Remembering Rod Kennedy

Rod Kennedy
Photo by Merri Lu Park

“I am happy. I am happy.” — Rod Kennedy

Life goes on…

… and the Kerrville Festivals are going on and that’s just the way Rod Kennedy planned it.

Music and special event producer Rod Kennedy died at 6:30 a.m. on the palindrome date of 4/14/14 just as a dramatic thunderstorm hit the Texas Hill Country and on the same day as a rare blood moon crossed the sky. Never anything less than dramatic for this man who nurtured singers and songwriters while creating a music-loving family with his festival staff volunteers at its core. And Heaven’s downpour forever cemented his hometown handle of “Rod the Rainmaker.”

Rod Kennedy began the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1972 as a supplemental tourism draw to compliment the Texas Arts & Crafts Fair being held that same Memorial Day weekend in Kerrville. Two years later, he moved it from the city’s indoor auditorium to Quiet Valley Ranch, which he and his now-former wife, Nancylee Kennedy, purchased and set up for just such a reason. Soon, he expanded it from the three-day event to five days, added a second festival on Labor Day weekend, and by 1980 was also producing a classical music festival at Quiet Valley Ranch. Over time, he produced several bluegrass and country music events as well and took the event from its original 3-day time frame to18 days in late May and early June, as it is now.  He also took Texas music to Puerto Vallarta and Isle Mujeres and helped other cities and organizations to start up their own special events.

It was a few years ago ago when several of those ‘family members,’ or Kerrverts as they are lovingly called, proposed to buy the ranch property from Nancylee Kennedy, with whose inheritance the ranch was originally purchased, and the festival itself from Rod Kennedy. They set up non-profit organizations to run the two entities side-by-side, with Rod still in the producer’s chair.

As Rod’s health began to decline, the boards put long-time staff volunteer Dalis Allen in the well-worn producer’s chair. She has been there since and relied heavily on Rod’s guidance. At the end, it was Dalis, Merri Lu Park, and Vicki Bell, all family-by-love to Rod, who were at his bedside.

“I am happy. I am happy,” were the last words Rod Kennedy spoke, from his bed to his long-time friend Merri Lu Park.

Rod Kennedy and Allen Damron
Photo by Mary Jane Farmer

Also near the end, long-time friend and Folk Festival performer Peter Yarrow, of Peter Paul & Mary fame, flew from his New York home to Kerrville, and gave Rod the concert of his life. In that same time frame new guitar picker Russell and several others played a couple of songs for Rod by his bedside. The word is that Rod appreciated them all.

There are many musicians who attribute their starts to Rod Kennedy, including Larry Joe Taylor, who has produced his own festival for 26 years. “I was at the second festival, when it was still inside the Kerrville auditorium,” Larry Joe said. Guy Clark was there, and Stephen Fromholz, and several others who became legends in the first reinvention of Texas music, labeled Redneck Rock and Progressive Country. Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen were among the first who entered the New Folk songwriting contests, as was Larry Joe.

Larry Joe returned several years after that. He added that when he was ready to produce his first festival, he took what he admired most from the Kerrville Festivals, and put it in with qualities of Willie’s Picnic and the Terlingua goings-on, and incorporated those into his LJT Texas Music Festivals.

At the recent Larry Joe Taylor Festival, during a tribute to the late Steve Fromholz, a favorite face and voice at many Kerrville festivals, Matt Martindale said he first knew he wanted to be a songwriter after listening to recordings from those 1970s festivals. The phrase, lovingly plastered on one of Fromholz’ guitars at the memorial, said “It’s Fromholz’ fault.” This was coined on one of the early 1980s Kerrville Folk Festival On The Road tours.

Lloyd Maines, long-time Texas musician and sought-after recording producer, was also one of Rod’s friends and admirers. “Rod was the heart and soul of folk music in Texas,” Maines said. “His legacy will last forever.”  Kennedy often defined “folk music” as “music played by folks for folks.”

Ray Wylie Hubbard, another Texas music icon, said that without Rod Kennedy, Texas would be barren of Texas music, a desert instead of an oasis. Terri Hendrix added, “Rod Kennedy’s legacy will live on. He inspired the songwriter to keep on writing and the audience to keep on listening to the song. He’ll remain a gift to Texas music!” She said it was an honor just to be able to talk about her admiration for the late producer.

Rod Kennedy, taken from the 1984 festival program

The week following Rod’s death and nearing the time that this year’s Kerrville Folk Festival kicks off, several involved in the day-to-day operations kept it all moving along.

J.C. Hammond, ranch foreman, and his maintenance crew were busy beautifying the 60-acre ranch, not only for the forthcoming festival, but also knowing there would be many visitors to Quiet Valley following Mr. Kennedy’s memorial service. His wife, Dorothy, was busy answering phone calls and helping out in the office. Dalis had the task of working on the upcoming 18-day event while coordinating details for the memorial for her departed friend and mentor. Sue Medley and her kitchen crew kept busy processing donated foods for the freezer, to be used to feed volunteers during the festival, all the while providing a hot, home-cooked meal each night, including Easter Sunday, when the volunteers held their own services on the ranch. Nancylee took her daily cup of coffee with the volunteers, remembering their names as if there haven’t been a thousand before them.

Life and the Kerrville festivals go on, and will continue to go on, and that’s just the way Rod Kennedy liked it, the way he wanted it, and the way he planned it to be. Kerrverts far and wide will see to that.

This year’s Kerrville Folk Festival runs from May 22-June 8. The line-up includes musicians from across the decades, such as Dale Watson, Bobby Bridger, Judy Collins, Michael Hearne and Shake Russell.

For more information, go online to www.kerrville-music.com

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Category: *- Features, - Festivals