Ken “Kenny Lee” Smith has entered his fourth decade as a full time musician, on top of his game and remaining one of the most consistently working musicians around. Respected for his talent, the artist is equally adept at packaging his product and marketing himself, currently forging new paths as a pioneer on the digital frontier. Locally, producer/engineer and piano man are the latest incarnates of the ever evolving Kenny Lee persona. Traditionally known as the big bad bluesman who can play a guitar with anything, the new generation of clubbers know Kenny Lee as the only singing piano man in town, tickling the ivories at State Street Pub each Wednesday.

But piano is not new to Kenny. In fact, piano lessons were his first experience with music growing up in Barren County. His first high school band also provided his first songwriting and marketing experience. The Nobles consisted of Ken Smith on bass and Leslie Bowman on guitar. “We wrote Beatles songs”, said Kenny. After that he became a keyboard man, until he decided the Hammond Organ was to heavy to carry around.

There were no places for young bands to play so they rented the armory and held their own dances. The members made flyers and promoted the show and someone’s parents would collect money at the door, with the band members dividing the proceeds after expenses.

After graduating, Kenny Lee moved to Louisville to study Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky. After earning his degree he relocated to Cincinnati and then settled in Bowling Green. Kenny Lee describes this time period as being prior to his professional career as a musician, spent with a few college type bands playing frat parties. Others describe it differently.

He worked as a civil engineer in Louisville by day and by night traveled the area with Buster Brown (Steve Holmes, drums; Rico Thomas, bass; Bobby Richey, vocals; Kenny Lee, guitar). Kenny describes this as is first big guitar rock band, but remembers the experience as frustrating. Gigs didn’t come easily for the band he describes saying “We were ahead of the curve, trying to be Led Zepplin or the Who when everyone else was trying to be the Temptations.” But Buster Brown did not go as unnoticed as one would assume from his descriptions. The progressive band appeared on the cover of the Louisville Scene and was known throughout the region. In fact it is often sited as a major influence of other bands, particularly the Kentucky Headhunters.

According to Greg Martin “I’ll never forget the first time I saw Kenny Lee and Buster Brown at the 1971 Toys For Tots Show at the Glasgow Armory. That band was magical, it changed my life in a major way. As much as I loved Cream, Mountain, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and Cactus; Kenny Smith, Rico Thomas, Steve Holmes & Bobby Richey were just as much an influence on Richard, Fred, Anthony and myself. As a guitarist, Kenny Lee Smith’s playing left a mark on me that I carry today. … Kenny was the first player I saw in person plug a Gibson guitar straight into a Marshall stack and play the blues with a rock attitude. … Through Buster Brown, Black Mountain and Slickrock, Kenny’s been a big influence and dear friend. To give credit where credit is due, I believe Kenny taught a lot of us Kentucky guitar players to play the blues, and boogie.”

The Black Mountain Band in Cincinnati again paired Ken Smith with longtime friend Rico Thomas as well as Hal Neel on keyboards and Bill Lewis on drums. According to Kenny the band was going for a Deep Purple kind of sound and was on the AJ Agency roster of talent.

After moving to Bowling Green, Kenny tried his hand at Southern Rock with Slickrock featuring three lead guitars. Slickrock with Mike Clark (guitar), Mike Hildreth (guitar), Jamie Ebert (guitar, vocals) and Billy Judd (drums) was already in existence when Ken Smith stepped into the frontman position. Slickrock continues to draw at reunion shows from time to time for the Jambodians annual concert benefiting the Sonrhea Foundation. Kenny has played every Jambodians concert.

Despite the accolades, the 70’s were a low point in Kenny’s musical experience, marked by frustration from his limitations and inabilities. There were even thoughts of giving up music until one of Kentucky’s greatest sons came home to retire and took the young Kenny under his wing. He credits the wealth of talent in the area for his versatility and skills. His music education came from playing with greats like Billy Vaughn, Bob Flowers, Doc Livingston, and Sam Bush. “Looking back, I was untrained in my rock band experience. I didn’t truly feel I was a musician until I got with Billy Vaughn. Now I can sit in in any environment and hold my own.”

