Kenny Blackwell
Kenny Blackwell is a mandolin player, guitarist and singer from the Los Angeles bluegrass scene. He was an original member of the Laurel Canyon Ramblers, the band Herb Pedersen and Bill Bryson formed in 1994, and played on all three of its Sugar Hill albums, from 1995 to 1998.
In 1982 he played mandolin on the fiddler Ray Park’s instrumental album Fiddletown (Sierra), recorded at Hit City West in Los Angeles with Larry Park and Billy Constable on guitars. Pedersen added banjo and vocals to “Old Dick Potter” and “Bluegrass Music Blues,” and Doug Dillard played banjo on “Jamboree” and “Flying Cloud.”
The Laurel Canyon Ramblers began with Pedersen on banjo, Billy Ray Latham on guitar, Blackwell on mandolin and Bryson on bass, with Byron Berline on fiddle. Their first album, Rambler’s Blues, was recorded at the Rainbow Garage in Van Nuys and released in April 1995. Blackwell sang the baritone on “She’s No Angel” and the bass part on “Jesus Savior, Pilot Me.” On Blue Rambler 2 (June 1996), with Gabe Witcher on fiddle, he sang with Pedersen, Latham and Bryson on every vocal track, from “Preachin’, Prayin’, Singin’” and the Johnnie and Jack song “Just When I Needed You” to Don Everly’s “I Wonder If I Care as Much.” On Back on the Street Again (1998), with Roger Reed in Latham’s place, he played mandolin and guitar and sang. After he moved away from the area, Pedersen and Bryson started a new band, Loafer’s Glory.
Around the Ramblers he worked as a sideman and producer. He played mandolin and guitar, with Bryson on bass, on the Schankman Twins’ album Duality (City West, 1996), recorded at FoxFire Studios in Van Nuys, and backed the twins again in 1999 on “Home of the Blues” for the CMH tribute Cash on Delivery: An Alternative Country Tribute to Johnny Cash. In 1999 he produced the Born Again Bluegrass Band’s On My Mother’s Side at Foxfire Recording, playing mandolin and guitar alongside Witcher on fiddle.
