The Grammy Award Winning Kendalls will headline the Llano Country Opry on Saturday, January 11, at the Lantex Theater in Llano, Texas. The show will begin at 2:30 p.m., and tickets are available at www.heartoftexascountry.com or by calling (325) 247-5354. Reserved VIP seating is $25 with general admission tickets at $15. The Kendalls will be doing a meet and greet with fans after their show.
Royce Kendall and his brother Floyce Kendall were raised in Missouri, with family roots in the Arkansas Ozarks. As young men, the brothers formed a duo and moved to California, where they recorded and performed on regional West Coast country television shows as The Austin Brothers. When they broke up, Royce and his wife Melba moved back to Missouri.
Royce and Melba Kendall's daughter Jeannie proved to be musically talented from an early age, and as a teenager, she became her father's duet partner. In 1969, when Jeannie was 15 years old, the Kendalls recorded an album for Stop Records, from which a single was released in 1970, a cover of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" The Kendalls' version narrowly missed the top 50 on the U.S. country chart.
On June 27, 1970, Jeannie provided vocals for the duet "I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way" on Ringo Starr's country album Beaucoups of Blues.
The duo signed with Dot Records in 1972, and released an album and two singles, "Two Divided By Love" and "Everything I Own", a cover of Bread's 1972 hit.
The Kendalls parted with Dot before signing with the independent Ovation label in 1977. Their first single for the label, a cover of the Kitty Wells hit "Making Believe," made the lower regions of the charts, but was largely overlooked because Emmylou Harris' version of "Making Believe" hit the U.S. country chart around the same time.
The Kendalls' second single on Ovation, a "cheating" song called "Heaven's Just a Sin Away", proved to be their breakthrough. The song topped the country charts, was a minor crossover pop hit, and won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal by a Duo or Group.
Subsequent hits included "Just Like Real People", "It Don't Feel Like Sinnin' to Me", "Sweet Desire", “Pittsburgh Stealers” "You'd Make an Angel Want to Cheat", and a cover of Dolly Parton's "Put It Off Until Tomorrow". In 1981, after Ovation Records closed their doors, the duo signed with Mercury Records, and continued to have hits with the "Teach Me To Cheat" and "If You're Waitin' On Me (You're Backin' Up)", which both made the country top 10. More hits followed with "Movin' Train" and "Precious Love", which made the top 20.
Their last number-one country hit, 1984's "Thank God for the Radio", was also their last single to reach the top 10. Their last top-20 hits came in 1984 and 1985 with "My Baby's Gone" and "I'll Dance Every Dance With You". In 1986, they signed with MCA Records, where they scored three midlevel hits. In 1987, they signed with Step One Records, where they scored several minor hits. In 1989, they signed with Epic Records, where their last chart single, "Blue, Blue Day", made the top 70.
In the early 1990s, the Kendalls built a supper club in Gulf Shores, Alabama, which featured nightly performances by them; the club closed down two years later. Afterward, they began performing in Branson, Missouri, where the two families had built homes next door to each other. The Kendalls continued to tour and perform and released several CDs, until May 22, 1998, when Royce Kendall died from a stroke while on tour in Marquette, Iowa.
Jeannie Kendall, one of the original founding members of the Kendalls continues to tour and sing today with Carl Acuff Jr. They appear monthly at the Nashville Roadhouse Live at The Branson Star Theater in Branson Missouri. Jeannie Kendall is currently signed with Leaping Hawk Records, in the Ozarks. Jeannie and Carl tour as The Kendalls performing past hits and new.
Other entertainers on the show will include Price Porter. Kaye Tolson, Bode Barker, Tom Tolson and Charlie Walton. Tracy Pitcox will MC the show.