The Repertoire:

Kurt's songs have a welcome familiarity, even to widely divergent musical palates. These are popular songs meant for listening, dancing and remembering. The beat has been heard before and the melodies sound like they could have come from a faintly remembered nostalgic dream. The easy grooves combine with that uncanny sense of "having heard it before," seducing hands to drum and bodies to sway until the dancers within seek the customary comfort of movement across a freshly viewed landscape: new pop, alternative, reggae and latin, electric bluegrass, British folk-rock, R&B, contemporary - all accessible.

The Goal:

Popular, new, original songs with seductive rhythms that appeal to the mind, the heart and the body. The craft of an exacting contemporary popular band is married to the ideals of the popular poet - easy to understand, but opening more deeply with successive listenings. The songs are not political; the songs are not apolitical. Love triumphs in its multifaceted splendor and tales are told while bodies sway in agreement around a virtual fire.

The Scene:

(Red pilot lights, blue bass, naturally finished drums, orange guitar. Two amplifiers, two microphones and stands with mike wires leading to small, well-placed sound system. Three men and one woman enter a space set off by wires and a few nondescript box-shaped objects.)

Arch-top electric guitar - initially slinky and bluesy - encounters a darker almost velvet bass pumping into archetypal drums, all with a complexity that hides within the easy and familiar. Voice-joined-by-voice chooses words, caresses each vowel, compresses each sound into pictures that move in invisible waves toward listeners magnetized both by the rhythm section and by the increasing intensity of guitar, which now alternates between chunky polytones and decorative fills wrapping tendrils around staccato drum beats, splashing symbols and fat bass.

A Bit of History:

With Chuck Berry Kurt Henry debuted as a story-telling singer/songwriter at the Village Gaslight in 1968 and soon after traded his acoustic guitar for something with wings and throttle control (Today he favors a Brian Setzer signature Gretsch 6120.) and moved to New Paltz, New York where he formed legendary Hudson Valley band, The Womblers. With David Bromberg He has opened up for over a hundred international acts on concert stages proving that the material has an eclectic quality that is hard to nail down. Kurt is a highly professional guitarist who has donated much of his expertise to worthy causes along the way. One such cause was the preservation of beautiful Lake Minnewaska in the Hudson Valley. It is still a jewel for all to enjoy. He is a recipient of a NYS Educator of Excellence Award (1996) and along with his wife, Cheryl Lambert, a supporter of arts education and community arts organizations.

Steve Burgh His most recent album, Love's Enough, was produced by widely acclaimed and beloved music legend, Steve Burgh, a member of the band for several years up until his passing in 2005. The current line-up consists of Kurt (guitar, voice), Alan Groth (bass), Cheryl Lambert (voice) and Eric Parker (drums, percussion). Links New York Indie Music

Kurt Henry co-produced and performed on several tracks of the record ‘Save the Mountain,’ a project that brought much publicity to Marriott Corporation’s attempt to destroy the beauty of Lake Minnewaska and the Shawangunk Ridge. Much of this area is now protected. Minnewaska (photo courtesy of PB United)

There are singer/songwriters who have something to say, but neither the chops nor the imagination, to say it in a way that's compelling enough or convincing enough to make us care. And then there are singer/songwriters-- and they are legion-- who have nothing to say, but who say it well. Kurt Henry shows us once again that he is a rara avis-- a truly compelling songwriter and a consummate musician, not only capable of making us care, but of making us see and feel in a way that truly opens us. His songs are for listening; his best songs, like "All Of Our Fathers," are not only for repeated listening, but for living with over a period of time, deepening into their richness. From the passion of "Convicted Cop Killer' to the pure lyricism of "73," there is great tenderness and intelligence here, a largess of craft and heart. Listening to Kurt's music, it reminds us that we, too, know the change; we've been here before. Personally, I'm always happy-- honored, too-- to sit by the fire he's been so faithfully and lovingly keeping. -- mikhail horowitz