Kenny discovered in playing Big Band and Dixieland with the Billy Vaughn Band how easy it is to get over the differences in music. “You’ll find most forms come from within a short radius around here” he maintains. Not just bluegrass and Jazz. “Dixieland is where blues came from with the piano and horns. It’s where Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters got their blues licks.” In addition to honing his style, Kenny learned the theory behind the practice. Billy Vaughn and Doc Livingston educated him concerning why certain styles focus on certain chords and other music theory. He also worked extensively for the first time with sheet music and charts.

Kenny started on bass with the Billy Vaughn Band and then moved to guitar, playing regularly at the Parakeet. Soon he and the drummer, Jeff Jones, decided they wanted to play out more than the rest of the band and formed a new trio that could be booked in more venues for less money. After adding Byron House on bass, the Ken Smith Band was born. Then one night Kenny was out playing piano and a girl from the audience stood up and sang Summertime. It was the best he had ever heard anyone perform the song. The next week she showed up with a friend and the two sang it in harmony and sounded even better. He invited them to sit in at the next Ken Smith Band gig at the General Store after which Jonell Mosser and Jane Pearl were added to the lineup indefinitely.

When the end of the General Store came Kenny had an offer to run a club adjacent to Mariahs. So the Ken Smith Band moved over to Picasso’s for their regular gigs. To round out the top notch entertainment Kenny drew from his talented friends. In the 70’s Sam Bush had experienced similar frustrations with the Bluegrass Alliance. “He had a vision nobody else had and wanted to expand” says Kenny. He called Kenny to offer a bass player position in a new band, but according to Kenny, he thought that a new player he had seen might be more what Bush was looking for and suggested John Cowan, stating if it didn’t work out to call him back. It did. But like so many groups that are on the cutting edge, Newgrass Revival was hard pressed for bookings in the early days. Picasso’s became the place for groups like that to play. Kenny also played piano for their album Barren County. “New Grass Revival, Kentucky Headhunters, Foster and Lloyd, all local boys that went on to international fame. Bela Fleck did his first solo show there. It was called Bela Fleck and Banjo Jazz. This was before the Flecktones. Chris Hillman and Desert Rose did their first show at Picasso’s. and Jerry Jeff Walker played at Picasso’s.”

A poll in Guitar magazine rated Picasso’s the #1 nightclub nationwide in secondary markets, beating much better known clubs like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Picassos was also rated the #1 club in Kentucky by the Courier Journal.

Ken Smith was given his signature Budweiser guitar and enjoyed sitting in with many groups. During the early eighties while New Grass Revival was reforming he also began playing with Duckbutter made up of Sam Bush, John Cowan, Byron House and Jeff Jones. Duckbutter also frequently included the keyboards of Al Cooper (Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan) and later Reese Wynan (Stevie Ray Vaughn). The popular group still plays today as schedules allow.

Picasso’s enjoyed success throughout the 80’s but as the decade came to a close many of the inner circle had moved on and Kenny began working with and booking strangers. It suddenly seemed more like a “day job”. The powers that be also made club ownership difficult in those days, enticing Ken Smith to become more and more political, even running for several offices. Indeed, throughout much of the 80’s and 90’s theories of a conspiracy to stifle live music was easy to believe in Bowling Green. When asked why he has not recently pursued political office, he explained that “whoever was responsible must be gone, it’s not like that anymore.” He suggests that a rebirth of the music scene was underway.

After closing Picasso’s Ken went on the road with Big Al and the Heavyweights. Ken fronted the band and Big Al was the drummer and band leader. The other players changed, with the most notable being Michael Gough on bass and William House on harmonica. As with his other bands their repertoire included both covers and Ken Smith originals.

