Kim Lenz

by Linda Seida
 
With a mom who rode in rodeo and a dad who was a fan of Wolfman Jack, rockabilly queen Kim Lenz learned about good music early on during her youth in southern California. She grew up listening to the recordings of such artists as Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson, Faron Young, and Johnny Horton. During her childhood she played the piano, and she started playing the guitar during her teen years. For a time when she lived in Los Angeles, her workplaces radio only picked up the music of the big band era, which led her to become acquainted with many of the old standards. At one time, Lenz majored in psychology while she attended the University of North Texas. Before she earned her degree, she hooked up with a few musicians who wanted to form a band. Lenz joined in, and the half a dozen singers and musicians called themselves Rocket, Rocket. Before a year had passed, however, the group disbanded. In 1994, she settled in Dallas, where two years later she pulled together a band of her own, the Jaguars. Lenzs backing band consists of Tom Umberger on lead guitar, Shawn Supra on bass fiddle, and Scotty Tecce on drums.
 
In 1996, Lenz and the Jaguars put out an EP on the label Wormtone, which is based in Colorado. The Dallas Observer named the rockabilly redhead Best Female Vocalist the following year. Hightones Larry Sloven heard the EP and was so taken by Lenzs sound that he offered a recording contract with Hightones subsidiary, HMG. The label issued the bands eponymous album in 1998. Of the recordings 14 tracks, Lenz penned more than half. Also featured on the album were covers of Ten Cats Down, originally recorded by the Miller Sisters, and The Swing, recorded previously by Johnny Carroll. The release featured Wally Hersom, the bassist for Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, in the producers chair in an effort to get that rockabilly sound just right. He collects vintage recording apparatus, and through that type of equipment he helped Lenz and her Jaguars achieve the desired sound. The following year, Lenz released The One And Only. Lenzs second release for Hightone, Up to my Old Trick Again, was released in 2005.