- Chat with Donrad - The ARK - Ann Arbor, MI - 2/26/03
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- Kenny White is undoubtedly one of the best performers I've ever seen live, and that's a tall order. No band, just Kenny White and his piano.
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- I first saw Kenny White perform at a small club in Ann Arbor, Michigan called The ARK. It was a free night, so I figured "what the heck," and entered. I did not expect to see the type of musicianship and lyrical output that was on display before me. To put it mildly, Kenny White blew me away. He was so brilliant, the woman who sat next to me during the performance had tears coming out of her eyes she loved him so much, seriously. I talked with him after the show for a bit and he told me he was coming back in about four months. I figured he was so brilliant that I had to do my part and get him some much needed exposure, so now you are here and reading this interview I did with him, I hope you enjoy it.
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 For the uninitiated, let me say that (at least to me), Kenny White was a cross between Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Randy Newman and Tom Waits. His lyrics were there as well as his piano playing. Upon further research, I came to find out that Kenny White had been involved in the music business for over 25 years and had composed literally hundreds of commercial jingles, scored and wrote songs for movies, produced albums and worked with the likes of Keith Richards, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Marc Cohn, Peter Wolf, the Neville Brothers, Cheryl Wheeler and Shawn Colvin amongst many others.
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- Kenny White has a website at: www.kennywhite.net I highly suggest you visit it and find out when he will be performing near you and go to the show. You will not be disappointed and while there, you can add another CD to your collection as well. Kenny has a CD titled "Uninvited Guest" that is worth the price of admission and will take you on a musical journey that will leave you thinking real hard about life and the things we encounter in it. The CD is a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, then again I like performers who make me think and are intelligent. Check out the song "My Reoccurring Dream" and you will instantly be sold, the title track also remains one of my oxymoronic favorites. As of this writing Kenny has released a new live CD titled "Testing.... 1,2," I honestly haven't heard it yet, but I will pick it up when I see him perform again next month, I'm sure I will love it, because live is the best way to experience Kenny White.
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- Kenny White was gracious enough to sit down with me for a few minutes before one of his shows and the following interview is the result. Please enjoy it as much as I enjoyed conducting it.
- K2K: Where are you from and where are you living now?
- KENNY WHITE: New York City. I was born there in Queens.
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- K2K: You've composed many jingles for commercials, can you name a few of the ones you've done?
- KW: I worked on Coca Cola "Can't Beat the Feeling." I worked on Coca Cola for a year, they had "Red, White and You" as their slogan, then I worked on Diet Coke "Just For the Taste Of It." I arranged the bulk of the "Heartbeat Of America" for Chevrolet for six years. Pontiac, Cadillac, AT & T, GE and I wrote all the milk campaigns for awhile "You're Not A Kid Anymore" .. I've literally written hundreds of jingles.
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- K2K: During your live performance do you do a medley of the commercials you've composed?
- KW: Never. You know, up until about two years ago I think there was a stigma attached to it. Its not wisely accepted as far as the hierarchy of the record business. Even though there is such a demand now for songs and I think a lot of labels are looking toward commercials to break new artists. The Mitsubishi ad right now "Little Vegas" or "Dirty Vegas" -I don't remember, but that album is selling now because of that commercial. It used to be that they were buying peoples songs, but I have a feeling they're going to pay soon for that exposure. It's all going to turn around.
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- K2K: In your song "My Recurring Dream," was that all dreamt in one night?
- KW: No, they're all separate.
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- K2K: Do you remember all of your dreams?
- KW: I don't anymore. It's a lot harder. I used to all the time. There are six scenes in that song, many of those dreams were reoccurring since childhood. One of them I only had once, one of them was real, and one of them was a dream I want to have.
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- K2K: Anymore dream songs coming up for the next CD project?
- KW: Yes. I'll probably do it tonight, a song called "I'm Working On A Way." There's a dream in it that's just crazed, I just don't really get into it at all. I did dream a lot and I think I still do, my analyst likes to get into it, he thinks it's the only true stuff I tell him. (laughs)
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- K2K: I know you've worked with Keith Richards, is that music available or released anywhere?
- KW: It is. I produced the last two Peter Wolf records "Fools Parade" and then "Sleepless" which came out at the end of last year. On "Sleepless" we got Steve Earl to do a duet with him, Mick Jagger did a duet with him and then we called Keith because Peter's just about friends with everybody. Keith came into the studio, and I think he thought he was going to be doing an overdub. Here we were with my bass player and drummer, me on piano and Peter and he walked into our session. I think it took him about forty-five minutes to an hour to loosen up, but after he did, he was just the greatest. He was just very warm and generous.
