For more than 30 years, Pete and Maura Kennedy have been making music and traveling the world together, creating an unmistakable blend of folk-rock, Americana, ringing guitars and close harmonies. Now The Kennedys return with Smoketree, their first album of all-new original songs in three years.
Their story began in Austin, Texas, in 1992, when Pete and Maura met at the legendary Continental Club. Within days they were singing together and had written their first song. Their first date? A road trip across west Texas to visit Buddy Holly’s grave.
At the time, Pete was playing in Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra. Maura soon joined the band, The Kennedys began opening Griffith’s shows, and a lifelong musical road trip was underway.
Since then, the duo has released more than two dozen recordings and become a fixture of the folk and Americana worlds. Their 2023 album, Headwinds, spent a month at #1 on the national Folk DJ chart, while decades of touring have honed the joyful chemistry and musical connection that can only come from thousands of days and nights spent making music together.
Their new album, Smoketree, turns its attention to both the world around us and the world within us. Its songs explore environmental concerns, social upheaval, displacement, and the search for peace, but The Kennedys approach even difficult subjects with the hopefulness that has long defined their music. They would rather bring the light than simply curse the darkness.
With energized folk-rock, masterful musicianship, rich harmonies and an easy camaraderie with their audience, Pete and Maura Kennedy make a concert feel less like a performance between strangers and more like an evening among old friends.
After more than three decades, countless miles and a lifetime of songs, The Kennedys are still happily home on the road, and still finding something new to sing about.
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