Biography
Kenny Sears serves as fiddler and vocalist in the Time Jumpers, the Nashville-based Western swing ensemble. Earlier in his career he performed alongside country figures such as Faron Young, Mel Tillis, Dottie West, and Jeannie Seely. Born in Texas, he spent his childhood on an Oklahoma ranch devoted to cattle and cotton. Exposure to an uncle’s fiddle playing at age four sparked his own ambition to master the instrument. By the time he reached seven, earnings from cotton picking allowed him to purchase his first fiddle. While still in fourth grade he performed classical violin with the Austin College Symphony, an experience that later secured a college scholarship. He studied music at North Texas State University and subsequently became a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Professional engagements began well before his university years. At eleven he joined the staff band of the Big “D” Jamboree, where weekly visits by Grand Ole Opry artists gave him regular opportunities to accompany them. When the Jamboree closed at the end of the 1960s, he accepted an invitation to play in the group led by Billy Gray, Hank Thompson’s former bandleader. Following Gray’s death early in the next decade, Sears moved to a position with Leon Rausch. Even while fulfilling his symphony duties, he frequently transitioned directly from classical programs to swing performances at Duey Groom’s Ballroom in Dallas.
In the mid-1970s he relocated to Nashville and spent roughly twelve months with Faron Young. A meeting with Mel Tillis in 1977 initiated a twelve-year professional relationship. After the first six-year stretch with Tillis, Sears took an interlude in Galveston, Texas, where he worked with Ray Price before returning to Tillis’s organization as bandleader, fiddler, occasional bus driver, and road manager. During those tours he met Dawn, whom he married in 1987; the couple’s daughter is Tess. Dawn Sears also performs with the Time Jumpers.
Professional engagements began well before his university years. At eleven he joined the staff band of the Big “D” Jamboree, where weekly visits by Grand Ole Opry artists gave him regular opportunities to accompany them. When the Jamboree closed at the end of the 1960s, he accepted an invitation to play in the group led by Billy Gray, Hank Thompson’s former bandleader. Following Gray’s death early in the next decade, Sears moved to a position with Leon Rausch. Even while fulfilling his symphony duties, he frequently transitioned directly from classical programs to swing performances at Duey Groom’s Ballroom in Dallas.
In the mid-1970s he relocated to Nashville and spent roughly twelve months with Faron Young. A meeting with Mel Tillis in 1977 initiated a twelve-year professional relationship. After the first six-year stretch with Tillis, Sears took an interlude in Galveston, Texas, where he worked with Ray Price before returning to Tillis’s organization as bandleader, fiddler, occasional bus driver, and road manager. During those tours he met Dawn, whom he married in 1987; the couple’s daughter is Tess. Dawn Sears also performs with the Time Jumpers.
Albums