Kenefick was formed from an acoustic duo that Marty Wells and former member David Fahl started in the spring of 2000 in Houston, Texas. Quintin Watts, who didn’t play an instrument, but had an excellent voice and was a great showman, soon joined them. Marty and Quintin had cut their teeth together entertaining folks at BBQ and Chili Cookoffs for their cookoff team, “Planet Texas”. Their showmanship skills won many awards for Planet Texas, including the CASI Terlingua International Chili Championship. So it was a natural fit for Quintin to join up with Marty. Glenn Byrd was invited to join the band within weeks as a lead guitar player. (Marty and Glenn are both Southwest Texas State University grads) By the summer, Kenefick had a name, Steve Shirk had signed on as the bass player, and Keith Quinones had joined as drummer. David and Glenn were complimenting each other on lead acoustic and lead electric. Marty was playing some strong acoustic rhythm guitar. Quintin was free to move around and focus on showmanship, and Marty and Quintin were creating some fine vocal combinations. The band then started hosting Joe Parson’s River Oaks Redneck Jam at Blancos every few weeks, and worked out from there to other venues around Houston. Throughout 2000 and 2001, the members of the band wrote several songs that have been enthusiastically embraced by a growing following. In the spring of 2001, Marty decided it was time to record, but didn’t know the first thing about it. He consulted with a friend of his, Roger Creager, about the process and how to get it done. Roger had heard Kenefick play, opening for him at the Planet Texas Cookoff Team tent at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cookoff. (Roger has played for Planet Texas every year for the past 5 years) Roger strongly encouraged Marty to contact Lloyd Maines to do the project. Marty took Roger’s advice, and after sending tapes of his original music to Lloyd Maines, was able to schedule some time in Cedar Creek Studio in Austin Texas with Lloyd and his protégé, Adam Odor. Kenefick continued to play around the Houston area at venues like The Firehouse, Blancos, The Hideaway Club, and even became a regular at Ropers in Sealy, Texas. Kenefick was also invited to play the KORA Back Porch Show at The Dixie Chicken in College Station by Corbin MacClain. It was a tremendous success, and the next week Kenefick went to Austin to record. After working with Kenefick for a couple of days on rhythm tracks, and taking a good listen to the existing Kenefick arrangements for their songs, Lloyd decided that we were in very good hands with Adam Odor to do most of the rest of the work. Lloyd would pop in the mornings and evenings to check on, and review our progress. He didn’t have to do much from a production standpoint, because Adam Odor was doing an excellent job, and took very good care of the band. Adam and Lloyd both encouraged us to use our own creative juices, and sound natural. The result was a huge success. On the CD, of the 12 tracks (and one ghost track) 10 are original. One track, Maple On The Hill, written by Gussie Davis, is a very old bluegrass song that is in the public domain. It was popular as far back as the 1920’s and Joe Parsons would sing it when he was in Europe with his brothers in arms during WWII. He now sings it at Blancos during his River Oaks Redneck Jams as a sing along with the crowd. Kenefick recorded Joe singing with the crowd, and then faded in a real bluegrass version of the song on the CD. As a tribute to Joe for helping out so many local musicians, Kenefick invited others up to participate in the recording. The Tequila Cowboys, FCo, and Clay Farmer are some of the fine musicians making guest appearances on the track. Another track, Head Over Heels, is the only true cover song. It was written and recorded by one of the most successful bands in Canada, Blue Rodeo. However, not too many people know of Blue Rodeo in the US, and definitely don’t know that song. It provides for some good vocal harmonies, so it fit well with Kenefick. The ghost track, “Cows Y’all”, was recorded on a whim and was not meant to be on the CD. However, it came out so good and funny, that Lloyd Maines suggested we include it as a ghost track. It’s a parody on the Baha Men’s “Who Let The Dogs Out”. Quintin Watts wrote the lyrics. The rest of the CD is a good mix of different types of country, and country rock music. You will hear influences from many parts of the spectrum. There are some Ray Price shuffles, and some Eagles style country rock songs. There is a very mournful acoustic song with some strong dobro work from Lloyd Maines. Long Night In Galveston, is a long story song about a domestic tragedy. The CD is a very good listen because the songs are all catchy, melodious, and different. It’s a very fresh sound for Texas Country Music. Since recording the CD, Kenefick has added a pedal steel player and is sounding better than ever. The Firehouse asked Kenefick to become its house band, and they accepted. Kenefick can still be heard regularly at The Firehouse in Houston. In addition to playing around Houston, Kenefick will kick off touring around the state in the month of November. All members of Kenefick are based in the Houston, Texas area. For booking information, call 713-444-0524 OR email [email protected]
