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Biography
Kenny Cordray is one of the greatest blues and rock players I’ve ever heard.”
-Jaco Pastorious
South Texas. Humidity, sweat, BBQ and of course, Blues. Kenny Cordray is the embodiment of the heart and soul of South Texas music. A gifted and eloquent musician, Kenny has shared the stage with some of music’s greatest artists including Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders, Jaco Pastorius John Mayall, John Lee Hooker, Billy Gibbons, Jerry Lee Lewis and many more. Starting out in the late sixties, a teenaged Kenny quickly joined The Children as their lead guitarist. The band quickly gained a reputation in the Houston music scene and later got signed to ATCO Records (a subsidiary record label of Atlantic Records) and then onto ODE Records, where they were produced by Lou Adler. Adler, who can now be seen courtside next to Jack Nicholson at Lakers games, was a prominent pop music entrepreneur from the late fifties up until the mid seventies working along with high ranking acts such as Carole King, The Mamas and Papas, Spirit and the Monterrey Pop Festival. After cutting his teeth with The Children, Kenny started pursuing a solo career as a guitarist. It didn’t take long for the music industry to take notice of his prodigious guitar talent, as he started making guest appearances with a slew of famous recording artists. His collaborations eventually led to the most ground-breaking point in his career where he co-wrote one of ZZ Top’s most famous songs, Francine. A song about teenage lust, it eschews charm for raunchy blues licks and notably began Rio Grande Mud when it was released in 1972, and released in 1990 becoming ZZ Top’s first chart topping hit. What followed was a whirlwind of serious collaborations; notably, when Jaco Pastorious and Charles M. Brent Jr. tapped Kenny for The Wayne Cochran and C.C. Rider band. After becoming a permanent member of the C.C. Riders, Kenny embarked on a new collaboration with one of the grandfather’s of rock and roll, Jerry Lee Lewis. Kenny was featured in Lewis’ band in an episode of The Midnight Special and In Concert. During this time, Kenny was also able to work with legendary producer David Foster in the band Skylark. Skylark was one of the early-recorded works of Foster, who eventually went on to write and produce Grammy-winning artists as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Celine Deon. With Skylark, another hit single was born in Wildflower. It didn’t take long until Kenny returned back to the music scene with full force that he met up with two incredible musicians Dave Foster and Todd Harrison who are both A-list session players and veterans of the Monteux Jazz Festival in addition to being featured rhythm musicians for the band Cold Sweat. Kenny joined the band picking up right where he left off, and soon thereafter formed a new group in 1991 called Civilians and opened for one of the ultimate rock bands of all time, Cheap Trick. A few years followed where Kenny, Dave and Todd continued to hone their craft and their band Kenny Cordray and Blue Science, releasing two albums. Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine marks Kenny’s return to his Rock roots in 2004. Recorded at his home studio in early 2004 and mixed at the legendary SugarHill Recording Studios, with engineer Andy Bradley, the album pays homage to Kenny’s blues/rock guitar roots and features a variety of guest performances by local Houston artists, including: Tommie Lee Bradley (vocals), Kelly Dean (saxophone), Ian Varley (keyboards), Ralz Mathias (vocals), Louis Cabaza (piano) and Todd Harrison (drums). After finishing the Love Street album, Kenny started RockCamp Live in Houston. He opened Rock Camp Live in 2005 which puts teenagers of all skill types into bands and gives them a two-week instructional course in rocking, then getting them on stage to show off their stuff. Each year with Rock Camp is a new experience for Kenny and seeing the faces of kids who thought they could never play on stage brings Kenny a lot of joy. In Feb.2012 Kenny Cordray and Love Street release “It Takes Everything’’ a ten song album featuring Mark Campbell, Mark Andes, Tyson Sheth, Paul English GiannaWelling , Charles Stewart Brennen Nace ,and Louis Cabaza. The album took 3 ½ years to complete and was recorded at Sugarhill studios in Houston, Texas. The album was mixed by Andy Bradley and mastered at Tera Nova in Austin Texas by Jerry Tub.
