Hanging with Kenneth

Yesterday I met Sarah, Joe and Kenneth (Cope! still can't believe that Kenneth Cope was in Tassie!!!) at the Penny Royal to go for a walk to the Gorge. It was such a beautiful day - supposedly about 29 degrees. I told Kenneth that we always have weather like this in Tassie! :)

It was the perfect day for a walk to the Gorge, although Joe and I were wishing we had our bathers as we would've loved to have jumped in for a swim.

I was loving that Kenneth LOVES to take photos and wanted to stop and take pics of different things along the day - mostly photos of leaves or plants or peacocks. He is a man after my own heart :)


It was so nice to spend some casual time chatting with him and finding out more about his amazing life. I asked if it's hard traveling so much and he said it is and that he misses his family a lot. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for them to have him gone so often. He was telling me that his daughters are all good singers as well. I loved hearing about how he gets inspiration to write different songs. He said that he wrote one of my favourite songs of his 'More' in a hotel room, and had it for years before he recorded it for EFY.

The whole time we were chatting I kept thinking 'this is KENNETH COPE!!!'. I have loved his music for so long and it was just so hard to believe that the amazing voice I hear on my CDs, was the guy that we were spending two great days with him!


He was such a nice guy and never seems to get sick of us asking for photos, although I'm sure deep down he was probably thinking 'not another one!!'. :)

I was joking with him that I was one of his 'groupies' and I think he realised how much I really do love his music when I asked him to sign all of my CD covers - I had about 7 or 8 - some of them are about 13 years old or so.

Later that night I was excited to go back to Deloraine to hear him sing again at the seminary and institute graduation/fireside. Aaron, Danny, Jack and Hannah all graduated this year and we all celebrated with the yummiest cake ever!

Kenneth speaks so well and sang four beautiful songs. I could listen to him sing all day. He is amazing as to how he remembers people and names and genuinely cares for them. Throughout the song he would direct the song to certain people and even mention them by name during the song.

I went up to him when he was having a quiet moment packing up to say goodbye and to thank him for coming and spending time with the youth. He said that he wanted to tell me something that really touched him. He said that at the concert Aaron went up to him and said to him 'thank you for bringing the spirit into our home with your music' and he said that touched him more than anything else, that anyone had said to him while he was here. He said that a lot of guys come up and say 'thanks, that was great' etc. and it's not something he would usually expect a guy to say to him as they aren't good with expressing their feelings, so he realised how genuine he was when he said it, and it really meant a lot to him.

He also said that he hoped that some of the music he played while he was here helped me to feel like I could get some strength as he knew I had a lot going on at home with Noah. I told him there are many times when I listen to his music over and over again and it always makes me feel great. We were so lucky to have him come and visit and is something I never thought would happen in my lifetime!

I was sad saying goodbye to him as I know the chances of seeing him again is pretty slim, unless he moves to Tasmania. I did try to convince him it would be a good idea :)



I'm so glad we got the opportunity to meet him and hear his incredible music in person. This is a little bit of one of my favourite songs that he sings 'More' from the concert on Tuesday night.