Kevn Kinney‘s music has always been lurking in the cobwebbed corners of your mind, even if you weren’t aware of it. After making the big move from Milwaukee to Atlanta back in the ’80s, he happened to be close to Athens, Ga., the birthplace of R.E.M., when that band was really catching fire. He caught the always-open ear of Peter Buck, who produced some material by Kinney’s band, Drivin N Cryin, which would latch onto a support slot for an R.E.M. tour. Fast forward to the new millennium, and Kinney has moved to Brooklyn, where he’s cut a fine solo record, A Good Country Mile, with Anton Fier and the Golden Palominos. The new disc somehow manages to fit Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Van Morrison under the same tiny leopard-skin pill-box hat. Kinney will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Kinney: I bought my first usable guitar from Steins pawn shop on Wisconsin
Avenue for 75 dollars.
The Avenger … A candy apple red Mosrite … I had never had a real electric
guitar that actually stayed in tune …
the Tiesco Del Ray with its plastic tuning pegs was not even in the same
league …
I wanted something to bring the thunder down around thee!
Like Fred Sonic Smith or my hero Johnny Ramone!
I think they are by far the quintessential looking guitar
I see people wearing guitar necklaces or pins and the always look like a
Stratocastors …
The Mosrite looks like something George Jetson would be playing … Space
is the place …
I own a few of them now and the cool thing is they all sound completely
different …
The Ventures owned them for a time and I was told for a while the women
wrapping the pickups in the factory would just wrap them randomly
I don’t know if this is true but it sure sounds like it
however … You don’t really play the Mosrite for the sound as much
anyway …
… a 100 watt Marshall can fix anything ….
It’s because it completes the first commandment of rock ‘n’ roll …
Your band might suck
but you’ve gotta look cool trying.
