard working roots. His lyrics reveal his years spent on the road as a musician- moving forward and looking back on what he'd left behind. His music is straight ahead Roots Country with a contemporary sharpness, fueled by a backbeat of raw emotion.
Since moving to Nashville Kenneth has been bringing his talents back and fourth to clubs across the country, into the studios on Music Row writing for Sony/ATV publishing, and Starring as Hank Williams Sr. in Hank Williams: Lost Highway at the Zachary Scott Theatre in Austin, TX. His genuine authenticity and modern edge have attracted listeners from all over the world.
Kenneth Brian Press Quotes:
"Kenneth is really unbelievable as a guitar player, he's a real shit-kicking gunslinger with great chops and then he writes songs in that Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt vein of songwriting. It's not only a hell of a rock 'n' roll sound, but the songs are there if you are listening." - Huntington Herald Dispatch
"Kenneth Brian pushes country rock music to new boundaries." - Southern Oregon's Mail Tribune
"His musical talent is no act" - KUT Austin, TX
"As much good country soul as a pine-wood pew in a Baptist church come revival time" - The Times of Acadiana
"Kenneth Brian is the past and future of country music and it's best present (if it has one)all rolled up into one sweaty ass-haulin' no sh*t takin' ball. One of the best live performers workin' today. All hail the Honky Tonk Prince!" - Rick Saunders, Omaha World-Herald
" Kenneth Brian comes ripping through the speakers like a bat out of hell. The album is a blistering set of rocking swingers, that conjure the bars with sawdust still on the floor." - Breath of Fresh Air Magazine
For more information go to: http://www.myspace.com/kennethbrian.
Kenneth Brian Press Contact: Brett Steele Steele Management 727/953-9277 phone/fax 727/420-1547 cell brsmgt@tampabay.rr.com www.myspace.com/steelemanagement
About Steele Management Steele Management is celebrating its 23rd year in the entertainment industry. Originally formed as a boutique personal management company to represent the band Roxx Gang (Virgin Records) we now manage Charlie Louvin (Tompkins Square Records), Dex Romweber Duo (Bloodshot Records/Third Man Records), The Mojo Gurus (True North Records), Izzy Cox, Kenneth Brian and producer Mike P. We are also working with or have worked in some capacity with Th' Legendary Shack Shakers (Yep Roc), Steel Magnolia (Big Machine), The John Henrys (True North Records), Michael Logen (Combustion Music), Have Gun, Will Travel and The Missionary Position.