2020 has obviously been a challenging year so far. Live music is barely even a thing yet again 6+ months into the ongoing global pandemic; and I don’t think I speak for just myself here when I say in the times of social distancing, lockdowns, protests amid systematic racism, a fiery political landscape led by whatever that is tweeting out a storm from the White House, and just a different way of life currently; I feel like the euphoria of a great live show is what my soul is currently missing most. If you are like me though, while the live shows may not be there, it’s still the music that is getting me through.
Whether it’s the new music releases of 2020 that has struck a chord (Fiona Apple, Porridge Radio, Run The Jewels, Fleet Foxes, IDLES, Bonny Light Horseman, etc., etc.) or it’s diving into the classics that you find solace in, history shows that music will get us through and certain songs will remind us years from now of these times. Well today we are very excited to bring a brand new song from The Kernal that hits right when it’s needed.
The Jackson, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter known for his classic sound, witty lyrics, and Red Opry suit, The Kernal is plenty country while steeped in classic rock ‘n’ roll. Signed to John Paul White’s Single Lock Records in Muscle Shoals,, who released The Kernal’s sophomore album LIGHT COUNTRY in 2017, “U Do U“ is the first music from his upcoming new album, set for release in 2021.
From the opening notes of “U Do U”, this song feels like an instant classic, one that would have the huge Woodstock crowd in ‘69 booging on down, yet feels so fresh in 2020. As Gregory Alan Thornbury, Ph. D, so eloquently puts it in the press release below, with lyrics like “How long since you loved somebody, a little more than you do you?” perhaps this is The Kernal’s “way of coaxing a little solidarity out of us while we’re on this planet”. So while The Kernal is singing about the me first attitude that infects so many today, and yes, we’ve all been there; the optimism of “U Do U” still shines through from the beginning to the closing notes as if he knows we all can, and will do better. There’s certainly a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to “U Do U” and The Kernal, and this one is exactly what we need as we push out of the mess that is the year 2020.
This one feels good man, and I’m here for it. Listen to “U Do U” below on Souncloud or find it on your favorite streaming platform here.
Press Release written by Gregory Alan Thornbury, Ph.D.:
“FLORENCE, AL – (Oct 2020) Single Lock Records is excited to announce the latest single from The Kernal, “U Do U”.
2020 initiated a series of disappearances – beloved haunts, live shows, and our favorite bars. Among the lost things are, of course, deeper elements vanishing, some of which are barely remembered and others that are more sinister.
Choirs went missing and, more to the point, became dangerous. These days, most people wouldn’t darken the door of a church to see one anyway.
And so The Kernal has traded his red suit for a choir robe to announce his bracing new single “U Do U.” The color? Probably not wine. Dried blood? It makes sense. Without an ensemble in the loft, Kern has been known to conduct a seance or two.
Recalling his red-suit-clad previous incarnation “as another Gibson-flashing upstart, tinged in some vintage style,” The Kernal chronicles his misadventures on the road trying to be seen and heard. What has been lost along the way?
That’s for you to know and him to find out.
Maybe this is his way of coaxing a little solidarity out of us while we’re on this planet, since it’s narcissists from the Oval Office all the way down. Whatever the case, the question stands . . . “How long since you loved somebody, a little more than you do you?”
“The song’s about the kind of man we see a lot nowadays,” says The Kernal. “Full of himself and no one else–until he winds up on the wrong side of an HVAC man in a bar in Indiana and gets cracked across the jaw with an igloo cooler.”
About the artist: The Kernal hails from Music Highway USA and alleges he recently spoke with Sonny Boy Williamson. His 2017 LP LIGHT COUNTRY was a tour de force hailed by Rolling Stone and American Songwriter. U Do U is the first music from his upcoming new album, set for release in 2021. It takes listeners deeper into the psyche of Light Country’s favorite crimson clad hero, seen alongside artists like Paul Cauthen, John Paul White, Erin Rae, Andrew Combs, Mike and the Moonpies and Shovels & Rope, with confirmed sightings at festivals like SXSW, Americanafest, and the Jason Isbell-curated Shoals Fest.
About the Author. Gregory Alan Thornbury, Ph.D. serves in senior administration at New York Academy of Art in Tribeca – the studio art school founded by Andy Warhol. His recent award winning rock biography on Jesus Freak Larry Norman was hailed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and many other outlets.– “
THE KERNAL ONLINE:
