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Kenny Butterill ...No One You Know By Greg Simpson - Country Music News - Canada |
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| January
2001
With
what some would call a backward approach (others called it worse), and
without a lot of hoopla, Butterill's No One You Know CD has landed
in charts and garnered global airplay on over 120 stations in almost
20 countries. This backward approach included using 'scratch' vocals
on the final mastered CD, releasing in Europe first, no touring or showbiz
'thank you', a focus on the internet and sparse advertising. Bemused
with that analysis, Butterill commented, "We have just stumbled along
with this, we went to where the doors opened, and we're just gratified
and humbled with the response".
When
asked about why his music seems to get airplay in different formats,
with most interest coming from outside North America, he sheepishly
responds, "my songs usually doesn't match any of the formats out there
- even in the States where they have highly specific formats, such as
Alt-Country/Americana and Adult Album Alternative (A3) - it's still
difficult, because I kinda fit in between those. So sometimes we hear
back that it's too country from A3 and that it's not country enough
for some country stations. But that's ok - it's just the way it is -
I am just fortunate that there is a place for my music in radio out
there."
As with
any type of art, Butterill is not without critics. I gave Kenny a chance
to respond to one reviewer who recently suggested that Butterill was
being opportunistic by including his Princess Diana song on the
CD. Getting a little agitated, Kenny replied "the song about Princess
Diana was originally recorded around the time of her widely publicized
divorce when she was on her own, about a year before she was killed
in that crash in Paris. Back then, the press was being vicious towards
her - she was being attacked. That's the context of the song. Heck,
the copyright was several months before the accident. After her death,
the Diana tribute album was being put together and we did pitch the
song there. I got a nice note back from Richard Branson's office
and got the impression that the tune was too racy for the tribute album.
After that, I never pitched the song again, but it was a song I was
proud of so I included it on my CD.
But mostly
this CD is comfortable, feel good, music. One Canadian reviewer even
called it 'totally mellow makeout music'. Another said it is
great driving music for the open road and the backroads.
Butterill
says he has three criteria for his music - "it's gotta be good in the
background, there's got to be an interesting story, and there should
never be anything too offensive". From the lead off single "How Far
Can We Go?", a tune about leaving Canada for the States driving
down the eastern seaboard in an old beat up car, to "Balsam Lake",
a sentimental mandolin laced beauty about his grandpa's cottage north
of Toronto, Butterill's tunes shuffle nicely from one to the next and
do stay true to his criteria for his music.
Kenny
Butterill is now working on a follow-up album, with tracks being cut
in California and Nashville. He's also doing some co-writing.
You can
find more information about Kenny Butterill and where to buy the CD
at http://www.nobullsongs.com
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To most, he is unknown - like the name of his debut CD - "No One You
Know" (released on No Bull Songs Records). But the word has
started to get out that this songwriter/ producer, Kenny Butterill,
puts out very cool music. Hard to categorize, Butterill has quietly established
himself as a radio friendly tunesmith of integrity with his tasty offerings
of bluesy folk alt-country music that always seem to hit the 'sweet spot'.
Like his music, the man himself is hard to categorize. Butterill is
an eccentric, reclusive mountain man, currently living comfortably and
quietly in the boondocks of the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern
California. On the phone and in person, Butterill is reluctant, shy,
and soft-spoken. When pressed about his current day to day life, he
says he spends a lot of time these days on the "back porch, on-line"
doing work for his (non-music) company while continuing to write, record
and work in the studio.
As a Canadian who has lived almost half his life in the States, Butterill
has unique perspectives on both the USA and Canada, which are particularly
noticeable in his two political tunes on the CD, Back to Canada and
Our Liberty. Both toe-tapping tunes do cause one to think a bit about
our social circumstances. Kenny reflects on the songs -- "those two
tunes say what I want to say on politics and perhaps can serve as a
reminder that we all could pay more attention to what's happening".
