Assembling the cast from fellow road musicians, they put together their first all pop cd. The Kennedys set out on their longest tour yet, one that will take them across the USA and back to the British Isles. In one ten-day period, they do shows in Dublin, Galway, Rehobeth Beach Delaware, Tampa, Orlando, and the Falcon Ridge Festival in upstate New York. All driving, except for the transatlantic part. When things finally start to slow down in the fall, they play a week-long engagement at the Bright Angel Lodge, on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
Tourists season is over, and the park is quiet.
They have time to reflect on their experiences on the road, especially in the Southwest, a place that inspires them in a deep and spiritual way, like Ireland. The Kennedys have now been on the road for five years with no more than a two-week break. They are seasoned veterans, and have pretty much seen it all. They know what it means to collapse from exhaustion, spend two days in bed, then get yourself to the airport, do a ten-day, eighteen show European tour, come back and immediately collapse again. But they also know the sense of absolute freedom on the road, and the indescribable satisfaction of building your own life, based on a dream, and then living it out.