Although it’s questionable at times, it appears that I am slowly emerging from my three years of “twin mom fog”. As I emerge, I feel like I need to solidify, and express, some musical thoughts that I have had floating around in my head for those few years.
So here we go:
I really, really, really like Mo Kenney.
Mo Kenney grew up in the Fall River/Wellington area literally just down the road from another one of my favorite local musicians, Adam Baldwin. While I am not from there, I have spent a large amount of time in those communities, and have a group of friends from there as well. Similar to my “friend” who used to babysit Baldwin, I have a “friend” who remembers going into the Dollar Store when Mo was working. It was one of the old stores that was jammed full of stuff and had a strict rule about NO backpacks. The owner used to glare at me when I walked into the store like I was going to steal some of the stale candy. My friend doesn’t seem to recall Mo caring too much about her theft potential. Little did we all know, Mo Kenney was too busy creating masterpieces in her mind.
When I listened to Mo Kenney for the first time, I felt like I was 17 again. I couldn’t help but compare her to Liz Phair, an indie, feminist, sexualized rocker, who I was listening to when I was 17. Kenney appeared out of the blue like Phair’s younger, more chilled out sister, who was WAY less boy crazy and whose voice had that much more magic and clarity. I felt that same sense of gratitude and appreciation as they both made me want to shout, “YES! THANK YOU!”
Mo Kenney, and Liz Phair, put “us”, a feminine whole, out there un-apologetically. With the social construction of gender roles (thankfully) being challenged on a daily basis, these two set a prime example of how to define femininity in their own way, and in their own terms.
They are also not afraid to drop the occasional f-bomb or explicit lyric.
In true Canadian fashion, however, when Mo Kenney performs live, she always warns people about the explicit lyrics before they get played. Like this one.
In a span of just a couple years, Fall River/Wellington (and now Dartmouth) raised Bruce Springsteen AND Liz Phair wearing lobster bibs. Well done, village!!
