Genre: All original, upbeat contemporary “rock” band with blue notes, uptown country-rock notes, jazzy guitar and drum solos, harmonica solos and tight vocal duets, all supported by a rhythm section running on maxi-groove.

Bio (written by Kurt Henry):

I’m Kurt Henry and bought my first guitar when I was 12 in 1962 from the Sears catalogue after playing the cello in school with the loving help of a flaxen-haired princess, Miss Whitney, my music teacher. I wrote my first song in 1965 and went on to study literature in college to inform my writing (I studied in forests, fields and in the civilized places where I could be equally alone). I only tell the history so you will understand I am not a nostalgia “act.” It’s not an act at all.
Five decades later I’m doing all the same things, but I’ve learned the value of revision and I do it with the sight of someone who has put some of the jig-saw puzzle pieces down in such a way that I can see a few of the patterns, as I think we all eventually do. I believe in what I do–I think it’s mature, intricate and beautiful–but I believe in the redemption of believing in others and what they do–I hope this saves me from my occasional boorishness and egotism. I celebrate the accidents that become songs when they happen to me and to others, but I mostly celebrate the good work that comes after.
Above all things (not people), I love the guitar. I love the familiarity of it: the body resting on my right leg, the feel of the neck and strings in my left hand, and especially the feel of the strings under my right hand. I have very little consciousness of how I pick the strings and so (pardon me here) it is a wonderful surprise when I see video of my right hand working a pick and fingerpicking, often at the same time. Nobody taught me that, and perhaps it is the one bit of mystery that is mine. I’m not mystical, though.

I love the people I play with–this is not some obligatory introduction–these folks are my team. And by playing I mean meeting up with them and eating dinner with them, as well as sweating side-by-side with them. What a joy to play in front of a rhythm section like veterans Albee Groth and recording star, Eric Parker! Cheryl adds the percussion sparkle that makes this section sizzle (great harmonica, too!). Lately we’ve been joined by Mark Dann, a formally educated musician/studio wizard who has also studied in the grey canyons of New York and the hungry streets of India. A team is like a tapestry: different threads, different colors.

A word about the music. It’s not pop music, but it came about in the era of pop music. You can dance to it if you wish–we enjoy seeing people enjoy themselves. You can listen to guitar solos, harmonica solos, drum solos, etc. These are appetizers for the ear. We offer songs for the mind: words that I hope you will want to hear again so that they will resonate along with the meanings you find in your own life. I want to play my songs for you, so that you can really hear them. That’s not as simple as it sounds: there are the obstacles of crowd noise, coffee machines and clatter of plates–the hustle of real (and good) life. But we are there somewhere waiting for you. We have something we would like to give you who are our guests. We are the parlour band. It’s a lucky accident.