Family
While his list of accolades runs longer than a Louisiana summer, Kennedy always points to his family when asked how and why he got into music when he did. The oldest of the three Kennedy boys, he’s not the only one who followed in his parents’ footsteps. Both his brothers, Shelby and Bryan, have written No. 1 hits as well, for Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks respectively, each establishing himself in the industry through his own talents and pursuits.
In a letter to his three boys dated March 1, 2011, Gordon’s father, Jerry Kennedy, wrote: “Our family has kind of an anniversary today. Fifty years ago this morning, your mom, Gordon and I left Shreveport to move here to Nashville. What little furniture we owned left the day before ... Our thinking was that we would come up, spend a few weeks, or at the most, a couple of months, and then move back home to Shreveport ... Well, as you all know, the move became permanent at some point, and here it is fifty years later.”
As Gordon Kennedy looks back on this letter, he can be thankful his young parents pinched pennies to get by, taking a risk on a new and unfamiliar city. And at the same time, the rest of us can pinch ourselves to awaken to the reality that the music industry would have been entirely different if they hadn’t.
Read more about this topic: Gordon Kennedy (musician)
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“I think the ideal situation for a family is to be completely incestuous.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Babies control and bring up their families as much as they are controlled by them; in fact ... the family brings up baby by being brought up by him.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)