Kenn Harris grew up in New York in the 50's and 60's and soaked it all up! ... "In 1961, at age 11, I taught myself how to play some chords, and then learned finger-style technique with classical lessons at around age 14, and finally learned how to find music within the chords by the time I was 30, and taking jazz ballad lessons in New Mexico."

At at age 34, Harris began composing his first album The Year of the Tiger which was released on cassette (remember those?) in 1986 in an edition of #100 and given to friends as presents…comment from Kenn: “if super RN, Kim Z. had not said "where's my tape, I want my tape" over and over and over again, to such an extent that I HAD to reprint #100 of them, in the late 90's and had I not received such wonderful comments from my friends, I am uncertain if the rest of this story would have unfolded as it did...Thanks Kim…”

Recorded by Joe Corrao/Nestone Studio in Phoenix, on 4 track tape large format/edits literally cut and pasted to edit and set the tone for all subsequent albums. Guitar revolutionary at time Eloustic by Precision Guitar Ron Carriveau custom made and further adapted for me… The Master TAPE was rescued from a box/and luckily the tape did not shred, then digitized by Moon Valley about 20 years later, and thene Refurbished and with custom made drawing and fabrication, given to me as a present as a single CD with one copy and a DAT that my son Jacob worked on with Odie (Otis Francis) of Abcat Studio to remaster, then it sat in another box for another decade and just was just recently released on YouTube free and Apple/Spotify etc) That it exists is somehow miraculous… My first Album!

Fast forward almost 15 years to the release of Songs from the Hacienda, in 2000, in an edition of # #1000 which received critical acclaim, (see review excerpts below) earning him an appearance on T.V. Channel 3's Good Morning Arizona. What took him so long to come up with his second album? When asked, at that time, he noted, "Well ... I've been a musician my whole life ... and a doctor for about half ... but I never stopped playing the guitar ... and I'm actually starting to get good at it." Sure enough, the Neurologist who attended the original Woodstock, has gotten good at it, and has been compared to: Adrian Legg, Ottmar Liebert, Leo Kotke, Earl Klugh, and Michael Hedges. Kenn had met Johnny Smith, Jazz Legend at a workshop in Tucson in the late 70s, and sent him a CD & a thank you note for being one of his guitar heroes, and Johnny called him afterwards… see reviews below…. (another edition of #500 was made…)

On Amadeo, released in an edition of #1000 CDs all of the interludes and the Amadeo Suite, (tracks 7,8,9 ...Ah Recuerdos, Antara, Amadeo, were performed on his 1959 classical guitar, ‘La Panteria’ (‘the little songbird’) that had been handmade by Titi Amadeo, a Spanish guitar maker, in New York City, who Kenn met once near the end of the luthiers life. It has the finest woods that are now up to 180 years old… Kenn notes that “the tones and overtones of this instrument are beyond holy… “ and that “Amadeo in Spanish could be translated as Love of/for G-d. The album celebrates that spirit and the Luthiers who have kept his vintage guitars in shape to play. Another of Kenn’s guitar heroes, Andres Segovia was the first to play this instrument. Other selections were performed on Kenn's other vintage acoustic guitars including his 1956 Martin 00-17 that he bought at age 14, with rolls of quarters from his paper route, from Noah Wolfe’s Guitar Shop on 48th Street, across from Mannys, his 1973 Martin D-28, that he found in there mid 90s at Arizona Music, in Glendale, and his 1966 Gibson L-50 carved archtop, that he found in a pawn shop in Prescott in 1983.

The September Anthem, was recorded the day after 9/11/2001 utilizing multiple tracks and instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars (1986 Fender Strat, and a Marshall Half-Stack,) midi-keys, as well as percussion. Collaborative additions of bass, and tambourine, by Arizona rockers, Odie, and Tina of The Tina Bailey Band, and an Arizona summer storm, recorded by his daughter Anna, and Kenn's soulful, solo acoustic rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, completed his first multi-tracking effort. (This 'soundtrack' was aired with a video montage, at the end of each segment of, the PHX local affiliate CBS TV NEWS on KPHO Channel 5, as a September 11th Memorial, in 2003 & 2004). Initially added as the last track of Amadeo, a CDr... "The Star-Spangled Banner/September Anthem" on www.cdbaby.com/kennharris3 as a hand lmade CDr, handmade, signed 'folkart' collectors item. In 2006 it was ma lq1available for digital distribution thru cdbaby/itunes etc.

Kenn produced, The Amada Project (2004) a Breast Cancer Benefit Album for the Susan G. Komen organization, thanks to Joyce & Christi, & 50 sponsors, musician, friends.! The CD, was available thru the Race for the Cure Committee OCT. 2004... and included a live performance of a song Kenn wrote called ‘Gonna Run’ at the end of the race, on a stage hosted by channel 12 TV, and included “the Gov” Janet Napolitano, on sports whistle and tambourine. Kenn notes that the production of this album “changed my life…”and that Joyce was a profoundly positive life force and many others who sang backup tracks have passed on… from their recurrences and are of blessed memory.”

Giving Back: 10% of all proceeds goes to philanthropic organizations that try to repair the world( such as the West Side Food Bank in the Phoenix area)... Kenn has also performed as a guest artist at benefits with The Rockin' Docs...for a Woman’s Shelter, and a friend with cancer, and has contributed to a benefit album for the 'Y- Me' breast cancer support group. Kenn performed at the Susan G. Komen Foundation "Lighting the Way for a Cure" benefit dinner, on Thurs. Sept. 25th in downtown Phoenix, in celebration of Survivors of Breast Cancer, and his original composition Sarrah Mahove, was played during the candle lighting ceremony. A related local affiliate NBC TV News story on KPNX, Channel 12, aired on Sept. 12th. and in the mid 2000s at a few benefits for the homeless.

Otis Francis at ABCAT Recording Studio. (602) 377-0379)( Odie has Recorded and Mixed and mastered ~ most of my Albums (x Initial Year of the Tiger) Songs from the Hacienda & Amadeo & Star Spangled Banner/September Anthem & and The Amada Project and along with remastered The Year of the Tiger. (along with my son Jacob Harris

“ Odie is a close friend and the reason, my music can get out of my head/hands and into reality!,,, We recorded and mastered my first full Singer/Songwriter album Desert Stories from July thru its release in November 2022, Clarence the Dog and further projects in developement