BIO
Hailing from Sydney Australia, Ivor Simpson Kennedy is one of a new generation of exciting young blues talents to emerge from Down Under. Owning a dark, smoke-filled voice and liquid smooth guitar stylings, he utilises these inherit skills to give his compositions a striking originality, paying homage to generations past while bringing a remarkably fresh approach to the table. Ivor also performs all the instruments on his releases, lending his sound a uniquely personal touch. A deliciously deep groove runs through his barebones approach, with strains of reggae, soul, and rock vying for their moment in a bevy of blues.
Picking up drums and guitar in his teens, Ivor immediately gravitated toward songwriting, with a love of blues and rock'n'roll being imbued from a young age via his parents record collection. After forming a blues trio - Mad Dog - in his late teens, Ivor started performing around Sydney's Northern Beaches, cutting his teeth on the classic blues song book. After Mad Dog disbanded, Ivor went onto to play guitar for a number of Northern Beaches roots acts, while refining his chops to include the gamut of southern stylings. 2015 saw Ivor put down the electric for an acoustic, as he buried himself in the styles of the pre and post war blues masters, leading to two critically acclaimed releases, the 2016 EP Delta Pines, and the 2017 LP Montserrat. Both broke into the top 3 of the Australian Blues and Roots Charts, and the Top 5 of the North American Roots Report Charts, receiving glowing reviews from leading publications such as No Depression and American Blues Scene. A ten-year career in Australia saw Ivor perform with and support artists such as Diesel, Rick Price, Fiona Boyes, Ray Beadle, Truckstop Honeymoon and Warren 'Pig' Morgan among a litany of others, while also being fortunate enough to perform at the Rising Tide Festival, Sydney Blues Festival, Thredbo Blues Festival and venues such as The Basement, Lizottes, The Vanguard, The Brass Monkey, Brighton Up Bar, Old Manly Boatshed and the Spotted Mallard, to name a few.
Having performed from Fiji to London Ivor crossed the pond to the spiritual homeland of his music, New Orleans, and is bringing his unmistakable brand of song writing and guitar playing to fresh sets of ears and eyes. Upon arriving Ivor commenced a three-year weekly residency at the venerable Chickie Wah Wah, marinating in the city’s vibrant musical culture. An annual performer at the New Orleans and Samantha Fish Cigar Box Guitar Festivals, he has also had the honor of appearing at the much-vaunted Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, amongst continuing summer tours of Canada. Regular gigs in some the Crescent City’s most revered rooms, along with the opportunity to support a wide spectrum of artists such as Jon Cleary, Alvin Youngblood Heart, Jason Ricci, Smoky Greenwell, John Fohl, Meschiya Lake, Tom McDermott, Johnny Sansone and Ian Moore has found Ivor accrue a new legion of listeners in the Big Easy. Tours through the heartland of the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast - including stints at the legendary Ground Zero Blues Club - have firmly entrenched him in the culture of deep south blues.
2022 saw Ivor release his first new music since 2017, in the form of the fifteen track album Mississippi Bound. The song “Sweet ‘n’ Low” - lead single off the new album - was picked up for rotation by BB King’s Bluesville on Sirius/XM whilst garnering international coverage and radioplay with the album following suit; Mississippi Bound spent 6 months on the Australian Blues and Roots Charts, spending three months in the top 10 and peaking at #2, while it also reached #8 on Collectif des Radios Blues, the French Blues Charts. It also had the honor of debuting at #1 and #2 on the Roots Music Report's Australian Album Chart and Acoustic Blues Chart respectively while meeting with critical acclaim worldwide from publications including the legendary Goldmine Mag and France's Blues and Co magazine, in which Ivor was also a featured artist. The release of Mississippi Bound was followed by Ivor first shows back in Australia since the pandemic, in which he embarked upon a successful two month national tour before returning to New Orleans in January in time for the New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival. Possessing a maturity in song and skill far beyond his years, Ivor is poised to make a huge splash. Whether transporting his listeners to a heaving juke joint, a candlelit club, or a dusty Caribbean seaside shack, Ivor has the ability to draw audiences of all generations into his music – and keep them there.