ALBUM PREMIERE: Keith Kenny Takes Eclectic and Creative Approach to Rock and Roll with ‘Lifetime Ago Motel’

Lifetime Ago Motel is the fifth album from veteran New Jersey-based band-of-one, Keith Keny. It was written over a three year period and recorded at his Studio 303 facility in Monroe, New Jersey, self-produced by Kenny. Among special guests contributing is drummer Sim Cain (Regressive Aid, Gone, Rollins Band, Dean Ween Group). Lifetime Ago Motel is being released by iNtuRecords April 2 as a digital download, physical CD, 12” vinyl LP and via streaming platforms.

Most of the new record was written while Kenny was on the road promoting his last, self-titled album which was produced by 3-Grammy winner Justin Guip (Hot Tuna’s touring drummer and sound engineer for the late Levon Helm). What should have been a victory lap that included dates opening for The Dean Ween Group was filled with stress and anguish. Kenny had recently married, but time spent away from his new wife strained the marriage to its breaking point; the economics of modern day touring had Kenny barely breaking even despite scoring impressive gigs from coast to coast, including a residency at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, and weekly appearances at Dean Ween’s “Invitational” jam nights in New Hope.

By the time Kenny hit the road with Deaner, his life was in shambles. Although he was supposed to be promoting his latest album, the new songs addressing his sad state came pouring out and immediately went into his stage show.

Kenny’s story began over a decade ago with his first shows at Asbury Park’s legendary Stone Pony setting him on the path to developing a unique approach to his live shows: Kenny recreates the sound of a full rock band line-up playing acoustic guitar with an unusual, percussive finger-picking style, creating rhythmic loops on the fly and adding atmospheric texture via an array of effects pedals. The finishing touch is a vintage red suitcase (dubbed “The Big Red Suitcase”) he uses as a kick drum.

Today Glide is excited to premiere Lifetime Ago Motel, an album that serves as an incredibly potent summation of his artistic and personal growth to date. Taking an eclectic approach to the collection of songs, Kenny touches on an array of musical styles throughout the album. We hear offbeat powerpop, simple and thoughtful folk music, charged up 70s rock and roll jams, dark and heavy prog, and euphoric and soulful rock and roll. Underneath it all is a sense of humor and cleverness that manifests itself in Kenny’s lyrics, which veer from oddball to poignant with plenty of colorful observations laced throughout. Much like the genre chameleon-ism of Ween – clearly a huge influence – Kenny takes all of his influences and spins them into something entirely original. Through it all we get plenty of heavy guitar shredding and unexpected instrumentation. Ultimately, Lifetime Ago Motel is a major artistic achievement from one of the more multi-faceted artists out there right now and is an essential listen. 

Kenny sums up the album nicely:

“Come check in and stay for a while, Lifetime Ago Motel might just suit you well. It’s got the uppers you need to get you through the day and the downers for a good nights rest. There ain’t much more to life than that. Just tell em I sent ya”. 

LISTEN:

Photo credit: Amiee Blasko

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter