Roots Cafe - Billy Kemp and Geoffrey Himes

Recording of their performance on 7/20/21

The Roots Cafe Singer-Songwriter Series presents
“The Billy Kemp-Geoffrey Himes Songbook: Two Songwriters Discuss and play their Collaborations”    

Billy Kemp & Geoffrey Himes  celebrate their 38 years of collaboration
by performing selections from the nearly 100 songs they’ve written together
in the first Roots Café show in 16 months.

Billy Kemp was born and raised in Baltimore, where he led the area’s best country-rock band of the ‘70s and ‘80s (the Paradise Pickers) and its best rock'n'roll band of the ‘80s and ‘90s (the Paradise Rockers). The singer-guitarist has played with Tommy Conwell at the Meadowlands, with Jeanne Pruett at the Grand Ole Opry and with Tommy Overstreet in Europe. He produced albums for Edge City and Linda Nelson and composed music for “Bo and Mo: A Rockabilly Musical,” Maryland Public Television and the American Visionary Art Museum. For most of this century, he has been writing, recording and touring North America and Europe as half of the Appalachian folk duo Jeni & Billy. He has relaunched his solo career with his first solo album in 12 years: “Another Life,” a celebration of his roots in Maryland, followed by an anthology of unreleased vintage tracks, “The Painter's Bucket” and the 2020 album “The Craig Demos.” Each of these albums features co-writes with Geoffrey Himes, who will join Kemp for this show. www.billykemp.com

Geoffrey Himes - Though he is best known as a music critic for the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Baltimore City Paper, Nashville Scene, Jazz Times, No Depression, Paste and many more, Himes is also a longtime singer-songwriter who has co-written songs with Si Kahn, Fred Koller, Walter Egan, Sonia Rutstein, Billy Kemp, Stephen Wade, Jim Patton, Tony Denikos, Alan MacEwan, Ed Pettersen, Andrew Grimm, Bob Kannenberg and others. This month Himes will premiere a new song: “The Real Deal.” 

Streaming cost is $12
Donations are welcomed.