Landmark ‘A’ Team Musician, Producer Jerry Kennedy Has Died

Jerry Kennedy was considered one of the most important guitarists and instrumentalists in country music history. As a recognized member of the “Nashville ‘A’ Team,” he was an inaugural inductee into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007 with guys like Harold Bradley, Floyd Cramer, Pete Drake, and Charlie McCoy. In fact, the Musicians Hall of Fame named their performance space the “Jerry Kennedy Theater” after him.

As a musician, Kennedy played on so many landmark recordings, from “Harper Valley PTA,” to Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” to Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. As a producer and record executive, he signed and saw Tom T. Hall and Reba McEntire as stars, and made them one. And as a proud son of Shreveport, Louisiana, he attended the final show of Hank Williams on the Louisiana Hayride, sitting in the front row, and saw the first Louisiana Hayride show by Elvis Presley in 1954.

Jerry Kennedy was there for some of the most important moments in American music history, participated or directly presided over quite a few of them himself, and lived a life that was inexorably entwined with the beauty and success of so much of the music cherished worldwide. Saving Country Music is sad to report that Jerry Kennedy passed away on Wednesday, February 11th at the age of 85 in Nashville.

Born August 10th, 1940 in Shreveport, Kennedy showed an inclination towards music making from an early age. After getting tired of hearing him making a racket via various household items and utensils, his parents ordered him a Silvertone guitar from Sears when he was eight or nine years old. Louisiana guitar legend Tillman Franks became Kennedy’s teacher and mentor. When Kennedy saw Elvis perform, he didn’t care for the screeching girls since they disrupted him hearing guitarist Scotty Moore.

Kennedy singed his first recording contract at the ripe age of 11 with RCA, working with Chet Atkins on a handful of singles. But being a star himself was never in the cards for Kennedy. He ended up singing backup for numerous artists recording for Mercury Records while a teenager. This is when a long-term relationship with the Mercury label was forged.

Jerry Kennedy regularly worked as a session musician, playing on the songs and albums from folks like Kris Kristofferson, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Leroy Van Dyke, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Rich, Stonewall Jackson, and so many more. The Nashville A Team collectively is credited with over 130,000 recording sessions, with even more songs on top of that. Jerry Kennedy played on many of them.

Along with his guitar work, Kennedy regularly contributed dobro to recordings. He was especially prolific performing on the albums of Jerry Lee Lewis. Though he’s primarily credited as a musician, Kennedy also was a songwriter and composer.

His success as a musician and his ear for talent eventually led Jerry Kennedy into executive and producer positions at Mercury Records in Nashville. In 1968, he was appointed the head of Mercury’s sub-label Smash Records. When Smash was shut down in 1970, they made Kennedy the head of Mercury’s country division. As both an executive and producer, Kennedy was integral to the rise and success of Roger Miller, Reba McEntire, Johnny Rodriguez, The Statler Brothers, Tom T. Hall, and others.

In 1984, Kennedy officially left Mercury Records, but continued to work as a producer, working with Reba and the Statler Brothers, along with Connie Smith, Mel McDaniel, and others. Over his career, Jerry Kennedy earned four Grammy Awards.

All of Jerry’s three sons—Gordon Kennedy, Bryan Kennedy, and Shelby Kennedy—are songwriters and have worked in the music business. Gordon Kennedy co-wrote Eric Clapton’s Grammy-winning “Change The World,” and also works as a musician and producer.

Jerry Kennedy’s name might have not been featured often in lights and on marquees. But in the liner notes and finer print of some of the most important recordings in American music history, he’s rightly credited.

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