31 January 2023

Kenny Foster had a busy year last year as he released his second album and went out on tour, including some festival appearances here in the UK. He is a hard-working, energetic musician who is a joy to watch and listen to. I was excited to catch up with him to delve deeper into this latest project.    Can you tell me a little bit about who you’ve been working with on the album?    I worked with Mitch Dane. He was an engineer/producer with one of my very favourite bands growing up, called Jars of Clay. They were just a really interesting group of guys that really cared about saying things. I loved that, sonically, they just kept evolving over and over again. Mitch has all this vintage gear, and he has this lovely studio called Sputnik sounds and I just kept going back there. I brought in all of my favourite songwriters. There’s two guys that are all over this record, Chris Rafetto and Brendan Cooney and the three of us have just really found this triad of mutual respect and kind of filling each other’s gaps of songwriting prowess. Sierra Hall is this amazing writer, artist and mandolin player and I had her come and play, she was a delight to have along with my friend, Josh Smith, who played dobro and there’s a really beautiful moment on the record, where the two of them interchange solos and then play on top of each other and it’s my favourite part. I also wrote with a Hall of Famer, Marcus Hummon on a track and Kirsti Manna who’s famous for Blake Shelton’s ‘Austin’. It was just a very easy, very organic way of putting together a record that I think encapsulates something that I’ve wanted to say for a long time.     Can you tell me the story behind ‘Dreams Change’?    I think that was a day where Brendan came in with an idea. Brendan is from Massachusetts. Chris is from North Carolina and I’m from Missouri, which are all very different places. So it’s interesting that the three of us were very music loving suburban kids. Where country music has been sitting for the past 10 years or so, is very, like, southern bonfire tailgate and that was none of our experience. We had wonderful midwestern American upbringings but it’s very far from southern country. Brendan had the line, ‘Dreams change and people do too.’ Many of us have these ideas growing up, we’re trying on different suits of what we might become. I think we need to remove the stigma from people who are chasing a dream and remove the stigma from those whose dream was very simple.   READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK AVAILABLE HERE! Media Contact: Zoe Hodges, Editor Email: editor@maverick-country.com  

What happens when you combine the Mother Church of Country Music with the home of Rock & Roll? You end up with an incredible new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exhibit at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. The multi-year partnership will see more interactive exhibits being on display at Ryman’s re-developed vestibule space. Both entities share many commonalities in their history and approach to recognizing the best artists and bands that music has to offer. The Ryman Auditorium has seen 130 years of Country Music history whilst the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (based in Cleveland, Ohio USA) has honored over 100 Rock & Roll inductees over the years and features their instruments, memorabilia, and wardrobes. Many of these artists have a foot in each genre of music including Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and recently Dolly Parton. The new exhibit will feature an outfit worn by the late Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, Eric Clapton’s Blackie Fender Stratocaster guitar, Elvis Presley’s sued coat and Joan Jett’s red latex halter top. Earlier in 2022 the Ryman was officially certified as a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark joining the company of eleven other locations around the country including Austin City Limits. Besides impressive exhibits the Ryman will also be featuring more Roc & Roll Hall of Fame members performances in the future. Check the events calendar to see who is playing the Ryman during your upcoming visit to town as shows frequently sellout. There is no extra fee to view the Rock Hall at the Ryman exhibit as it is included in the daytime tour admission tickets. Visitors are also allowed to attend the Soul of Nashville immersive theatre with other Star exhibits and have a souvenir photo taken on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium. Both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Ryman strive to educate visitors on the importance of music and how it brings us all together as one people. As a local Nashvillian I am thrilled to see this partnership between the two institutions and hope to see even more collaborations in the future. It has not been determined how long this current Rock Hall at the Ryman exhibit will last, although I am certain they will change out the artifacts and artists featured on a regular basis. This provides another great reason to put a visit to the Ryman Auditorium on the top of your must visit list when coming to the Music City.  Nashville, and the Ryman, have become more than a Country Music mecca as they have embraced all styles and genres of music and artists. This perpetuates the melting pot of music that the city and Ryman Auditorium have consistently been known for. Rock Hall at the Ryman exhibit is open to view now at the Ryman Auditorium. www.ryman.com