Reverend Redmond Kelly
UPDATE: New “Skinny Whistle” mp3 available.
Monday. Clarkville, Carolina. USA.
Following Mary-Louise Andrews’ long awaited spring cleaning of the second attic of her Carolina estate, Redmond (The Reverend) Kelly’s genius musical dynasty has finally, after fifty-four long years of waiting, seen the light of day.
And listeners around the world just can’t get enough!
Bill Wankchovski of Gold Dust Records, who upon hearing just five seconds of Kelly’s song “Bones” on the office reel-to-reel immediately signed for the rights, said of Kelly’s undiscovered masterpieces, “these are the most important, posthumous discoveries of genius since Vincent Van Gogh”
“Bones” has gone straight in at number 1 on the US blues charts and is expected to be the first of many mega-hits for the late blues musician who, according to what little is known of Kelly, discovered that his wife was a serial killer when he came upon human remains whilst digging around for potatoes in her back yard.
Kelly died February, 21st, 1980 after choking on his own phlegm.
Download the song “Bones”, in which Reverend Kelly’s tender and soulful voice blend with a catchy tune to form a gut wrenching, yet accessible and timeless hit.
Download the “Skinny Whistle” mp3.
How much stuff did he record?
I love it!
I tried to download some more of his stuff, check out a song called ’skinny whistle’ -it reminds me of some Doc Boggs songs, really dark and powerful.
thats grand that.
It’s great to see you guys in England have discovered The Rev!
There haven’t been any official releases other than ‘bones’ over here but I managed to get hold of most of the forthcoming album:
1. Skinny Whistle
2. Still can’t grow a beard
3. Rose petal
4. Dead dog
5. Bones
6. mama
7. Red Ribbon
8. She wasn’t home
9. gold
10. Want to drink
11. My eye don’t work
12. Red
13. Dusk
14. Burnt my finger
15. Cotton
16. Shortfall in your NIC
17. Auntie’s secret
The quality varies quite a bit but some of them are really good -’Auntie’s secret’ sends a chill down my spine and ’skinny whistle’ really bluesy
I know he sings with Sam Green on a couple of the songs -does anybody know who he is?
I didn’t think very much of bones
where can I get any of the other tunes? I tried Limewire but all I could get was BONES!
For those interested, the first album release is called “Piedmont Farm Sessions”
Just west of the coastal plain in Carolina is the piedmont, which is the roots of an old mountain chain that has been almost entirely eroded away. It was here That Reverend Raymond Kelly recorded some of his songs.
I’ve got a copy of the album (sent by regular mail) from a friend of my Dad’s… it’s bizarre… the music is almost crap but the more you listen to it the more it sticks… some of it kicks arse… Auntie’s secret is THE BEST! I thought bones was crappy, too, until I considered that it was about a guy who ACTUALLY discovered bones in his girl’s back yard. Bizarre!
If anyone wants a copy let me know and something may be arranged… at a price! … IE very cheap!
Practically no one in Britain knows about RRK. I was over there in the Spring and everyone was totally “what?” when I asked for him.
hello everyone! I’ve just moved to the UK and just got Broad Band! It’s really cool! I like the songs up here and want to buy the album but the only copy I found in HMV was an import and cost TWENTY FIVE POUNDS!!!!! thats like $40 back home! How much would you charge for a copy of the album? I want the Piedmot Sessions NOT the Bones single!
THANKS!
Liz
xxx
I’ll do you a copy for a fiver… hate to make money out of other people’s art but I couldn’t be bothered doing it for less than that and I don’t feel guilty ’cause the man’s dead and all the money’s just going to a record label.
25 pounds! What a joke!
Email me at thenewme@bluebottle.com and we can discuss the getting it from me to you. Anyone else?
I’ll have one, i love a bit of the old blues!
SEriously I recorded most of the album from Brockmans Radio but no way should you copy it from a CD because that breaks like twenty laws at once
There’s a website that has The Reverand’s tracks to download (legal). I’ll send the details to alittlepoison when I get back home from working (in a morgue).
Great to hear people talking about him! There’s very little about him on the internet because he’s so old (predates IT) but I saw a website made by Sam Green’s widow so I’ll try and find the link later
did you ever hear the bowie sessions he did in ‘73?
Okay… “something” that is not the aforementioned album is on its way, in the post, to you Hushdie, dear. Pass love on to the wife and skypes, now and enjoy your blues.
unless bowie was some kind of carolina piedmont farm worker then Bobbi-jo has got his/her wires crossed
She’s talking about Minnie Jane Bowie.
But it wasn’t 1973, that’s obviously a factual innaccuracy.
I actually had a friend who grew up nine miles west of Piedmont, S.Carolina and I never liked his taste in music… but when I recieved a US marked parcel last week with “CHECK THIS OUT MAN IT’S AWESOME” scrawled on the back, I thought ‘well maybe that ol’ on of a gun might surprise me this time.’
I’m afraid “Piedmont Farm Sessions” is no exception. The moment I put it on I felt instantly depressed. Bones is an awful track. I may be no blues guru but this failed to eliviate any feeling of woe in me. I hate it.
As a guitarist meself, I don’t particularly rate the Rev’s playing and he sure as hell aint the best singer but that isn’t why he’s getting popular, personally i like it because it sounds so raw - he sings about really heavy stuff but he also has a sense of humour and some tunes really make me smile. Sam Green sings a couple of songs with the Rev playing guitar and he has a high pitched chilling voice which really contrasts with the gravelly drawl of our friend Redmond. It’s amazing to think none of his material was published when he was alive - similarly with nick drake and Vincent van-gogh you wish they could have known that their work would be really respected when they are gone.
I’ve never seen so many yanks on this site before
When Dylan turned electric people scoffed… those were the same people who thought Vincent’s painting’s were crappy, swirly, psychotic, orange, blobby messes not worth the dime that they weren’t willing to pick up off the street… those were the same people who didn’t want to make the same mistake for the third time and so ALL AGREED (mistakenly) that Radiohead’s Kid A was a masterpiece when in actuality it was a bog stink… and they are once again the SAME PEOPLE (Fat Frank et all) who are now dissing the Rev’s soulful genius all over these cyber sea scrolls… if Bones is as awful as Starry Night or Like a Rolling Stone then I am in complete agreeance with you my philistine friend…
… some people just don’t fucking get it!
If you have reached the point at which Redmond Kelly is the soundtrack to your lives, then you really have gone downhill. It is a figment of your overactive masculine imaginations, for which I subscrive a wonderful new book ‘Pinned’, check it out… It’ll rock your world.
But you’re… you’re… dead! They found you in… bones…
men’s bones…
buried in…
your back yard!
I observe respectfully, however, your views on weapons of mass destruction and my overactive masculine imagination. I am New Tony Blair. I apologise for the horrors that I’ve committed. The Rev is WMD all over.
sometimes i feel like Redmond is all a dream, how can a man so brilliant only surface when I feel my own life is almost over? The songs posted on this site only show a fraction of what the man is all about, him and sam green have written some of the the funniest, most terrifying and beautiful music I’ve heard in some months. When you feel like everything is shit, there is always somethig that floats your boat.
Toulouse - Lautrec