REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin Goes Deep On Rock and Roll High School Podcast
(MUSES) In the latest episode of the Rock & Roll High School podcast, REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin joins 2x Grammy Award-winning producer and music executive Pete Ganbarg for a candid conversation about the band's 60th anniversary, the making of their landmark album Hi Infidelity, and the stories behind some of rock's most enduring hits.
On the 60th anniversary of REO Speedwagon: "I feel proud of and blessed by the fact that REO Speedwagon has become an American institution... they know that REO delivers. I'm really proud of the fact that if you come to a REO Speedwagon show, your expectations will be exceeded. That's always been my intention"
On the disputes with the original line up and gathering recently:
"I'm not sure exactly how things are going to shake out...We did prove that our history and all that we shared and the friendship between us kinda over-rided the issues that we've been having... it exceeded my expectations. We kind of fell into the roles that we all had back in the day and we didn't really get hung up on what's happened over the past couple of years, the problems that have arisen and everybody got along fine. I take that as a win."
On Dolly Parton covering "Time For Me To Fly:"
"I did another version... a piano oriented, a little down tempo so the melody and the lyric really comes out. We called Dolly to see if she wanted to make it into a duet. She said yes. I've got a version of "Time For Me To Fly" that is a duet with Dolly and me that we haven't released."
As the voice, songwriter, and driving force behind REO Speedwagon, Kevin Cronin helped shape the sound of American arena rock in the mid-late '70s through the late '80s. His soaring vocals and emotionally direct songwriting powered a string of radio staples including "Keep On Loving You", "Take It on the Run," "Can't Fight This Feeling," "Roll with the Changes," and "Time for Me to Fly."
REO Speedwagon's 1980 breakthrough album Hi Infidelity became one of the defining rock records of its era, spending 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Album Chart and turning the band into a staple of rock radio, huge venues all over the world, and MTV. Listen to the episode here
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