Piece Description

Kenny Neal still has some of his boyish charm at age 50, but the last few years have not been child's play for this Baton Rouge blues artist. The Neal family is a large family full of musicians. Kenny has become the best-known among them, but most of the family has some connection to music. In less than a year between the spring seasons of 2004 and 2005, Kenny Neal and his family were rocked by losses and tragedies in rapid succession. A brother, drummer Ronnie Neal, died young in April 2004, and the family patriarch, hamonica player Raful Neal, died of cancer at the end of that summer. Kenny Neal's drummer and close friend Kennard Johnson also died around that time, and in March 2005, sister Jackie Neal, a singer in the process of restarting her career, was murdered at age 37. Kenny has now released his first album since these losses, a reflection called "Let Life Flow." We review this album and hear a bit from Raful and Jackie Neal as well in this feature.