When I sat down to interview Kevn Kinney, it was the first day of a rash of cold days to hit the South, and it was the first day I turned the heat on in our poorly-insulated home. The cold front stretched to Atlanta as well, and periodically throughout our interview, Kinney paused to direct the maintenance crew to his broken central heat. He told me that he and his wife Anna Jensen are used to it. They just pile the blankets on.
Kinney has executed his musical career in quiet humility, from his time in Atlanta’s Drivin N Cryin to an extensive and profoundly creative solo discography. Over time, he’s built more of a reputation, in the South specifically, than even he would admit. Kinney’s work as the principal songwriter of Drivin N Cryin redefined Southern rock at a time when it was sorely needed, and garnered him wide acclaim regionally. It also earned him a long list of friends.
In 2020, Jensen, seeing Kinney’s 60th birthday on the horizon and with limited options for celebration due to COVID, reached out to some of the musicians Kinney had met along the way to ask about covering one of his songs. “I think that as much as Kevn and Drivin N Cryin are loved and respected in inner circles, they’ve been underappreciated more widely,” Jensen said. “I’m hoping this project helps to change that.”
The result is Let’s Go Dancing: A Celebration of Kevn Kinney, a monumental four-album tribute with a final aggregation of 100 songs digitally, that calls on musicians from across genres and the country who have felt moved or influenced by Kinney’s music. The first of the four albums, Said The Firefly To The Hurricane, will be released Nov. 24, with following albums to be released on a loose quarterly schedule throughout the next year. Said The Firefly To The Hurricane is an expressive compilation of Kinney’s music, and the passion with which they are interpreted by the various artists is evident.
Jensen’s own art graces the cover of not only each of the four albums, but also unique pieces created for each song, a task almost as monumental as the record itself. She also founded a new label, Tasty Goody Records, to put out the re-imagined songs.
The album was announced with two accompanying singles, “Catch The Wind” and “Gotta Move On,” performed respectively by Brian Ritchie and Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes. Kinney played his first gig in Atlanta as an opener for the Violent Femmes, so it’s fitting that they start things off. Ritchie brought in Wisconsin musician Sam Llanas for vocals on “Catch The Wind,” the second song off of Drivin N Cryin’s Whisper Tames The Lion, as well as Sean Williamson on lap steel, John Sparrow on cajon, Mike Kasprzak on bongos and Ritchie himself on acoustic bass. “Gotta Move On,” a 2012 song by Kinney, was performed by Gano in a collaboration with Boy Dirt Car, a longtime friend of Kinney and Drivin N Cryin’s tour manager for some time.
“It’s cool they picked this song, because that was kind of my Violent Femmes ripoff,” Kinney said.
“‘Gotta Move On’ is kind of a true story,” he said. “When I first moved down to Atlanta, I lived in my car for about six months. I worked at the sewage plant and slept in my car. I had that, you know how people look at you like ‘you’re homeless?’ Like, dude, I work at the sewage plant, I just don’t have a house right now. I spent a lot of time just wandering around.”
Kinney hasn’t forgotten those times. When Jensen finally approached him with the idea of the tribute, he agreed under one condition: that all of the album’s proceeds go to charity. So, Anna worked with Kinney to pick charities with a personal connection.
The SIMS Foundation is an organization founded in part by featured artist Alejandro Escovedo. It provides mental health and substance use recovery services and support for musicians and music industry professionals. How Big Is Your Dream is an education-based youth empowerment organization affiliated with Ike Stubblefield. Out of The Woods assists children with spinal and brain injuries. FarmLink Project brings together farmers and food banks to tackle food waste and food insecurity.
Said The Firefly To The Hurricane also includes tracks by Elf Power, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Pylon Reenactment Society, Parker Gispert (The Whigs), Shovels and Rope, Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Erin Rae featuring Seth Martin, and more. Each of the upcoming albums has a theme that links them together. The first installment attempts to channel the moods and sounds of the season, with earlier songs from Kinney’s rugged beginnings. The second plans to rely on the country, roots and blues influences throughout Kinney’s discography.
It’s not often that an artist is prolific and effective enough to generate even a single tribute album, let alone four. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more thoughtful birthday present, both to the artist himself and the world at large.
“I do feel like it’s good for the world in general,” Jensen said. “There’s so much terrible stuff going on, so it’s nice to focus on some positive stuff, too.”
WHO: Drivin N Cryin, VOLK
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 22, 7 p.m.
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
HOW MUCH: $25 (adv.), $30
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