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Reed Kendall’s newest album under the name “Up the Chain” was touted by CBS Philly as having “shades of everything from Jack Johnson to Van Morrison in his chiming acoustic pop songs.” The lead singer, however, isn’t sure exactly how to describe it.
“We were just sitting here writing. I’m here with one of my friends and he’s helping me write a one-sheet,” Kendall, 26, said earlier this month. “I think it said something about ‘uplifting.’ That’s why I needed help, because I can’t write this stuff.”
Despite joking about his inability to verbalize his sound, the singer/songwriter has put together original tracks on Up the Chain’s first studio album, “Holy, Open, Drying Road.” The record features Kendall crooning on all the original songs he wrote or cowrote while also playing guitar.
“‘Up the Chain’ is kind of what the project is called,” Kendall, who lives at Seventh Street and Washington Avenue, said. “It’s me and a bunch of studio musicians. I tried to put a band together, but the band wasn’t the same group for two shows in a row for a year or even more.
“It started to be regular faces. This record solidified the five guys.”
The Feb. 17 album release show featured the core group of Up the Chain and Kendall, who does all the bookings and is planning a tour with the group in the coming months.
“We’re playing about 10 dates in April and we’re looking to do a 10-day tour at the end of May. Going south, but it’s not entirely booked so far,” Reed said.
Despite the fact that playing lead singer, writer and tour manager is “not easy,” Kendall is passionate about the music and feels the current release has legs enough to warrant all the time and energy.
“I’m just trying to get it out to as many people as possible at this point. I’m hoping to connect with people,” he said. “This album is still very new. I want to do a lot of touring on this before even thinking about the next record.”
Kendall, originally from Ardmore, began his “professional” career at age 13, when he won free studio time.
“I started playing even before high school. I was doing an open mike and I won a raffle when I was 13. I just went in there and played a song,” Kendall, who had written an original song for that session, said. “One of the songs [I recorded at 13] is the hidden track on the record [‘Holy, Open, Drying Road’]. I sound like a girl.
“It’s just a little ridiculous and I thought it would be goofy [to include]. The song is completely written by a little kid, you know? It’s about all my heroes. I’d try to speak the words, but I’d get too embarrassed.”
Kendall had been enthralled with music from a young age, as his family had made it a passion.
“My grandfather played music a little bit. He played a violin and the mandolin. I remember Michael Jackson, I started singing along to it,” he said. “Dave Matthews was what I first started playing guitar to and singing, and I had been wanting to write songs and play live.”
Kendall continued to practice music and when he graduated high school, he attended the University of Richmond for two years before deciding he wanted to pursue a professional music career full-time.
“I was playing colleges, traveling and playing student union centers and cafeterias,” Kendall said. “This was all really before I wanted to do music as a career. It was more just for fun.”
His hobby eventually evolved into a professional passion and he brought together Up the Chain in 2008. The moniker has alternately identified Kendall as a solo act, as well as a rotating cast of Philadelphia musicians who came together to play under that title. With the newest release, the frontman believes he has solidified the group members.
“[Up the Chain is] the name of a floor hockey team in high school. The name came from ‘Space Ghost.’ It’s a scene from an interview with Willie Nelson,” Kendall said.
The five members who performed on the new album have a tentative gig scheduled at Connie’s Ric Rac, 1132 S. Ninth St., July 8. Kendall, who has only lived in the area for a year, said his block has “a bunch of really cool people” and playing at local venues has been important for the musician. However, the new release has made him want to expand his reach.
“Well, we’ve played a lot in Philly and I feel like as part of the natural growth process, our next step is doing what we’ve done here elsewhere,” he said. SPR
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