Soon Kenny decided to go off on his own. He discovered that there were several Ken Smiths in the blues genre and it was causing confusion among the venue owners, despite the fact he was distinguished as the one with the Bud guitar. He started booking himself as Kenny Lee Smith, a reference to Alvin Lee comparisons he had heard while playing “I’m Going Home”. Soon the Smith was dropped completely. The BBQ Blues Band was created to back him. Long time friend Rico Thomas played bass throughout the 90’s and drummers seemed to come and go. The longest stints were filled by Mitchell Plumlee and Kevin Lovelace.

During the mid 90’s the album Blues Party was recorded and released featuring Kenny Lee (guitar, Hammond B-3, vocals), Joe Dile (bass), William House (harmonica) and Al Lauro (drums) at Barrick Studios. The cover featured Kenny Lee with his newly acquired Coors Light guitars and on the back the artist in a Coors Light car. His sponsorship was now expanded to include various promotional materials such as posters, table tents and other merchandising. Kenny also struck a deal to have his CD released in Germany, a venture that proved more lucrative than other distribution avenues he had previously used.

The Kenny Lee persona really came into its own during this time. Kenny, who had always possessed a bit of showmanship pulled out all the stops to make the Kenny Lee experience interactive. Music purists may laugh when Kenny Lee begins roaming through the audience with his wireless guitar boasting “I can play a guitar with anything”, but when he works the crowd they are laughing with him! Audiences loved it, and all the tables would be full of women rummaging through their purses for objects to meet the challenge. “People pay me to have fun with them.” Kenny says of live performances.

In 1995 it was apparent that Kenny Lee had mastered the art of marketing music, so I considered him an obvious consultant for a business plan for a local booking agency. I explained the plan and described the creation of a newsletter to publicize the acts and venues included in the service. He listened without comment and when I finished said “I really don’t think the booking agency will fly in this town, but your newsletter is not a bad idea.” He proceeded to describe in detail the various entertainment magazines he ran across on tour and what made the best ones the best. Three sentences into his analysis and the booking agency was never thought of again, for it was clear my future was being outlined before me. The business plan was drafted that night and two months later the first issue of The Amplifier hit the streets. The mission as well as the formula for accomplishing it, outlined that afternoon by Kenny Lee, remains the same after nearly a decade.

Not surprisingly, Kenny Lee is one of the most referenced artists over the years, particularly as a consultant in “do it yourself”/music business type articles covering topics such as overseas album releases, creating promotional materials and internet marketing. He also gets an email when I offend an inordinate amount of readers!

In the latter part of the 90’s during the short lived existence of the Picasso’s II nightclub on the square, Kenny Lee was credited as a contributor of the paper. He at that time published an enewsletter called “ENews 4 U” to promote the club as well as the music scene in general. Each issue began “A compilation of gossip, rumor, and opinion presented here for entertainment value only. None of this may be true.” So much of the information was chosen for “BG Beats” (now referred to as “Spotlights”) that the entire newsletter began to be reprinted as a column.

Kenny continued to tour within a 1000 miles radius of Bowling Green, hitting larger clubs from here to Branson. According to Rico Thomas, during the late 90’s their touring schedule included about 200 shows a year. Mitchell Plumlee describes his experience with the band as “The best musical education I ever got.” Stating that “[Kenny Lee] Taught me more about drumming than any drummer.” Plumlee goes on to describe the artist saying “When he got on stage it was balls to the walls and he didn’t let up until it was over. The more professional someone is the easier they are to play with and Kenny is as professional as it gets. He hits one chord and you know what the groove is.” Plumlee further likens “that Kenny Lee boogie” to the sound of BB King, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards, “…wide heavy metal sound contained in the blues in a tasteful way. Not lots of notes but every note is important. Selective power chords with smooth control.”

In 2001 Kenny Lee wrote the music for Stan McKinny’s lyrics in Too Long Forgotten. The song was part of Kentucky’s Civil War monument in Vicksburg Mississippi’s Civil War Park and he preformed it at the dedication as well as created a CD for a fundraiser. His involvement earned him the designation of Kentucky Colonel.

