Mt. Vernon, IA - Heart Consort Music received word today that James Kennedy's release "Tent Show" has been nominated for a Kweevak CD of the Year Award in the eighth annual presentation of these awards. You may vote for James Kennedy at: http://www.kweevak.com/files-features/cd-awards.php Your support would be appreciated. Voting takes place now through January 31, 2008, so vote today! And Tell all your friends too.... Thanks!

Recent accomplishments include features in Downbeat magazine, JazzReview, O'Place Jazz, featured artist at Great Music Sites.com for 2 months, inclusion for the 7th year in a row in the Grammy Awards entries, Artist of the Year 2003 Award from SheHeShe independent radio chart, and selection as a finalist in the international Sony Jazz Search. HCM’s release “Vagabond” won 2 Kweevak Awards in 2004, both a “Viewer’s Choice” and an “Editor’s Choice” award! ”Man Behind the Curtain” won both a Kweevak “Readers Survey” award and an "Editor's Choice" award in 2005. In 2006, "Patch Work" won both an "Editor's Choice" and a "Readers Survey" award from Kweevak. Clips from all of HCM's CDs can now be found at:
http://www.heartconsortmusic.com/songs.htm
and http://www.soundclick.com/heartconsortmusicbmi

"Tent Show" by James Kennedy features a "Big-Top" blend of Rock, Blues, World, Folk and more... featuring the usual troupe - James on guitars, Catherine on "fiddle", Matt on bass, Joe on drums, with an encore appearance by Allan on piano.
Hear it Now at: http://www.heartconsortmusic.com/tnt.htm

"Unknown" - The Newest CD from Heart Consort Music! Features James Kennedy on Guitars , Catherine Lawson on Violin, Matt Alles on Bass, and Joe Patterson on Drums, Introducing Dan Brawner on Hand Drums. Featuring an Encore performance on Piano by Allan Mallie. This CD includes Latin, Carribean, Middle-Eastern,Americana,Blues and Rock influences all in one uncommonly exciting blend. Explore the Unknown…

James Kennedy's first solo release Just Bein' Natural with Union Street Productions was a folk guitar/vocal album late in the 1970's. He toured in support of this album until he went to college. During his undergraduate work in music composition with internationally known composer Alf Houkum, he also studied jazz, world music, arranging, and more. Many of his big-band jazz compositions have been performed by several world-class bands. After his undergraduate training, Jim did graduate work at the University of Iowa with Dr. Richard Hervig and Dr. Tom Davis, among others. Kennedy's jazz and blues training were clearly evident on a recording he did for Matthias Winckelmann of Enja Records which was a very popular release in Europe for many years.

In 1986, Kennedy and Catherine Lawson founded recording label Heart Consort Music. In the intervening years, James has released 18 albums in a variety of styles, ranging from folk/acoustic to rock/fusion, jazz and world music, and more. These fourteen releases have received international radio airplay, distribution and exposure. James has written music for various independent film and video projects, and his music has been licensed by AEI, Bravo, Disney, The Discovery Channel, PBS, DMX, Playnetwork, and many others. He has performed at festivals all over the world including Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland; North Sea Jazz Festival, The Hague in The Netherlands; and the Euro-Disney Jazzfest in Paris, France. James Kennedy is an endorsed artist by the Guild Guitar Company and the Lakewood Guitar company.