Kenneth Brian is from Gainesville, Florida and his music reflects a delightful mix of the sounds that have emanated from that small college town area over the years; Tom Petty, the Allman Brothers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd to name just a few. The new 10 song CD, Keys to the Kingdom, is southern rock infused with the blues and it’s a badass listen! His slide guitar work is stellar and puts him in the company of some other contemporary roadhouse bands that I enjoy; the Allman Betts Band and the Tedeschi Trucks band.

My favorite song on the album is the last tune, Rimrock, where he lets it rip on the guitar. I also enjoyed You’ve Got to Live which is some crankin’ blues rock. When Kenneth slows it down, as he does on the songs Hard Heart, Crazy, and Love, you get a feel for both his songwriting talent and his artistry on the guitar.

There are those that will argue vociferously that southern rock is not part of the blues. I respond that almost every southern rock artist and band that I can think of are ingrained with the blues and it bleeds all over the music. Kenneth Brian is part of that tradition and his music is certainly part of the roadhouse blues that I love to spin……Give it a listen!!

The Kenneth Brian Band – Keys to the Kingdom (Southern Shift Records 2022)

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#blues #roadhouseblues #bluesrock #southernrock

Ben Vee started out spinning songs on terrestrial radio and at nightclubs back in the 1970’s in his home state of Louisiana. After a career in the construction business, he returned to DJing in 2011. He now hosts two shows each week on http://www.bluesmusicfan.com and writes about the blues at http://www.benveeblues.com from his home in Connecticut. He also has a personal 24 hour stream devoted to the Roadhouse Blues… WRHB as well as a Youtube channel.