By the time the century rolled over, Kenny Lee decided he was ready for a change. He decided to leave the road and focus his attention on local solo performances and going digital. He joined MP3.com from the get go, topping the blues chart for as long as he was posted. He also immediately began climbing the charts at AMP3.com. Before it was over he had made the top for the sites not only in the blues genre, but rock and jazz and had music included in six other genres (Swing/Big Band, Symphonic, Experimental Classical, Game Soundtracks and Spiritual Easy Listening).

Today Kenny Lee feels empowered by the latest programs like Melodyne which allow precise mastering of recorded material without sounding artificial. “You can edit and keep it real for the first time ever.” When Blues Party was recorded he intended it to be the heaviest blues album ever, but was never satisfied, feeling it lacked the “big” sound of a production like an Aerosmith album. However after recently remastering the songs he has captured the sound he always intended, saying “I’m mastering things that sound bigger than commercial recordings”.

The advance comes at a time when his faith has also been renewed in internet distribution. Compensation for internet downloads had been minimal and the future seemed bleak as more people were turned on to illegal file sharing. But in 2003 a new format called Weed (weedshare.com) was introduced and Kenny jumped in on the ground floor, becoming the first blues artist to adopt it.

Kenny’s commitment to the Weed format is based in his belief that it is “The only format that gives everyone incentive to distribute legally.” He is taking his time perfecting his music before “weedifying” it because “once it is there it is out there forever.” “It’s viral so the goal is to get spread out over time.” The distribution process works in much the same way multilevel marketing businesses do and utilizing players and peer to peer file sharing avenues that are already popular. Basically, Microsoft Media files are created and are “weedified” by embedding code that not only attaches copyright information but enables the file to be played three times after which a message pops up prompting the listener to download the Weed software and license the song for future play. To listen again the music must be purchased at a rate set by the rights holder. 50% of the price paid through PayPal goes directly to the artist. 15% is claimed by Weed and the remaining percent is divided between the last 3 people to share the file. So if you spend 99 cents to purchase Kenny Lee’s Big Fat Girlfriend and you post it to your website or make it available through Kazaa or other file sharing programs you will earn money if someone chooses to listen to it a fourth time. Once purchased files may also be altered to other formats, such as burned to CD as audio files. Bands can market their music on their own websites or by giving away free discs with Weed files to purchase and share. Kenny currently holds the position of #44 on Weed’s top 100 downloads of all time.

He has also begun working with other artists again. In February 2000 he told the Amplifier “In the past technology was expensive and the cost of creating professional audio and video and then distributing it, was enormous. But in the future the key will be working with talented people, not capital. And that has always been what I have enjoyed.” Since that time he has produced/engineered Brennan Graves’ first album as well as a demo for Kurtis Matthew, Rick Starts and Dennis Atkins. He has begun projects with several other area artists as well, including Hillbilly Jim, Todd Caudill, Jason Gregory and Kyle Daniel. His services include development and the projects are carefully planned over time, with Kenny Lee often cowriting material. His studio is not available by the hour but is dedicated to hand picked artists who he believes in.

He is also in the process of remastering older recordings, including several bootleg tapes of Duckbutter. He would like to remaster some of the other great bands from Picasso’s such as Government Cheese, who he feels were never adequately captured in their recordings, but could be today.

When he’s not tweaking music on the computer Kenny Lee still plays solo gigs three nights regularly including the piano show at State Street Wednesdays and more country oriented shows at The Deuce Fridays and Saturdays. He also books a duo which features various guests, most often Hillbilly Jim. The two will be featured on Fountain Square for Concerts in the Park on July 9. Hillbilly also often accompanies the latest incarnate of Kenny Lee and the BBQ Blues Band which this summer will include Jeff Jones and Todd Coop. Duckbutter still books from time to time and Kenny also arranges special shows on occasion such as with Jonell Mosser last year at The Brewing Company. He sometimes serves as a fill in player for Skip Bond and the Fugitives, having been called to perform lead vocals, guitar, keyboard and bass for the group.