Paul Kennerley
Paul Kennerley (born 1948) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer working in the American contemporary country music industry. Biography. Kennerley was born in Hoylake, Cheshire (now Merseyside), England in 1948. In 1976, he was living in London and working in advertising when he first heard country music — particularly, the song "Let's All Help the Cowboys Sing the Blues" by Waylon Jennings. "It really excited me," Kennerley recalls in his artist biography for Universal Music Group. "I immediately hunted down every Waylon record I could find." Kennerley quit his job in advertising and allowed himself  three months to develop his talents as a songwriter. Recordings. In 1972, Kennerley recorded an album with a rock band called 'Holy Roller' at Virgin record's newly opened Manor studio, with Tom Newman (Mike Oldfield, "Tubular Bells" etc.) and Philip Newell, and Newman subsequently sang all the songs on the demonstration tapes of the "White Mansions" album. Kennerley's first project was "White Mansions", a 1978 concept album set in the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The project was picked up by A&M Records, with Glyn Johns producing. A number of notable artists recorded the  music, including Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Steve Cash of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Eric Clapton. In 1980, a second concept album was released, "The Legend of Jesse James", which featured more notable artists, including Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Daniels, Albert Lee and Levon Helm. "Misery with a Beat", his 1998 EP, features Richard Bennett and Billy Bremner on guitar, Michael Rhodes on bass, and Chad Cromwell on drums. Songwriting. Neither "White Mansions" nor "Jesse James" were commercially successful, but they did establish Kennerley as a serious songwriter. Among his early compositions was "Born to Run", which Emmylou Harris  recorded in 1981 for her album, "Cimarron", and she continues to frequently perform the song in her concerts. Kennerly continued to live in London while he wrote songs, but, in 1983, moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he started working with Harris on her semi-autobiographical concept album, "The Ballad of Sally Rose", co-writing and producing the album. Kennerley also collaborated with Harris on her albums "Thirteen" and "Bluebird", and writing the songs "In My Dreams" and "Heartbreak Hill". Kennerley also wrote songs for The Judds ("Young Love", "One Man Woman", "Let Me Tell You About Love", "Cry Myself to  Sleep", "Have Mercy" and "Give a Little Love"), Marty Stuart ("Hillbilly Rock", "Western Girls", "Tempted", "Till I Found You", "Little Things"), Tanya Tucker ("Walking Shoes"), Sweethearts of the Rodeo ("Chains of Gold"), Patty Loveless ("Blue Memories"), Juice Newton ("Tell Me True"), The Everly Brothers as well as Carla Olson & John York (First In Line). Personal life. Kennerly was married to Emmylou Harris from 1985 to 1993. Awards. Kennerley was named Broadcast Music Incorporated Writer of the Year in 1989.