- Paul Kennerley
Paul Kennerley is an English
singer -songwriter ,musician andrecord producer working in the American contemporarycountry music industry. His works include theconcept album s, "White Mansions " and "The Legend of Jesse James ". He produced and co-wrote "The Ballad of Sally Rose " withEmmylou Harris in 1985, and was married to Harris from 1985 to 1993.Biography
Kennerley was born in
Hoylake ,Merseyside ,North West England . In 1976 he was living inLondon and working inadvertising when he first heardcountry music , the song "That's How a Cowboy Sings the Blues" byWaylon Jennings . "It really excited me," Kennerley recalls in his artist biography forUniversal Music Group . "I immediately hunted down every Waylon record I could find."He quit his job in advertising and gave himself three months to develop his talents as a
songwriter .His first project was "
White Mansions ", a 1978concept album set in theConfederate States of America during theAmerican Civil War . The project was picked up byA&M Records , withGlyn Johns producing. A number of notable artists recorded the music, includingWaylon Jennings ,Jessi Colter , Steve Cash of theOzark Mountain Daredevils andEric Clapton .In 1980, a second concept album was released, "
The Legend of Jesse James ", which featured more notable artists, includingJohnny Cash ,Emmylou Harris ,Charlie Daniels ,Albert Lee andLevon Helm .Neither "White Mansions" nor "Jesse James" were commercially successful, but they did establish Kennerley as a serious songwriter. Among his early songs was "Born to Run", which Emmylou Harris recorded in 1981 for her album, "Cimarron", and she continues to frequently perform it in her concerts.
Kennerly continued to live in London while he wrote songs, but in 1983 moved to
Nashville, Tennessee , where he started working with Harris on her semi-autobiographical concept album, "The Ballad of Sally Rose ", co-writing and producing the album. He also collaborated with Harris on her albums "Thirteen" and "Bluebird", and writing the songs "In My Dreams" and "Heartbreak Hill". He married Harris in 1985, but the couple divorced in 1993.Kennerley also wrote songs for
The Judds ("Young Love", "One Man Woman", "Let Me Tell You About Love", "Cry Myself to Sleep", "Have Mercy" and "Give a Little Love"),Marty Stuart ("Hillbilly Rock", "Western Girls", "Tempted", "Till I Found You", "Little Things"),Tanya Tucker ("Walking Shoes"),Sweethearts of the Rodeo ("Chains of Gold"),Patty Loveless ("Blue Memories") andJuice Newton ("Tell Me True").He was named
Broadcast Music Incorporated Writer of the Year in 1989.He released a solo album in 1998, "
Misery With a Beat ".External links
* [http://www.umpgnashville.com/spotlight/dsp_spotlight.asp?ID=1350 The Songs of Paul Kennerley]
*allmusicguide | id = 11:3jfrxqw5ldke | label = Paul Kennerley
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