Kenny Ray Horton: Blog

So many people have been asking about the next record and so many great writers and artists have agreed to contribute to my next effort that it gets a little confusing sometimes. I simply don;t know how to thank folks who come up and tell me that they really enjoyed the last record so much that they are looking for the next one. 
 
What I can say for certain right now is that there will be a surprising little single out about my home state soon. At the same time that I'll be recording that, I will also be recording a few other songs for the new bluegrass record. As for a release date, that is very hard to tell right now. The second project is sometimes the very hardest one since you want to remain true to the fans that are already supporting you while stretching out a little more is always very enticing.
 
Some of the great writers that have been helping look for songs on this next project are Paula Breedlove and Brink Brinkman. Also, co-writers for the next project that [...]

Weakness was a tune that I wrote while I was stationed in Hawaii. I never had any idea that it would end up being done in this style, but I have to say that it has turned out as one of my favorite because it is a little different. 
It started as a sweet love song and turned into this groovin little tune that just stuck with me. When I played it for Keith Arneson and Pat White, they liked the fact that it was different and ran with it. 
We debuted the song in Lake Havasu, AZ at Larry Baker's Bluegrass on the Beach Festival in March of 2009. I have to say that we were nervous about doing it. The audience was appreciating what we were doing, especially meeting me, the new guy, for the first time since Wayne Taylor had retired from the Navy leaving Country Current. 
At first it was a blank response from the audience, but as we continued through the tune and they saw how much fun we were having with it, they got into itand we actually got a lot of great responses from it! 
Thank [...]

I was thinking about when I wrote this song and I thought I would share. I guess the writing of it actually started with conversations that I had when it seems like all you heard on the news were stories about children getting abducted. 
One of the conversations went to the "what would you do if it were your child" scenarios. I sat and listened and joined in a few times until one morning the conversation really hit me. One of my friends asked, "How would you be at the trial if they caught the person?" and I answered, "It wouldn't be their trial they'd be watching." He asked me what I meant and I said, "It would be my trial they would all be seeing on TV." 
I went home and wrote that conversation down and 3 or 4 months later the song pretty much wrote itself. 
It amazes me where song ideas seem to come from. They are so much a part of everyday life and yet, sometimes it takes a song to really make a statement. Starting with a blank sheet of paper and a simple idea, then turning [...]

It would be great if there was a foolproof formula for choosing the right songs for the next record. As an artist, you want to put the best music out that you think your listeners can relate to and will enjoy listening to. 
While we have been writing we always try to consider how a tune might apply to everyone or how it might fit into peoples lives. Then again, just telling a story that gives the listener very vivid pictures to imagine seems to allow them to apply the song to their life by their own imagination.
As a listener, what seems to draw you to a tune more than another?