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 K2K: Could you understand him when he talked?
- KW: It took a while. It took me about fifteen minutes and then after that I kind of got it. But he was just hysterical, he told one story after another and played great. He really liked us, so we cut a live track, a Sonny Boy Williamson song called "Too Close Together" which is on Peter's record. Doing the piano solo in front of Keith was tough, especially when he's yelling.
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- K2K: Did you know what he was yelling?
- KW: No (LAUGHS). But I assume it was "Hey Kenny, that's the greatest thing I've ever heard (laughs again).
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- K2K: Who were your top influences lyrically?
- KW: I'd say Randy Newman and Tom Waits to a lesser extent, although he's my favorite. I got called the adult contemporary Eminem recently (laughs) which I took as a huge compliment... I love his lyrics. I didn't grow up on him... is he from this area?
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- K2K: Yes. Detroit.
- KW: I don't like a lot of things, a lot of the significance- the under pinning, but the way he does it I find it incredibly compelling, more so than most of the others or the rest of the genre. Of the more modern people, I loved the Crash Test Dummies, I loved the first Counting Crows record... the lyrics. I think the Counting Crows really opened up the lyrics in pop music by making it so much more by no bar lines involved, it was just a story.
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- K2K: Who were your musical influences?
- KW: Tom Waits and I'd say Van Morrison and Paul Simon. The thing about Paul Simon as I'm getting older I'm relating to his stuff a little bit less, because I find it more thought and well crafted and I used to admire that the most, but as I get older I want the people who aren't thinking about it. It just comes out, I think more with (Tom) Waits and Van (Morrison) that's the case than with Paul (Simon). I think Paul (Simon) obsesses over things.
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- K2K: Did you ever meet Tom Waits?
- KW: No. I haven't, I thought I had a chance once.
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- K2K: I got to meet Tom one time backstage at an Elvis Costello concert in San Francisco during his "Juliet Letters" tour.
- KW: I get compared a lot to Elvis (Costello).
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- K2K: That's not bad...
- KW: No it's not. I've listened to him a lot. I also get a lot of comparisons to Joe Jackson, and I'm flattered with both of them.
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- K2K: How long have you been in the business?
- KW: Wow. You know I started doing studio work in 1976 in Boston and that led to playing with Livingston Taylor and then to Jonathan Edwards... where I stayed for nine years. I played with Livingston Taylor when he opened for Linda Ronstadt during the "Living In The U.S.A. Tour," I was the piano player. That was cool.
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- K2K: How old were you then?
- KW: Twenty four. I just turned twenty four. Then I stayed in Boston and ended up with Jonathan (Edwards). I still play with Jonathan.
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- K2K: How did you get the job playing with Jonathan Edwards?
- KW: When I had seen him play Harvard Square Theater in the mid seventies, I turned to my girlfriend and said "that's the gig I want" and then a year and a half later I had it. I had known his ex-keyboard player and I said "if you ever leave this band, just at least get me an audition." Six months later he said "I'm moving to L.A. to play with Wendy Waldman, you still want an audition?" I said "yes, absolutely." So I schlepped down a couple of gin and tonics before I went over there -because I was nervous- and they never auditioned anyone else. We have become great friends. I've known him now for more years than I can believe. The first time I played at the ARK (Ann Arbor, Michigan) was with Jonathan, he also had me open for him.
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- K2K: The ARK is a great venue for acts. I see Junior Brown is coming up here soon.
- KW: Junior Brown is cool. You know, I woke up to a country station today- and I consider myself a heavy country music and bluegrass fan- and this stuff sucks. I talked with Al Anderson (former NRBQ guitarist) last week in New York working with Vince Gill and he's been writing a lot of songs for modern country... he quit NRBQ to do that- by the way, the best band that ever lived!- Al's very funny and somewhat cynical about the whole thing, but he's been doing really well in Nashville. He just moved to New Mexico because he said "it's rock and roll there, it's not country anymore." So I said "you mean you're not going to write anymore?" He said "oh, I'll write."
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- K2K: What do you feel is the strength of your album?
- KW: The lyrics. I kind of wrote the music to keep out of the way. For years, especially with jingles I've written in the past, it's always been very sophisticated chordally and rhythmically. I realized I never was connecting and I sure couldn't write lyrics to stuff like that, so I tried to write the simplest music possible. That didn't happen, I mean there's some songs on there that I'm real proud of without the lyrics.
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- K2K: Are you working on a follow up album to "Uninvited Guest?"
- KW: I'm going to start hopefully in April. I think I have a lot of it written and I think I'm still missing a couple but I have enough to make a record.
