Okay Kenedi broke the rules to make music in the secular world

Credit: Photo by Lilly Martin

Credit: Photo by Lilly Martin

The product of a staunchly conservative Christian upbringing, Kenedi is on an auditory journey into her own dark night of the soul as she contemplates a secular world that she found to be at once alien and captivating.

“My dad was and still is a pastor,” the singer-songwriter says of her strict Church of God childhood. Kenedi found her family life stifling, but her mother became her window into the wider world of music.

“She’s a big Elvis fan and a big ‘80s rock ‘n’ roll fan. So when dad would leave to go work at the church, sometimes we’d get to sneak some of [his music] in the kitchen while she cooked. I remember thinking, ‘Music can be fun — why can’t it be like that always?’”

Born Kenedi Griffis in 1996 in Mobile, Alabama, she began an early regimen of formal piano lessons even as her musical exposure was largely limited to contemporary Christian pop and traditional worship music.

“I didn’t grow up with music like normal people do,” she explains. “I’m still trying to play catch-up. I think I’ve gotten better with that in the last year while working on the record and am able to finally make adult decisions.”

The record in question is 2023′s “A Casual Introduction Is Hard to Come By.” At first glance, the album is consistent with the emergent trend of female singer-songwriters embracing an introspective blend of 1990s grunge/alternative intimacy and rootsy folk typified by Julien Baker, boygenius and the like.

That connection to contemporary trends belies the deeper world of ideas explored on the album. “I grew up in the shadow of a boy who did not exist,” she croons on “Fathers Want Sons,” a song that delves into her own sense of alienation from her father. “I’m just now coming to terms with the fact that God likes girls,” she admits later in the track. It’s a bleak, melancholy opener that shines a light on Kenedi’s conflicted feelings about family, faith and the world at large.

The musical and lyricism of “A Casual Introduction Is Hard to Come By” draws on the sheltered world of Kenedi’s early existence. Her family moved frequently before finally settling in Georgia. She eventually wearied of the piano and began teaching herself guitar with the help of YouTube videos.

Her musical horizons expanded further after high school when she joined a music-oriented young adults ministry. There she met bassist Micayla Wise and drummer Sarah Dickerson. “We had a similar upbringing except they were allowed to listen to secular music so they knew a lot more pop culture references than me,” she explains.

It was not long before the trio began exploring writing and performing original music. Wise encouraged Kenedi’s songwriting, and a self-examination reconstruction of her Christian faith became a central focus.

“I still believe in God, but I don’t I believe in him the way that I did,” she admits. “Now I’m in the process of reconstructing what I believe in. It’s been a long, hard, kind of painful road but it’s been well worth it.”

Concurrent to that exploration of belief were themes of discovering oneself outside of a strict upbringing. “It’s like deconstructing yourself. I had to go down to the baseline and restart not just my faith but myself. I was trained and raised and bred for church. What am I left with? Who is Kenedi when she’s not put in a church and told to do something?”

Armed with her newfound backing band, Kenedi began performing at Atlanta venues in 2019. She enjoyed performing, but tangible success in the music industry remained elusive. “We had no traction,” she recalls. “I decided I needed to be an adult and start making money.”

Credit: Photo by Mikayla Wise

Credit: Photo by Mikayla Wise

One night in 2021, Kenedi arrived at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta for what she planned to be her final show. The venue’s booking agent had asked her to headline, which she and her band had never done. ”We just said yes because it was going to be our last hurrah anyway.”

She remembers that they played their set with passion and wild abandon, assuming that they would never have the opportunity again. Much to their surprise, producer Dan Hannon, whose credits included Julien Baker, Manchester Orchestra and Paris Jackson, was at the venue that night and approached them.

“He was super persistent for about three months,” Kenedi recalls of Hannon’s encouragement to keep playing. “If it hadn’t been for that persistence, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

Hannon eventually convinced Kenedi to work with him on a few songs. The collaboration proved so fruitful that what had been conceived of as no more than three singles quickly blossomed into an album project, which was recorded at Ivy Manor in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “A Casual Introduction Is Hard to Come By” was the result.

With the album’s warm reception, Kenedi is already preparing a follow-up. “I’m coming into my own skin,” she says of the next album’s evolving concept. “I have a good grasp on how I want my sound to mature.”

She points to an emphasis on songs that can be performed either with a band or in a solo environment. She has yet to decide on the material, but it’s likely the songs will continue to shine a warm, comforting light into the murky shadows of Kenedi’s ongoing personal journey.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Okay Kenedi, opening for Leah Marlene

7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Eddie’s Attic. $15. 515-B North McDonough St., Decatur. eddiesattic.com

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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