Back in June, the first seeds of a quartet of albums paying homage to the songs of Milwaukee native Kevn Kinney saw the light of day. Those seeds were covers of Kinney songs recorded by Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie.
Now, the first full-length LP – “Let’s Go Dancing: Said the Firefly to the Hurricane: A Compilation Celebrating the Songs of Kevn Kinney” – is upon us and it will include contributions from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, REM’s Peter Buck, Great Lake Swimmers, Wreckless Eric and others.
The LP is being released by Tasty Goody Records.
In Milwaukee, Kinney was a member of The Prosecutors, and part of the nascent punk scene. Later, he moved to Atlanta and formed Drivin N Cryin.
“Let’s Go Dancing” will be released on limited-edition opaque bone colored vinyl on Record Store Day, Black Friday, Nov. 24, with a wider vinyl release on Dec. 1 and CD/digital release to follow early in 2024.
Then, next year, three more LPs will arrive.
Nine more songs were released since those initial two and plans call for the project to include 100 digital tracks, with one single releasing every other week for a year.
Sales of physical product will go to the SIMS Foundation which offers mental health and addiction services for folks in the music industry; How Big Is Your Dream, an education-based youth empowerment organization; Out of the Woods, which helps kids with spinal cord and brain injuries; and FarmLink Project, which partners farmers with food banks to tackle food waste and food insecurity.
You can read much more about the genesis of the project here.
Here is the tracklist for the first LP:
- Patterson Hood (featuring Peter Buck) – Let’s Go Dancing
- Alejandro Escovedo – Another Scarlet Butterfly
- Wreckless Eric – The House Above Tina’s Grocery
- Elf Power – Mountaintop
- Parker Gispert – Together
- Erin Rae (featuring Seth Martin) – Passing Through
- Pylon Reenactment Society – Count the Flowers
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Look What You’ve Done To Your Brother
- Gordon Gano and Boy Dirt Car (featuring Violent Femmes) – Gotta Move On
- Shovels and Rope – Gotta Get Out Of Here
- Great Lake Swimmers – Peacemaker
- Shelly Colvin (featuring Dylan LeBlanc) – Save For Me
“Kevn has been described as a forebearer of 'Americana' music based on his very early melding of genres – punk, rock, country, folk – to make genuine American music,” says organizer Anna Jensen, who is also Kinney’s wife. “I think that as much as Kevn and Drivin N Cryin are loved and respected in inner circles, they’ve been underappreciated more widely.
“I am hoping this project helps to change that, thanks to the outpouring of love and acknowledgement from some of the most lauded musical artists of our time contributing to this homage, lifting Kevn Kinney up as one of their biggest influences, and most importantly, the greatest of friends!”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
