Jerry Kennedy

Creative and Dreams Music Network, LLC and Fred Cannon, KCHS are proud to welcome the legendary Jerry Kennedy.

Musician, songwriter, record label executive, and producer Jerry Kennedy is a Nashville institution, known for his prowess in the recording studio, on both sides of the microphone. He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, where his earliest memories include attending the legendary Louisiana Hayride, broadcast live from Shreveport’s Municipal Memorial Auditorium over station KWKH.

Jerry was a prodigy. He received his first guitar before he was nine and began taking lessons from legendary guitarist and Hayride regular Tillman Franks, riding the trolley downtown with his guitar. At 10, he was a finalist in the annual Bob Wills Talent Discovery Show; at 11, he signed a singing contract with RCA; by 18, he had joined the house band of the Hayride, backing the likes of stars Faron Young and Johnny Horton.

Kennedy moved to Nashville in 1961, looking for session work in the booming Nashville recording scene. Within days, he landed a job as Shelby Singleton’s assistant at Mercury Records, eventually becoming the label’s vice president in charge of country music. Kennedy would make his biggest mark as a producer for Smash Records, Mercury’s secondary label, with the huge crossover hits he scored with  studio musician  Pete Drake and his ‘Talking Steel Guitar’ and Roger Miller, in 1963. When Miller had mentioned he needed $1,600 to move to Los Angeles, Kennedy agreed to give him the money if he’d cut sixteen songs – at $100 a side – for Smash. With Kennedy producing, Miller cut the songs in three sessions over two days. The first single, “Dang Me,” hit the country charts in June of 1964 and went straight to No. 1, staying there for six weeks and crossing over to No. 7 on the pop charts. Its follow up, “Chug-a-Lug,” was also a pop Top 10, but their biggest hit came the following year, with the million-selling “King of the Road.” Jerry Kennedy was soon known as one of Nashville’s hottest producers, helping Miller earn 11 GRAMMY awards in 1964 and 1965. When asked if he knew immediately that those first songs would be hits, Jerry replied, “I thought we were getting some really goofy stuff we might get in trouble with!”

 His time at Smash Records and Mercury Records produced memorable hits from country music artists such as Pete Drake,  Roger Miller, Reba McEntire, The Statler Brothers, Johnny Rodriguez, and Tom T. Hall, Jerry Lee Lewis,

Kennedy left Mercury in 1984 to start JK Productions, through which he produced recordings by The Statler Brothers, Connie Smith, Mel McDaniel and Reba McEntire.

As a musician, Kennedy is among the most respected guitarists in country recording history. His contributions on Dobro and guitar can be heard on the distinctive opening licks of such classics as Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” and Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and the dobro fills that populate Jeannie C. Riley’s 1967 megahit, “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” his spirited licks answering Riley’s feisty vocals between each line., Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Ringo Star, and countless others, and has been honored with four GRAMMY awards.   

‘It all begins with a creative dream’ Fred Cannon, KCHS