The Time Jumpers aren’t making music for the fame and fortune that comes along with the territory—they are simply doing it because they love it.
Nashville’s most legendary musicians—”Ranger Doug” Green (vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar), Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Brad Albin (upright bass), Billy Thomas (drums, vocals), Kenny Sears (vocals, fiddle), Larry Franklin (fiddle), Andy Reiss (electric guitar), Jeff Taylor (accordion, piano), Joe Spivey (fiddle, vocals) and Vince Gill (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars) —make up the 10-piece band that can be found Monday nights at a downtown Nashville club, 3rd and Lindsley, putting on one of the hottest shows in town.
Today (Sept. 9) the western swing/traditional country band has released their third album, Kid Sister. The record contains 14 new and classic western swing and traditional country songs that pay tribute to a much-loved member of the band, the late Dawn Sears. Dawn— who passed away from cancer in 2014 – is the “Kid Sister” that inspired the title track, written by Vince Gill, and her final recordings can be heard on the new record.
Nash Country Daily was lucky enough to have four of the ten members— Vince Gill, Kenny Sears, Paul Franklin and Billy Thomas— in the NCD studios to talk about the new album, Kid Sister and what makes the Time Jumpers so special.
NCD: For those people that are not aware of the Time Jumpers, can one of you give us a little history on how they got started?
KENNY SEARS: The band actually started over at the Opry— in the dressing room from jam sessions. We found a little magic playing the ole western swing kind of music—It’s just happy music and fun, as well as challenging. We decided we should find a place to play. We started at the Station Inn in 1998. We outnumbered the audience at often times back then—but we were there for that. We were there for the fun of it and the music. All these years later, we’re still doing it for the fun of playing the music and some really nice things have happened along the way. It’s all been gravy and icing on the cake, however you want to say it. We’re still in it for the same reason, we’re still doing it for the fun of playing the music.
NCD: You forgot that part about you all being the finest musicians in Nashville.
VINCE GILL: It’s impolite to say that about yourself.
NCD: Ok, I said it for you. Kid Sister—the third Time Jumpers studio album— is a tribute to the late Dawn Sears, Kenny’s wife and valued member of the Time Jumpers, who passed away from cancer two years ago.
VINCE: Yeah, honestly it did not start out as a tribute record to Dawn—that’s just what life dealt unfortunately. We started the record with Dawn in tow and the first track we cut was “San Antonio Rose”—she was going to sing that song and all we had was a scratch vocal that she did, a tracking vocal, and never got around to getting back to it because of her illness. I thought ‘here’s a piece of Dawn that maybe we can find a way to use.’ Obviously we didn’t have the entire song done and I thought this might make a good duet. I said, “Kenny, what would you think about maybe doing this as a duet with Dawn and be one last kind of neat thing?” Because we didn’t really go back and have at this record again until after her passing. Things were different then. We didn’t have her great voice to lean on and sing the majority of the songs—which she deservedly should have and could have. We went on and made this record because we all felt like her spirit would say, ‘You all need to just go play, you’ve always played and I’m not going to be a part of it.’ Away we went, recorded some song, found some songs. The title of the album came from a song I wrote after her passing and that’s what she was to me, she sang on the road with me for over twenty years. She was like my kid sister that I never had. I had a big sister, but I never had a kid sister. That’s what the song wound up being called, was “Kid Sister”. I asked the guys, I said, ‘Would you mind if we recorded this song and put it on the record and call the record Kid Sister in honor of Dawn?” Of course everybody was in agreement.
NCD: What’s the significance of the album cover?
VINCE: The album cover is beautiful. It’s the farm that Amy [Grant] and I got married on. Jim McGuire [renowned Nashville photographer] and I went out there at sunrise one morning and took those pictures at dawn. That’s the point.
