Cold War Country Blues is Track 2 from Bap’s album Howl On. You can read HERE Bap's notes about the album in full, and what inspired it. Bap also wrote a few lines about each of the songs individually - Here’s what he wrote about Cold War Country Blues: Was there a Space Race instead of a nuclear war between Russia and America? Maybe. The frontiersmen who went to the moon took country music to new heights. The pay was terrible but the view was incredible. - Bap Kennedy, 2009 And in case you're wondering, they really did "take Hank Williams to the moon" - Among the music that the astronauts took on their lunar journeys were the songs of Bap's song writing hero, Hank Williams. (The things I learned from Bap !) Thanks for appreciating Bap's music, and for helping me to keep it alive by sharing it. Love, Brenda x Feel free to listen and enjoy, but if you like you can download the mp3 here. And you can now also download any of the previous featured songs here - each for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie. A while back I came across some notes that Bap wrote before he released Howl On. You can read here his notes on the album as a whole, and what inspired it (clue : America, Glastonbury, Woodstock, Men on the Moon, Howl On & Cosmic Coincidence!) But he also wrote a few lines about each song individually, so here's what Bap wrote about America (Track 1): On the night of July 20th 1969, I tried to stay awake for the first Moonwalk, but the comforting and reassuring cowboy voices from Mission Control lulled me into a peaceful sleep. In my seven year old mind, all good things came from America. I wanted to be American and live in the sunshine. Bap Kennedy, 2009 Feel free to listen and enjoy, but if you like you can download the mp3 here. And you can now also download any of the previously featured songs here - each for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie. Thanks for appreciating Bap's music, and for helping me to keep it alive by sharing it. Love, Brenda x This time 10 years ago Bap performed at Glastonbury - What a fantastic, memorable summer! Bap was promoting his album “Howl On” and it was my first time on stage with him at a major festival - Such happy memories. And I’ve great memories of our time recording Howl On as well - We were actually on honeymoon at the time, believe it or not, staying at a hotel nearby and going in to Pete's studio each day to work on the songs. It's what we loved to do! And here is Bap's country rock version of Hey Joe, which was always a favourite in his live set. I think this ties it all together perfectly! And if you’re wondering about the connection between Glastonbury, Woodstock, Men on the Moon and "Howl On" why not read about the cosmic coincidences in Bap’s own words?
BAP’S BIRTHDAY (17 June)16/6/2019 Hi Everyone, Thanks for listening to and sharing the Featured Songs that I’ve posted recently. Here’s a link to the songs I’ve posted since the last newsletter (7 May) - I've been trying to include a bit of info with each post, so I hope that will give some background or context to the songs. Bap's birthday is on 17 June, so please keep listening to & sharing Bap's music - especially this week! Once again, thanks for remembering and appreciating Bap’s music. Love, Brenda x Bap often performed The Right Stuff at gigs, and audiences loved it! He generally left it till near the end of the night, which always felt right in view of the lyrics, especially in the chorus. An unusual thing about The Right Stuff is that it appears on two of Bap’s albums (Howl On and The Sailor’s Revenge). Originally it was recorded for Howl On, but it was later re-recorded for The Sailor’s Revenge on the request of Mark Knopfler, who produced & played on it. I have countless happy memories of performing The Right Stuff with Bap. The groove was cool for bass playing, and it lent itself well to vocal harmony, so it was one of my gig favourites. And I’ve great memories of both recording sessions as well, but my fondest memories are of the original recording, which took place at the studio of the great Irish guitarist Peter O’ Hanlon. Love, Brenda x Feel free to listen and enjoy but if you like you can download the mp3 here for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie.
Celtic Sea is the final track from The Sailor’s Revenge (2013), which was produced by Mark Knopfler, and I have very fond memories of being with Bap in Mark’s British Grove Studio in London while it was being recorded. It was fascinating to watch the two of them working so closely together, both so intensely absorbed and enjoying doing the thing they loved most. Celtic Sea was Mark’s favourite song from the album, and you can hear his distinctive guitar and backing vocals on it. Upon its release, The Sailor’s Revenge received widespread critical acclaim internationally. No Depression described it as "truly a masterpiece from a man who is finally comfortable in his place in the world - The Celtic Blood On The Tracks” Quite an accolade! Love, Brenda x Feel free to listen and enjoy, but if you like you can download the mp3 here for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie.
Featured Song: Strange Kid21/5/2019 From the album Let's Start Again "Strange Kid" is a bit of a strange song, or so it seems to me! I remember well the day Bap finished writing Strange Kid. He played it over to me on his acoustic guitar, and I loved it - it was really cool and quirky. But there was something strange about it too. I could tell from the lyrics that it was about his Asperger Syndrome, which seemed weird because at that time Bap's diagnosis was still being kept private. He used to say he wanted to talk about it publicly one day - but not till the time was right. When I told him what I was thinking, he seemed pleased that I "got it" so quickly, which puzzled me even more. "But I thought you were keeping your Asperger secret for now?" I asked, and his answer was an interesting one. "Don't worry. If it's that obvious, nobody will get it" he laughed. And as it turned out, he was right! Love, Brenda x Feel free to listen and enjoy, but if you like you can download the mp3 here for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie.
Featured Song: Under My Wing14/5/2019 I was delighted at the great response to last week’s Featured Song idea - Thanks for all your support & encouragement! So I'll post a different song every week via Facebook & Twitter. And a few people said they'd appreciate a wee bit of information/background etc, which seems like a good idea, so I’ll try and do that as well. Under My Wing is from Bap's 2014 album Let's Start Again. Bap wrote this beautiful song for Christine & Kenneth, his step children. He was very protective about them both, and the close bond is clear from this song. Then later (in 2016) he dedicated Under My Wing to Christine’s newborn son, Ethan as well. For me Under My Wing is a beautiful expression of a very protective kind of love, which we can all can relate to. Feel free to listen and enjoy, but if you like you can download the mp3 here for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie.
The Magic of Music7/5/2019 Last week I got one of those Facebook Memory notifications - you know the ones which remind you what was happening some years ago “On This Day” I’ve often thought about turning this off, because memories can be painful sometimes, but I’ve never got around to it. Usually I give “On This Day” a quick glance and just ignore it. But this one really jumped out at me - It was such a graphic flashback to where we were in 2016. It was exactly 3 years ago today that life changed so suddenly for Bap & me. We were all rehearsed and packed and looking forward to this festival - but of course we never made it because Bap suddenly took ill. But maybe Facebook did me a favour, because it's made me all the more determined to keep sharing Bap’s music. So from now on I’m going to post a different song from Bap’s brilliant catalogue every week. My idea is to do this on Facebook and Twitter and possibly send a newsletter monthly as well. But if anyone has any other thoughts or feedback please let me know! The song link has an Audio Player where you can freely listen & enjoy the music (and if you would share too that would be great!) Also, for anyone who is interested, you can also download the song for £1 which will be donated to Marie Curie.
Thanks for appreciating Bap’s music and for all your support, Love, Brenda x |