Feature Article August 12, 2004
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Randy Kay: paying his respects to Mr. Cashby Jeff Green
Randy Kay is a Johnny Cash fan. He always has been. He got his love of Johnny Cash from his parents, Anne and Bernard or Lefty as he was known, who turned Randy and his seven brothers and sisters onto Johnny Cash when we were just itty bitty kids! Randy wrote in liner notes for his new CD Full Circle.
As a performer Randy has always preformed Johnny Cash material along with his own songs. He had toyed around with the idea of recording his favourite Johnny Cash songs a few years ago, but that went on hold when his physical resemblance to Johnny Cash and his ability to sing in the Cash style led to his being hired to join a Tribute band to a group called the Highwaymen, a legendary foursome from the 1980s that included Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.
After several successful appearances, the Tribute band collapsed when the people behind it began demanding exclusive contracts from the musicians, and a few short months ago Randy Kay approached Keith Glass, a founding member of Prairie Oyster and a co-owner of Audio Valley Recording Studio in Perth.
Keith Glass agreed to co-produce the recording, even though he is generally nervous about Tribute artists because, as he says, Ive met too many imitators in my day.
After hearing Randy sing, Glass, his fears allayed, was convinced the project would be worthwhile, because it was not going to be an attempt to copy the originals, just pay respect to them.
Kay and Glass decided to put together a simple acoustic band and record the songs in much the same way Cash originally did, in one take live off the floor with no overdubs.
On the recording Randy provides the vocals and plays acoustic guitar, Michael Ball plays upright bass, Peter Bigras plays drums, and Keith Glass provides some harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, and plays electric guitar, the only non-acoustic instrument on the album, and in many of Cashs own original recordings from back in the 50s at Sun Studios.
For Randy Kay, who had never met either Bigras or Ball, playing with them was an unexpected pleasure. The recording was done over two nights back in May, and the CD is now ready for release a couple of months later.
Full Circle (mini-review)
Most of the 12 songs on the recording were written by Johnny Cash himself, including Long Black Veil, Cry Cry Cry, Folsom Prison Blues, and I Still Miss Someone. There are other songs that were associated with Cash, including Ring of Fire, by Cashs wife June Carter, and Will the Circle be Unbroken, a Carter family classic, Lorena by Joseph Webster, and the Carl Perkins standard, Blue Suede Shoes.
At first listen the similarity between Randy Kays voice to Johnny Cashs stands out, as does the clean, stripped down acoustic sound, but as the album progresses, Randy Kays own interpretations, and his ability to sustain notes more than Cash ever did, reveal Full Circle to be a Randy Kay album of Johnny Cash material rather than an imitation.
Keith Glass is to be commended, as is Randy Kay, for doing a recording of songs by such a powerful, unique voice, without descending to fawning imitation.
Full Circle is a satisfying recording.
Sometime this fall, Randy Kay is hoping to promote the album with a concert or two in the region.
Randy can be contacted at 613-279-1221
