SPH Presents: Concerts in the Chapel with Guthrie Kennard and Julie Bonk
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
This is a special show with Guthrie and friend and collaborator Julie Bonk. Please join us for this wonderful evening. Don't miss the chance to attend this one-of-a-kind live performance, for what will surely be a memorable evening of music in the Rose Chapel at Preservation Hall. There will be a full bar available and a pickin' party afterwards, so bring the instruments and plan to stay on for that!
In 2013, Guthrie Kennard went into a Fort Worth recording studio to produce Cross Your Heart, his 4th full-length album, with a cornucopia of world class musicians including Julie Bonk, Marian Brackney, Nick Choate, and Danny Hill, among other accomplished artists. What resulted from this collaboration is a musical masterpiece composed of 12 songs that stand the test of time. Now, 11 years later, Guthrie will be joined on stage by Julie Bonk for a live performance of the tracks included on this superb record, as well as some newer songs.
Guthrie Kennard fits in among such luminaries as Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Ryan Mingham, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen, and of course Ray Wylie Hubbard who produced Matchbox. Kennard's punchy and authentic style is unmistakable but also retains an elegant uniqueness that puts his new album at the top of the heap.
Kennard's lyrics are often inky dark, but he never takes himself too seriously, as documented in songs like "Catfish Fishin'", "Monkey Wrench", and especially the insanely catchy and brilliantly simple hit song "Motorcycle", which gives Arlo Guthrie a run for his money in the competition for the best folk ode to two wheels.
There are plenty of surprises when you start to dig below the surface of Guthrie Kennard's music. For example, the undeniably affecting album closer, "Bristol" is not about Bristol, TN as most roots music buffs would assume, but rather about Bristol, England, where Kennard has experienced great success, perhaps more so than on his native soil.
Guthrie has been writing songs since the age of 16. With an enviable array of legendary musicians surrounding him including Ray Wylie Hubbard (who is often confused as Kennard's twin brother), Grammy Award winner Mark Benno and the legendary Buddy Miles (late drummer of Band of Gypsys), Kennard's meaty, skillful songwriting and unmistakable growl take the listener down a dusty road filled with juke joints and fishin' holes.
Julie Bonk is one of those rare musicians who expresses herself from deep within her soul, giving unique life and color to everything she plays. She is the 2014 winner of the Sammons Center for the Arts Jazz Musician of the Year .
She graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy where she developed her love for Jazz, Blues and songwriting. Her studies continued at UNT where she received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Performance. Julie has performed and recorded with such notables as Bob Hope, Buggs Henderson, The Supremes, The Drifters, The Platters, Z.Z. Hill, Henry (The Skipper) Franklin and Sunship, Suede, Rusty Burns, Guthrie Kennard, Tom Prasada-Rao, Andrew Jr. Boy Jones.
Currently living in Texas, Ms. Bonk is a well-respected and accomplished piano teacher in Jazz and Blues improvisation, composition, music theory, performance techniques and vocal styling. Some of her better-known students have included Grammy Award Winner Norah Jones, Scott Hoying from the Pentatonics, Allie Farris and Amy Abbott Owsley (American Chills).
Julie remains in high demand for performing. The cd 'Different Shades of Blue' features songs closest to her heart as well as some examples of her soulful originals.