Album Notes

It was started by a walk down a hallway- A short venture from one room to another in a freshman dormitory at Hampden-Sydney College. Doors were open wide, and music poured out into the hall. With the taste of bourbon on his lips and the music of Johnny Cash and Robert Earl Keen hitting his ears, a young Drew Kennedy was about to figure things out.
"I was feeling that drink a bit, enjoying that first week away from home that you can only enjoy as a freshman in college. I guess my ears were just ready to listen and my mind was ready to let them."
6 Years Later with his first album Hillbilly Pilgrim in hand, Drew is ready to share what his brain made of all of that stuff.
The Virginia gentleman turned Texan has been churning out songs about life, loss, and love with a twist- songs not unlike those of Steve Earle and Gram Parsons. They paint a broad musical picture of life in America: the constant flow of the great river towns along the Mississippi, the traditional stories of bootlegging and lawbreaking in the hills of western Virginia, and the sawdust smell of a any dance hall on any night in Texas. These are songs about the hopeful, the heartbreaker and the brokenhearted written in the longstanding Americana tradition.
Over the years, Drew has shared the stage with the likes of double-Grammy nominee Pat Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Gary P. Nunn, the John Evans Band, the Peter Dawson Band, Wade Bowen and West 84, Jason Allen, Big John Mills, Wayne Toupes, and Jody Booth (among others) and has performed all over the states of Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. His songwriting talents can also be heard on Peter Dawson's album Coupland Live-Peter, Jason Boland and Drew co-wrote the song Travis County Heartbreak.
Hillbilly Pilgrim, recorded at The Second Story in Durham, North Carolina in the summer of 2003 features seven songs penned by Drew over the last year. Noted producer Wade Baynham headed a cast of incredibly talented musicians to help create this moving album. Artists like guitar genius Rob Seals, and drummer Dale Baker (formerly of Sixpence None the Richer) are among the many that left their mark on the album. Drew will be touring throughout much of 2003 and into 2004 in support of the release.