A tall slender man in boots wearing a bell bottom suit a strange shade of tangerine took the mic and entertained the crowd with music you would swear was a ghost of something past. Hints of twang layered in from a telecaster and a few witty jokes furthered the atmosphere of a well-crafted country performance. These sights and sounds could have very well been played out at the Grand Ole Opry during the heydey of the 1960s, but it was in a parking lot behind a wall of beer kegs some 250 miles away from Nashville that this all played out.
This past Sunday, the warm weather allowed for an outside performance just beside the Druid City Brewing Company in Tuscaloosa. The Kernal and his band the New Strangers were on a string of shows and stopped to perform their southern mystique and retro country for the small crowd lucky enough to join them.
Hailing from Jackson, Tennessee,The Kernal is the stage name for Kernal Garner, or simply Kern to his friends. The Kernal is his own breed of country music that still is warmly familiar. Inspired by his late father who was also a country musician, The Kernal grew up surrounded by the greats that his father played with like Del Reeves, Sleepy LaBeef, and others that frequented the consecrated Grand Ole Opry.
“The music is all about realizing where you come from,” Garner said. “Honoring your past, but not romanticizing it too much.”
And he’s right.
The music of The Kernal is, on first take, without a doubt country, but ever so lightly. It’s no coincidence that his newest album released this month is named “Light Country.”
At Druid City, The Kernal played several of the songs from the new album. Slow gospel charts like “Where We’re Standing” and the rambling “At the Old Taco Bell” sound like they could probably find their way onto the soundtrack of a new Smokey and the Bandit remake – but in a good way.
The sophomore album is his first on Single Lock Records, a label started by John Paul White of The Civil Wars and Ben Tanner of The Alabama Shakes. The label has also signed notable artists as eclectic as St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Dylan LeBlanc and Belle Adair. Just a stone’s throw over the river from Muscle Shoals in Florence, Alabama, it was there that The Kernal cut the tracks for “Light Country” some two years ago, but the process led to the symbiotic relationship he now enjoys with all those Involved with Single Lock.
A few North Porters and wheat beers and the crowd were just as warm and happy as the sounds coming out of the amplifiers. Respecting sound ordinances, at 9 p.m. sharp the show wrapped up. The Kernal stuck around and changed out of his signature off-tangerine suit, met with fans, sold some merchandise and records, and enjoyed the fellowship of those at Druid City.
Like any other country musician, it was soon enough that the band’s van pulled away and headed towards the next gig: Nashville.
