Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Kennedy Reid of American Idol Season 22

Idol returned to ABC on Sunday, Feb. 18 with the coaching trio of Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan back intact.

Here’s more about Kennedy.

* This young woman from West Plains, Kentucky, is a mortician and country music artist.

* What’s makes her story truly unique is how the former led to more opportunities at the latter.

* Kennedy works as an embalmer for the owners of funeral homes in New Albany and Louisville, Ky., she explained to The News Enterprise last February.

* Twenty-two at the time, she’d been singing since she was young and performed at local jamborees.

* So when the owners of the funeral home opened a country music venue in West Point, Ky., they asked Kennedy to become their house singer. Check out her impressive cover of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” below.

* She also emcees the weekly Grand Ole County Music Show.

* And as a result, she’s wound up performing with the Nashville Imposters and opening for Gene Watson, who recorded a number of hit country songs in the 1970s.

* In the interview with The News Enterprise, Kennedy said she was also invited to tour with the Nashville Imposters, who do a George Jones / Johnny Cash tribute show.

* Kennedy hasn’t released original music yet and recently launched an Instagram account to help promote her Idol appearance.

* And to take the singing mortician twist a step farther, there’s a video on her Facebook page in which she’s wheeled into the country music show inside a coffin, then pops the lid open to begin the show with the Linda Ronstadt hit “That’ll Be the Day.”

Kennedy on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube