Kenny McDowell
Kenny McDowell plays bass on the song Chicago from Songs From Shannon. A former member of Leslie Braly's now defunct band, Mary Jo's Daughter, Kenny claims that the two 'city' songs, Chicago and Hattiesburg, are his favorite.
Says Kenny, "Chicago is a song that I loved the first time I heard Leslie's scratch version. I just tried to play a simple line to support the acoustic guitar and accent the beautiful waltz feel of the song."
Kenny says his experience with Songs From Shannon contained a series of first for him: his first time to record in a real studio, Chicago was the first song tracked, and Kenny and Kelly (Golden Mile's drummer) nailed the track on the first take.
When not working at his day job in Memphis, or playing in his band, The Hurlers (with Golden Mile members Luke Lucas, Kelly Simpson and John Otey Hutchinson), Kenny enjoys fixing up old cars and houses. He also has a side job as sound technician and has played soundman for national acts that have toured Birmingham. Some of these acts include Mac Macanally, Alejandro Escovedo and Stacey Earle. Kenny provided sound at the Blockbuster Stage for the first two years of City Stages, Birmingham's annual three-day music festival. Kenny resides in Birmingham with his wife, Mary Linda and their daughter, Katie.
Leslie says of Kenny: "Kenny does a great job on Chicago--he was one of the first people to hear that song. He's heard many of my original songs through the years, and some of those were really bad! But Kenny's always been incredibly encouraging. I was happy I could get him to adjust his busy schedule enough to be able to record this song with me."