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- K2K: Will you be doing any of the songs tonight?
- KW: Yes. Probably three or four of them.
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- K2K: Do you have any pets?
- KW: Not anymore. It went in the divorce (laughs).
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- K2K: What did you have?
- KW: A Border Collie and it was the greatest. By rights I was supposed to see him half the time but we haven't spoken since the day that (the divorce) finalized. I didn't want to push it. I figured it was going to be harder for me to see him every once in a while. It's a great dog.
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- K2K: Do you think the dog still misses you?
- KW: I don't think he misses me, I think he'd know me in a second and it's been two and a half years since I've seen him. But before that it had been nine months since I'd seen him and the minute he saw me from like way in the distance he knew me. Especially a dog like that, they're so smart.
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- I had a cat for sixteen years named "Willy" after Willy Mays. He was a tiger cat, he was great (laughs), his hat used to fly off every time he ran. (laughs)
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- K2K: What soundtracks have you contributed to?
- KW: I just recently did the "JFK, Americas Prince" on USA or something? I just watched that the other day when it came on. Mason Derring is a composer that's worked with John Sales and all of his movies. Mason and I go way back, so I'm usually his piano player when he needs solo piano. Through Mason I've worked on three or four John Sayles movies "Lianna," "Brother From Another Planet" -did all the synthesizers and sound effects- and I worked on "A Walk On the Moon."
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- Two years ago I went out to L.A. with Marc Cohn, -who is a friend of mine- and he said "maybe we should go hit up some of these movie studios, I know a lot of the people because they're fans." So I went in there armed with all of this scoring stuff that I had done for commercials. We met like five of the heads of companies and they were great meetings and they were psyched. About three weeks later someone asked me "did you ever call back and remind them and talk to them?" I said "they knew I was there, they saw me (laughs)." Which is not the way it works. These people have to be told every day because the minute you're out of their office they forget about you, but obviously I didn't really care.
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- K2K: What all did you do with James Taylor?
- KW: Not much. When I worked with Kate Taylor- I was her musical director for a while- we were playing the Paradise in Boston and she said "you know, everybody's in town I'd love to have the whole family sing tonight, it's never happened in the history of all my brothers together. So is it ok to rehearse at your house if I can get them?" I said "you bet!" Two hours later she called and said "we're doing it, everybody's into it." So Livingston, Hugh, Alex and James all came over.
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- K2K: What songs did you play?
- KW: We played the "Shoop Shoop (It's In His Kiss)" song by Betty Everett and we did something else that James and Kate wrote. Then we hung out a little bit afterwards, then he just kind of went back to his hotel. I'm a fan but I'm not crazy about the records he's made over the last few years... but he sounded great on the Grammy's the other night, just great. That's as good as I've heard him sound.
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- K2K: What kind of a car do you have?
- KW: None right now. I've had a bunch over the years.
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- K2K: What was your favorite?
- KW: I had a two seater Mercedes sports car 320SL. That was just the balls to drive, just the greatest. I leased it for a while. When I moved to New York I realized I was downsizing everything. I had a house upstate and an apartment in the city when I was doing commercials and was driving back and forth every night. That's why I had that car. But that all ended in the divorce (laughs), no... I'm just kidding.
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- K2K: If you could meet anyone in history who would it be?
- KW: That's a tough one. I'll have to think about that for a minute (pauses for a second or two), there's so many people. I think I'd like to meet Mozart.
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- K2K: What about Liszt?
- KW: I think Liszt would be a little dark for me, I think I'd rather meet Mozart. While we're on the subject of geniuses dying at twenty-nine, I'd like to have met Hank Williams. But I think towards his end he probably wouldn't have been relating to me but I would have liked to have met him at a more lucid time.
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- K2K: Have you seen Hank III?
- KW: No, but I've heard he's very good though. Hank junior I was never a big fan of. J.D. Salinger would be cool to meet. Again I don't think he'd be very forthcoming with me. I don't think any of these people would be a lot of fun. Hunter Thompson would be fun, but I think I'd be nervous all of the time (laughs). Let's go with those four for now.
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- K2K: Do you have any favorite authors or books?
- KW: Off the top of my head "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Prayer For Owen Meany"- John Irving. Those are two of my favorites.
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- K2K: Speaking of people who killed themselves, what do you think of Van Gogh?
- KW: You know, I've just recently got into him. I've been like a Monet snob all my life. Two years ago I went to Amsterdam for the first time- which is a whole other story (laughs)- but I went to the Van Gogh museum and I got it. It just hit me. I went back again and it just made sense, I felt it, you know? I wasn't trying so hard. That's the trouble of not getting things, you're usually trying too hard to get them.
