Songs of hope

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This article was published 22/01/2021 (1738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In tough times, music can be a beacon in the darkness.

“I’d love to bring some hope and joy to people’s hearts, and what better time,” said Larry Kunkel, a lifelong musician from Transcona. 

On Feb. 2, Kunkel’s latest record Lost & Found will be available on streaming platforms worldwide. The record was recorded at DACAPO Studios with producer Nolan Balzer over the last four years. However, Kunkel’s been working on the songs since his last record, Good News, was released in 2000.

“I did this slowly, wrote a few more songs, wrote a few more songs,” said Kunkel, who runs the Rust Check and Madison Car Wash in St. James with his three sons. “I’ve been working on the songs, what instrumentation we’d use. I’m not a full-time musician, so I would book the time I could.”

While Lost & Found is a Christian record, the production, which features industry heavy-hitters like Murray Pulver, would not be out of place on country radio.

“When you have Murray Pulver on your stuff, that’s Nashville quality,” Kunkel said.

Inspired by storytellers like Gordon Lightfoot and the “peaceful, easy feeling” of the Eagles, Kunkel’s songs combine a lifetime of musical experience with his passion for sharing the gospel.

“I’m a Christian man, and that kind of took over my heart,” said Kunkel, who started playing professionally in dance bands around Transcona with his father, uncle, and brother when he was a teenager. “What I’ve been writing over the last 25 years has been really focused towards that.”

As a young man, Kunkel fell in with the D-Drifters, recording the Southbound album in 1979 and touring with the band for a couple years before the members all went their separate ways. At that time, Kunkel settled down and started a family. But he never stopped playing music.

“One day, I said, Lord, this life is short. What do you want me to do?” Kunkel recalled. “For me, I wanted to sing something with an everlasting nature.”

After putting out his first solo record, Good News, 20 years ago, Kunkel again chose to focus his energies at home rather than take his act back out onto the road.

“I played a lot locally, smaller venues and keeping it more local. I played a little into the States and the provinces beside us,” the 59-year-old said. “But for me, number one is God, number two is family, number three maybe myself and my own ambitions.”

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With the release of Lost & Found coming in the middle of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba, live performances of the new material aren’t on the radar for Kunkel.

“With COVID, we’ll probably try to do some live streaming,” Kunkel said. “It is what it is. In our environment, we have to be thankful for what we can do.”

But for Kunkel, the message in his music is paramount. Anything else is a bonus.

“I’m not in it for the money,” he said. “My goal is not to take, but to give. It’s beautiful music, I think people can appreciate it just for the music. But the message behind is what could change a life.”

For more information, visit www.larrykunkel.com

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. The author of Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock (1990-2001), his writing has appeared in journals and online platforms across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. A husband and father of two young children, Sheldon enjoys playing guitar and rec hockey when he can find the time. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca Call him at 204-697-7112

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