KEVN KINNEY
''BROKEN HEARTS AND AUTO PARTS''
MARCH 19 2002
54:04
1 - Broken Hearts And Auto Parts/5:14
2 - Comin' Down This Way/5:34
3 - Back Roads and Rainy Days/Kevn Kinney, Scott Munn/4:25
4 - Yes That's Me/3:21
5 - Time/3:53
6 - Why Does It Feel So Hard to Say/6:03
7 - Lightning Strikes Twice/4:05
8 - Lights On/Tom Clark/4:11
9 - No Blues/5:45
10 - A Good Country Mile/8:30
11 - Story/2:19
Tracks By Kinney, Except 3, 8
Phil Cohen /Bass
Sarah Lee Guthrie /Vocals (Background)
Johnny Irion /Dobro, Piano, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Dave V. Johnson /Drums
Kevn Kinney /Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Eric Metronome /Percussion
Leon Overtoom /Drums
REVIEW
by Robert L. Doerschuk
Lo-tech almost to the point of affectation, Broken Hearts and Auto Parts wears its rough edges like insignia of street credibility. Yet there's a naturalness to Kinney's writing and delivery that rings true. His songs speak with an artless eloquence over spare and simple backup tracks, with homespun imagery woven into lyrics like "Dialing down the radio/Trying to find a song about you." For all its imperceptible breaks, limited range, dubious pitch, and raggedy timbre, Kinney's voice communicates beautifully and thus leaps the greatest hurdle confronting every singer; it's a perfect match for the spirited, yet languid and less-than-precise backup provided by his colleagues in the contemporary lineup of Drivin' N' Cryin', along with deadpan but convincing harmony support from the daughter of Arlo Guthrie -- as pedigreed as accompaniment can get. There is, in fact, something charming and disingenuous in this music, similar in kind to Guthrie's best work. Through the easy flow of his songs and their performance, Kinney achieves a timelessness on Broken Hearts and Auto Parts that may make it as appealing to future generations as it is to graybeard Americana aficionados.
BIOGRAPHY
by Denise Sullivan
Kevn Kinney was the lead singer of the Atlanta rock band Drivin' n' Cryin', but since the band's 1986 inception he's released some spare acoustic records on his own, often collaborating with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. MacDougal Blues for Island in 1990 announced the rocker's arrival on the folk scene with the engaging title cut and nine more acoustic tracks produced by Buck and mostly played by his bandmates from Drivin' n' Cryin'. Though often cited as a working-class lyricist, Kinney cannot easily be thrown into the same bag as Springsteen, Mellencamp, or Dave Alvin. Instead, his is a unique spin on class, not urban yet not completely rural -- he's lived and worked in the urban center, Atlanta. Yet there is a gentleness and deeply humanistic thread to his work, and his use of traditional instruments enhances his words' warmth. His follow-up, Down Out Law (Mammoth, 1994), is a little more of a downer and less a celebration of folk music than a revealing, melancholy personal treatise, unaccompanied except by himself on guitar, save for one track. Continuing to record with Drivin' n' Cryin', Kinney also toured as a solo act for some time, often assisted by Buck or his brother. A side project with Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, ex-Allman Brothers) turned into Kinney's third solo album; released in 2000, The Flower & the Knife featured a number of other guests, including Blues Traveler's John Popper, Edwin McCain, members of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers, and more. Broken Hearts and Auto Parts arrived in 2002, followed by a reunion record, Great American Bubble Factory, with Drivin' n' Cryin' in 2009. Kinney returned in 2012 with a a new solo outing, Good Country Mile, with the Golden Palominos.
''BROKEN HEARTS AND AUTO PARTS''
MARCH 19 2002
54:04
1 - Broken Hearts And Auto Parts/5:14
2 - Comin' Down This Way/5:34
3 - Back Roads and Rainy Days/Kevn Kinney, Scott Munn/4:25
4 - Yes That's Me/3:21
5 - Time/3:53
6 - Why Does It Feel So Hard to Say/6:03
7 - Lightning Strikes Twice/4:05
8 - Lights On/Tom Clark/4:11
9 - No Blues/5:45
10 - A Good Country Mile/8:30
11 - Story/2:19
Tracks By Kinney, Except 3, 8
Phil Cohen /Bass
Sarah Lee Guthrie /Vocals (Background)
Johnny Irion /Dobro, Piano, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Dave V. Johnson /Drums
Kevn Kinney /Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Eric Metronome /Percussion
Leon Overtoom /Drums
REVIEW
by Robert L. Doerschuk
Lo-tech almost to the point of affectation, Broken Hearts and Auto Parts wears its rough edges like insignia of street credibility. Yet there's a naturalness to Kinney's writing and delivery that rings true. His songs speak with an artless eloquence over spare and simple backup tracks, with homespun imagery woven into lyrics like "Dialing down the radio/Trying to find a song about you." For all its imperceptible breaks, limited range, dubious pitch, and raggedy timbre, Kinney's voice communicates beautifully and thus leaps the greatest hurdle confronting every singer; it's a perfect match for the spirited, yet languid and less-than-precise backup provided by his colleagues in the contemporary lineup of Drivin' N' Cryin', along with deadpan but convincing harmony support from the daughter of Arlo Guthrie -- as pedigreed as accompaniment can get. There is, in fact, something charming and disingenuous in this music, similar in kind to Guthrie's best work. Through the easy flow of his songs and their performance, Kinney achieves a timelessness on Broken Hearts and Auto Parts that may make it as appealing to future generations as it is to graybeard Americana aficionados.
BIOGRAPHY
by Denise Sullivan
Kevn Kinney was the lead singer of the Atlanta rock band Drivin' n' Cryin', but since the band's 1986 inception he's released some spare acoustic records on his own, often collaborating with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. MacDougal Blues for Island in 1990 announced the rocker's arrival on the folk scene with the engaging title cut and nine more acoustic tracks produced by Buck and mostly played by his bandmates from Drivin' n' Cryin'. Though often cited as a working-class lyricist, Kinney cannot easily be thrown into the same bag as Springsteen, Mellencamp, or Dave Alvin. Instead, his is a unique spin on class, not urban yet not completely rural -- he's lived and worked in the urban center, Atlanta. Yet there is a gentleness and deeply humanistic thread to his work, and his use of traditional instruments enhances his words' warmth. His follow-up, Down Out Law (Mammoth, 1994), is a little more of a downer and less a celebration of folk music than a revealing, melancholy personal treatise, unaccompanied except by himself on guitar, save for one track. Continuing to record with Drivin' n' Cryin', Kinney also toured as a solo act for some time, often assisted by Buck or his brother. A side project with Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, ex-Allman Brothers) turned into Kinney's third solo album; released in 2000, The Flower & the Knife featured a number of other guests, including Blues Traveler's John Popper, Edwin McCain, members of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers, and more. Broken Hearts and Auto Parts arrived in 2002, followed by a reunion record, Great American Bubble Factory, with Drivin' n' Cryin' in 2009. Kinney returned in 2012 with a a new solo outing, Good Country Mile, with the Golden Palominos.
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