GUITAR & GRIT: There are those taverns where you belly-up to the bar, all the while remaining cautious of that one drunk guy you may have to crack over the head with a beer bottle. Guthrie Kennard’s new record, “Matchbox”, is the one playing on that joint’s jukebox. Kennard’s name may be familiar to some of you. He’s been creating music for over 40 years and his regular gig is playing bass for Texas snake-farm king, Ray Wylie Hubbard. This time around, the gruff-voiced Kennard is going solo, with an album featuring some seriously wicked swamp-blues, played with a roadhouse swagger only a veteran of the trade can wear with such ease. Kennard also has fun on the record. “Monkey Wrench” is a resonator-guitar romp about a female mechanic with a gift for being able to do down-and-dirty tasks: “She can pull the plugs / Lay the brakes / Lord have mercy, for goodness sakes / She rebuilt the motor in the old ’88 / She can turn a monkey wrench.” But Kennard’s wheelhouse is the brawlin’ beauty “Cross that Line”, and the cowboy classic “God of Abraham” — about buried bodies, ghosts, shoeing horses, and dirt floors. “Katie Mae” is a funky raunch-riot: “Kiss her once / Rub her twice / Business in the mornin’ / Gravy at night / Oh, Katie Mae / Oh, Katie Mae / You blow me away, like a hurricane /Sweet as molasses / Tennessee whiskey … / Oh, Katie Mae / Lie like you love me, Miss Katie Mae.” Kennard even tries his hand at some Spanish rhythms in “Streets of Juarez”, a song about getting stoned on the Day of the Dead. The album’s best moment may be the elegant “My Mind Rolls Like A Wheel”, with its rolling guitar melodies. It’s a song that shows Kennard can turn the lights down low as well as he can stir up the room. Click here to listen to more tracks or to buy the record. Or if you happen to be near Grapevine, Texas, check out his upcoming shows. — David D. Robbins Jr.
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