GORDON KENNEDY
He first entered the broader cultural spotlight as co-writer of the landmark
song Change the World when it was recorded by Eric Clapton. Written alongside Tommy Sims
and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the song became one of the defining adult contemporary recordings
of the 1990s and earned Kennedy the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1997.
Clapton’ s recording swept the major Grammy categories, winning Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, while the song itself became an international standard and one of the most enduring compositions of its era.
Yet Change the World was only one chapter in a remarkably diverse career. Kennedy later earned another Grammy through his work with Peter Frampton on the acclaimed instrumental album Fingerprints, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2007. Kennedy co-produced, composed, and performed on the project, helping Frampton craft a record that reminded the industry why Frampton remains one of rock’ s great guitar voices. Their collaboration evolved into a deep musical partnership, with Kennedy becoming Frampton’ s acoustic touring companion and musical foil on stages around the world.
Inside Nashville, Gordon Kennedy is revered as a“ musician’ s musician.” His guitar work and songwriting have appeared across an enormous range of recordings and performances involving artists including Garth Brooks, Ricky Skaggs, Bonnie Raitt, Reba McEntire, Wynonna Judd, and many others. He co-wrote much of Garth Brooks’ adventurous Chris Gaines project, a record that, in hindsight, anticipated the genre-fluid identities modern artists now embrace routinely. Kennedy is also deeply respected in Christian and roots music circles through projects associated with bands like White Heart and Dogs of Peace.
But to understand Gordon Kennedy fully, one must understand that music for him is also equal parts inheritance and legacy.
He is the son of the late Jerry Kennedy, one of the most consequential figures in Nashville recording history. The elder Kennedy was a guitarist, producer, label executive, and member of the Musicians Hall of Fame whose influence stretches across the DNA of American popular music. As a guitarist, Jerry played on an astonishing catalog of iconic recordings, including Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan, numerous hits by Tammy Wynette, recordings by Jerry Lee Lewis, and the famous“ growl” guitar riff heard on 1964’ s Oh,
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