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- K2K: Do you have a favorite trend?
- KW: (laughs) That's a good one. I generally don't like trends.
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- K2K: I thought streaking was a fun trend.
- KW: I was never uninhibited enough for that. I was too inhibited (laughs).
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- K2K: I didn't mean doing it, but fun to watch others doing it.
- KW: Oh yeah, yeah... for other people, absolutely (laughs).
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- K2K: What was it like to work with Emmylou Harris?
- KW: That was brief and I would like to again sometime. That was early on with Jonathan (Edwards) and that was live with just a couple of live gigs she sang with us.
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- K2K: Do you collect anything?
- KW: I have over the years collected things. Willy Mays cards, I have a lot of those. I have a little shrine at home. A picture of the cat, Vic Wertz and a few other things.
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- K2K: Do you collect autographs?
- KW: No. I was always kind of shy when I was young asking people for their autographs, although I certainly don't mind signing for people. But then I work with a lot of people and I think I was kind of happy that I wasn't into it because it was good that I wasn't asking them, because we were supposedly peers of them, I was telling them what to sing and play then to turn around and ask... You know, it's funny, the closest I came to actually put the pen on my guitar to see if it was going to turn up, was at the Keith session. In retrospect I'm sorry I didn't do it... especially because it would have tripled the price of the guitar (laughs). But Sean, my drummer- who's pretty much played with everybody- had a washboard he was playing and he had Keith sign it. I would do it if the situation arose again.
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- K2K: What about Willy Mays autograph?
- KW: I have it and I have it from people who got it for me. One says "Happy Birthday Kenny" and the other one just says "To Kenny." So I have his autograph twice but I've never gotten it personally.
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- K2K: Did you get any swag from Keith Richards?
- KW: I got a Rolling Stone Tour guitar pick from this last tour. I wasn't a huge Rolling Stones fan as a kid. I got appreciate Keith more so than any of the others. 24/7 it's all about music with Keith. After like five hours in the studio Keith said (Kenny imitates Keith Richards voice)"What time is it Kenny?" I said "It's one thirty." Keith said "Oh, I told wifey I'd be home by ten thirty, I'm in the doghouse again" (laughs). I told him "I have a feeling you're in the doghouse a lot" (laughs). That's why earlier I said he probably thought he was doing an overdub, but five hours later and many stories he was so funny.
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- K2K: Do you like producing or recording better?
- KW: Recording. Two or three years ago I would have said the opposite. I just wanted to produce and be a side man and do studio work.
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- K2K: What did you think about the Grammy's?
- KW: I loved them. I hadn't watched it in a few years. I kind of boycotted it, it's a sour grapes thing (laughs). I'll tell you N'SYNC this year did a Bee Gees tribute a capella and it blew my mind. It was unbelievable. I have a whole new respect for these guys, they can sing. Norah Jones and her record won eight Grammy's and I thought it was a real statement. They went for the music this year-finally- and I think it was a statement to the record companies.
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- The problem is, the mavericks are gone. So right now instead of searching for somebody as talented and sophisticated and dedicated and soulful as Norah Jones. I know they're all hustling to find Norah Jones again. They're probably just looking for another young 20's piano player... you know they don't get it. The reason she got all these Grammy's is because of who she is, if you get nine clones, who gives a shit? Find somebody else who has something to say... they don't get that and the people who did - the Ahmet Ertugens- of the world are done. They're just looking at bottom lines and answering to big corporations. I'm not bitter, because I know I don't want to be with a major label, they're dying... but I like to buy things.
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- K2K: Do you think success would scare you if you ever got to that top level in the music business?
- KW: No I don't. Well, I shouldn't say that so quickly, you know, I put enough pressure on myself where I don't think that would add to it that much. It's much easier for me to not try something than to try something. But I'm going to change all of that, this record (Uninvited Guest) actually did it.
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- K2K: Do you have a website?
- KW: Yes. www.kennywhite.net You need flash. If you go to .com you'll get a real estate salesman by the same name (laughs).
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- K2K: Thanks for your time Kenny it was great to talk with you.
- KW: My pleasure
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- (At this time the tape recorder shut off.)
- KW: Wow, perfect timing (laughs).
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- Written by and all Photos © 2003 Donrad
- Donrad is the former manager of The Kingpins as well as an avid classic music and film afficianado. He rants, he raves, he praises and adores - mostly he talks and writes. He also collects autographs, guitar picks, ticket stubs, and miscellany - so feel free to make a new friend by offering him stuff.
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