The Kennedys add "diversity" to their music
SEAN SPILLANE 4/4/07
Pete and Maura Kennedy, the husband-and-wife duo known professionally as The Kennedys, moved to Northampton, Mass., last year with the intention of working with other artists to add a little "diversity" to their music.
Funny then, that their first foray into diversity was to work with identical twins Chris and Meredith Thompson. This collaboration presented its own unique difficulties.
"I've known them for 10 years and couldn't tell them apart," Maura Kennedy said, laughing, in a recent phone interview. "We started rehearsing with them and now, even before they pick up their instruments, I know who is who."
"We're fans of Chris and Meredith, so that's part of the joy of it for us," Maura added. "They've joined us on stage in the past, at festivals and things like that, and as musicians they're just so intuitive. That's what makes the rehearsals such a dream. It doesn't seem like anyone is thinking too much; it's all intuitive. "They are really incredible folksingers and songwriters and they're amazing musicians. We wanted to work with them and we came up with this idea."
The idea she speaks of is The Strangelings, a band that has created a live show called "The Nuah Suite," which consists of two 40-45 minute suites: "The Nuah Suite" and "Strange Seasons." The two pieces are musically based on British folk-rock with a lyrical focus on the mythological.
The Strangelings will perform "The Nuah Suite" at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport Saturday night at 9.
"What we did was we picked a few songs from our repertoire that fit — we have written a few songs that are in that style — and the Thompsons have a few songs that are in that bag, too, so we picked some of those," Maura explained, citing two Kennedys songs integral to the work, "Nuah" from 2005's Half a Million Miles and "Anna and the Magic Gown" from 2003's Stand.
"They all have that enigmatic folk mythology that ties them all together. We sort of focused on the enigmatic, spooky tales, so it's got this vibe to it that continues through the whole show."
Also mixed in to "The Nuah Suite" are songs by Fairport Convention, Donovan and Dave Carter.
"In our regular show, as The Kennedys, we kind of refer to a lot of different kinds of music, not necessarily straight folk all the time," Pete Kennedy said. "One of the things we've always been interested in is British folk-rock from back around the era of Fairport Convention and Pentangle, when they were like jam bands in a way.
"They were different from The Grateful Dead in that they were referring to this body of really traditional folk music as well as writing songs. We thought, 'What if we tried to do a band like that now?' "
For The Strangelings project, Pete and Maura both play electric sitars, Chris Thompson is on acoustic guitar and Meredith Thompson plays flute and percussion. All three women sing, so you can be sure the band's gigs will be filled with rich harmonies.
Having three singers also comes in handy when you're performing two extended suites.
"There's no break between songs, so it's just one long continuous piece," Maura said. "They're separate songs, but each song is linked together with a musical interlude. So you won't hear applause until the end of the set because it's one long thing."
The interludes will be supplied by Pete Kennedy, as gifted a guitarist as you'll find on the singer-songwriter circuit.
"I love to play classical stuff on the guitar, so we use a lot of those things as links between the longer songs," Pete said. "We get to do a lot of things that are a little bit outside of what we do as The Kennedys. It's definitely not The Kennedys trading songs with the Thompsons or anything like that."
"The fans will hear songs that they recognize, but the presentation will be different," Maura added. "I think that's what makes it interesting for people that have seen us a number of times."
The Kennedys are not worried in the least that their audience won't follow them as they embark on this new project.
"We trust our audience to know that they're going to be entertained, whether we're doing a Kennedys show or this," Maura said. "They're going to be challenged, but they're going to enjoy being challenged.
"Our audience, they're very eclectic. They're smart and they like all kinds of music, just like we do. In fact, when we did [our first Strangelings show], we didn't have to tell them, 'OK, this is going to be different; this is going to be a suite; it's going to last 40 minutes.' We didn't have to say anything. They just got it immediately."
The only thing missing will be the between-song banter of a traditional folk-music show, which adds to the intimacy of the evening.
"It's all about the music," Pete said. "[The rapport with the audience] happens in the context of the music." Added Maura: "I think because of the mythological nature of these songs, they really draw you in. It's like you're sitting around a campfire hearing ghost stories. It's definitely an intimate experience for the audience. You can feel them drawing closer and closer as the stories in the songs unfold."
At the band's first show, Maura Kennedy had the foresight to set up one video camera on a tripod and having someone else shooting the performance with another. "When I started editing it, I thought, 'This is really a great band and I should get this thing together,'" Maura said of The Strangelings' DVD, that, if all goes according to plan, should be available at Saturday night's show in Bridgeport.
"Instead of going the traditional route and doing an album right away, because we're such a visual band with costumes and everything, we'll put out a DVD first because it's almost as much visual as it is audio," Maura said."
The Strangelings performs Saturday night at 9 at the Acoustic Cafe, 2926 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport. For tickets ($15) or more details, call 335-3655.
For more information on The Strangelings, visit www.myspace.com/TheStrangelings.