The Thin Man

The Thin Man
@ Quenchers, Chicago, December 22
by Andrew Clayman
Published in Chicago Innerview, December 2007



Appropriately enough, The Thin Man has slid through the cracks a bit over the past decade. It hasn’t been for a lack of ambition or critical approval—there’s been plenty. If anything, the band’s relative anonymity is just the natural byproduct of a unique, inebriated gypsy-folk sound that spits in the face of formalities. The Thin Man is led by, and ostensibly is Kennedy Greenrod, a transplanted Englishman and San Francisco scene alum who has somehow managed to capture the essence of Chicago better than most of his native contemporaries. Greenrod has released three Thin Man records since moving to Chicago in the late ‘90s, and a fourth is slated for next spring. His accordion heavy blend of folk-punk, slow-rock, country, and carnival music sometimes inhabits the same shadowy whiskey bars of bands like Morphine and American Music Club, but The Thin Man, as a band, is its own baby.