Broken Hearts & Auto Parts

Kevn Kinney | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Evil Teen Records
• ASIN: B0000641CC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #242,745 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Broken Hearts And Auto Parts

2. Comin' Down This Way

3. Back Roads And Rainy Days

4. Yes That's Me

5. Time

6. Why Does It Feel So Hard To Say

7. Lightning Strikes Twice

8. Lights On

9. No Blues

10. A Good Country Mile

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music for crying and music for driving, November 23, 2002

By 

"smac29" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Broken Hearts & Auto Parts (Audio CD)

Kevn Kinney first made it with Southern punk/folk/metal/country band Drivin' n' Cryin' on college radio in the late '80s, finally going semi-big in 1991 with the MTV and rock radio success of Fly Me Courageous, the band's most polished (and most metal) album. But DnC had built a following on its first three records with a balance of distorted guitar rave-ups and gentle acoustic tunes. While the band floundered in the '90s, moving from label to label while trying to settle on an identity, Kinney found peace making records like 1990's folky MacDougal Blues, recorded with pal Peter Buck, and the bleak Down Out Law in 1994.

Two years after Kinney returned to the solo stage on the haunting The Flower And The Knife (with Govt. Mule's Warren Haynes playing the Pete Buck role, producing and providing guitar sounds Kinney could only dream of creating) he's released Broken Hearts and Auto Parts. Less dark than his last effort, the new record nonetheless opens with the melancholy title song - a bleak look back at a tough year that any American could relate to - that's reprised at the end with a touching story of paternal advice that helps explain the origin of the title.

The best song is the driving "Back Roads And Rainy Days," with a catchy chorus refrain any lonesome motorist can relate to: "Dialing down the radio/trying to find a song about you." The song's churning beat would make it perfect for any road jaunt, long or short.

Kinney's old band is rumored to be attempting a comeback, but in the meantime fans of his wistful tales of heartbreak and the beauty of simple living need look no further than his latest album. There may be no place for Kinney's music on MTV or rock radio these days, but in this reviewer's opinion, there's no greater endorsement than that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure, March 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Broken Hearts & Auto Parts (Audio CD)

I love this CD -- it hasn't left my CD wallet since I purchased it three months ago. You feel like you're in the same room while he's playing. Favorite cuts are "It's Comin' Down This Way," "Back Roads and Rainy Days," and "Lightning Strikes Twice," but every song is a winner. Believe me, once you give this one a listen, you'll be hunting high and low for the rest of his catalogue.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lo-Fi, Indie Kevn, June 22, 2005

By 

L. B. Wisner "waster of time" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Broken Hearts & Auto Parts (Audio CD)

With this 2002 release, Kevn forgoes his usual folksinger material for a solo release featuring an electric backing band (this time, as with 1990s "MacDougal Blues," it's the current line-up of his regular group drivin' n' cryin). Recorded in NYC, BHAAP reflects Kinney's friendship with Lenny Kaye and Tom Clark, dedicating itself from Kinney's opening deadpan line, "are you ready . . . to rock," to a Lo-Fi, ironic indie sound in which there are no guitar solos, minimal drum fills, and basic bass-playing.

Recording it all in less than a week, Kinney-at-forty reprises his Dictators-inspired teenage fascination with "cars and girls" on the title track, and gets help from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion on the pastoral dream of "A Good Country Mile." Along the way we're treated to upbeat country-rock ("Dialing Down the Radio") and punkish self-assertion ("Yes, That's Me"). Overall a good album with a consistent aesthetic and generally strong song-writing.