#68 and #69 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Father & Son Blues Pt.1 & Reprise, features the superlatively talented Kevin and Yates McKendree. I first heard Kevin playing keys with Mike Henderson at their legendary Monday night Bluebird Cafe gigs in Nashville TN more than 25 years ago and he was killin' it!. Everybody knew that Kevin had been referred for the Lee Roy Parnell gig by Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell so his cool factor was already at a 10. Then Kevin and his wife, Laura, had a son, Yates, who surprise!, is a full on musical prodigy. Yates could play before he could talk. He's been wowing people as a keyboard player and a guitar player for years and he's only 18! (just check out the YouTubes). If you're reading this, you probably know that we don't normally have more than one guest on a track, but how could we resist enlisting both of these cats to play together on a track. When I heard Yates' multiple takes I couldn't bare not using both so I asked Kevin to play piano as well as the B3 so we'd be able to create two separate pieces of music. (hence, Part 1 and Reprise). Here's the "need to know" part; Kevin produced and played on the last John Hiatt record and Yates played lead guitar on it. They're both Grammy winners for their work on Delbert McClinton's, Tall, Dark and Handsome. Kevin's been a member of Delbert's band since 1997 and Yates has also been in the band for a couple of years now. When Delbert's off, you can catch Kevin with Brian Setzer or making records at his studio, The Rock House in Franklin TN. You can check out Yates' handiwork on the most recent Black Stone Cherry and Tinsley Ellis records. Enjoy!
The backing band on this track is Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Additional recording by Kevin McKendree at The Rock House, Franklin TN. The Grammy winning and extremely personable, Matt Winegar (Primus, Fantastic Negrito), mixed and mastered the crap outta this one!
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