Kennedy's Kitchen, a traditional Irish music group based in South Bend, Indiana, will be performing at the Dayton Celtic Festival at the WDTN Traditional Stage on Sunday, July 28th from 12pm-1:20pm. John Kennedy, a founding member of the band, recently spoke with WYSO's Dear Green Place host Cindy Funk about the group's musical approach and upcoming performances.
Kennedy's Kitchen has been playing together for about 24 years, though Kennedy admits he hasn't kept accurate records. The band's name is a literal one. “I've recorded a good portion of our music in my kitchen,” Kennedy says. “We've been getting together for dinner almost every week – on a Thursday for about 20 years. We'll have dinner, then sit down and play songs.”
The dinners are a chance to enjoy a meal with bandmates, play some favorite songs, and explore new musical ideas. “The best part of my musical life is getting together with friends, having dinner, having a few drinks, blowing off steam from the week, and then enjoying some music,” says Kennedy. The meetings are also a chance for band members to pitch song ideas, which is a fun and unpredictable process.
“Sometimes music just blossoms right out of the box, and it just suits the band somehow. Usually when that happens, you've got it. But sometimes it's there one night and then the next week it's not there anymore. Music is such a beautiful, delicate thing.”
While Kennedy considers the band's relaxed Thursday night dinners to be the highlight of his musical life, he also enjoys the process of preparing songs for recording. The band is currently preparing to record a new album, and Kennedy says the process has brought new energy to their music. “The music we've been playing sounds different because we're preparing to record,” he told Funk magazine. “You don't really listen as intently to every note until you're recording. It just changes your level of concentration.”
In addition to Kennedy, the band consists of Chris O'Brien on fiddle, mandolin and tenor banjo, Joel Cooper on bass, Mike Bill on whistle and Nancy Turner on drums. Kennedy said that the vocal harmonies between O'Brien and Cooper are the highlight of the current lineup, saying, “Chris and Joel make me the luckiest lead singer in music, because I have two natural contrapuntal harmony singers. They're not just harmony singers, they're both contrapuntally talented, which is really rare.”
Some songs especially benefit from contrapuntal harmony, Kennedy said, such as the 19th century sea song “Rolling Down to Old Maui.”
When it comes to live performances, Kennedy emphasizes spontaneity and connecting with the audience. “We usually have a plan, we know how it starts and how it ends, but that doesn't mean we start like that and we end like that,” he said. “Our best shows are when we know we're ready, but then we go in and the mood of the audience is different than we expected and it doesn't work.”
For Kennedy, music is not just entertainment, but a way to find joy and solace during difficult times. “Nothing heals us all like laughter, and we all need a good laugh right now. All of us,” he reflects. “Depending on my mood and how I see things, I can be just as dark as the next person, but I consciously choose to make a different choice, and that choice is to see, through music, how beautiful it is to be alive.”
Kennedy's Kitchen's performance at Dayton Celtic Festival will mark their first return to the city in over 10 years. Festival admission is free and more information can be found at daytoncelticfestival.com. For more information, including details about Kennedy's Kitchen's latest album, visit True Whiskyand upcoming tour dates at kennedyskitchen.com.
Text by Peter Day based on an interview recorded by Cindy Funk and first aired on July 14, 2024.
