Kenmack Music

Songwriter · Huntsville, Alabama

Real People, Real Emotions

I’m Ken Mackenzie. I write songs about people and the moments that change them, in styles ranging from Americana and country to folk, rock, indie, and pop. My lyrics are open to artists, producers, co-writers, and collaborators.

Explore the songs For artists and publishers
Ken Mackenzie smiling, wearing a conference lanyard
Currently I’m developing the Born to Love universe, a narrative song series of seven songs paired with a six-episode limited series. Follow the progress

About

Inside the Human Condition

I came to songwriting after years of working in a hospital, where I was there for people having their best days and their worst. The work brought me close to people from every walk of life, from rocket scientists to people the world too often overlooks, and it put me inside some of the most extreme human conditions. Those years gave me a depth and range of emotional experience that colors everything I write.

I bring to my work a writer’s ear for language and my unique outlook as I write about what the human heart feels but seldom says. My vocal training shapes the writing as well, because it helps me choose words that sing as naturally as they read.

I am a member of NSAI and ASCAP, and I self-publish under Kenmack Music, LLC. I am active in my local music scene and in the SongTown online community, and I document my thoughts, progress, and process on the Kenmack Music Blog.

  • ASCAP Writer
  • NSAI Member
  • SongTown Member
  • Trained Vocalist
  • Writes Across Genres
  • Open to Co-Writes and Collaborations

Featured songs

Ready to Pitch

Each song is a finished lyric. Full lyric sheets and pitch packages are available to artists, producers, and publishers on request.

Modern Americana

Honeysuckle Breeze

This love story follows a couple from young love through a marriage under strain and then back to each other.

“Floating in through the screens bringing back the memories.
There’s something sweet and simple on that honeysuckle breeze.”
Read the storyRequest lyric sheetPitch inquiry
Classic Americana · Country

The Best Day

An unprepared father in the delivery room goes from witness to part of the moment that changes his life.

“Never have I seen such joy in my wife.
This is the best day of my life.”
Request lyric sheetPitch inquiry
Americana · Country

Good Morning Glory!

Her joy and gratitude for each new day inspire the outlook of the man who loves her.

“Good morning glory!
You’re the best part of the day.”
Request lyric sheetPitch inquiry
Satirical country

Nashville or Bust

A coal miner with big dreams and every songwriter cliché in the book heads for Music City.

“I got me a hit I know fo’ sho’.
It’s better than whatever’s on the radio.”
Request lyric sheetPitch inquiry

Lyrics © Charles K. Mackenzie / Kenmack Music, LLC. Please do not reproduce without permission.

In development

Born to Love

Born to Love is a narrative song series of seven songs, paired with a six-episode limited series. Its songs share a theme, characters, and motifs within one community, following a story that comes full circle.

Each song stands on its own, and together they tell a deeper story. Music and media companies interested in the project are invited to get in touch.

Inquire about Born to Love Follow the progress

From the series on the blog: Three Days in Mabry’s Classroom and Grace Note.

On Substack

Kenmack Music Blog

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Photos

On the Road and at the Desk

Ken smiling and holding a flame-top acoustic guitar in front of a wall of guitars
Buying my guitar at Harmony Sound
Ken with Clay Mills and Marty Dodson holding songwriting books
With Clay Mills and Marty Dodson in Nashville for the SongTown Anniversary
Ken with Timothy Turney, who wears a white cowboy hat
Timothy Turney
Ken with Ross Fiction, who wears a black ballcap and a guitar strap
Ross Fiction
Handwritten pencil draft of Honeysuckle Breeze on notebook paper
Handwritten draft of “Honeysuckle Breeze”
Blue morning glories open in early sunlight
Good Morning Glory!
New parents smiling at each other over their newborn in a hospital bed
“Her smiling eyes turn towards me to give a look I’ve never seen”
A young woman hands a worn book to a man at a desk in a 1977 school office as colleagues look on
“The school office was full of tears, and friends I’ve had for many years”
A smiling girl in a floral dress and purple backpack skips down the steps of a brick school
“Désirée skips into the light, a carefree child shining bright”
A woman sips tea from a jar in a misty garden at sunrise, with morning glories and a wren on a post
“In the garden with no shoes on drinking hot tea from a jar”
An older woman in a cardigan walks home down a tree-lined sidewalk carrying a bag of groceries
“There goes Ms. Mabry walking home, not far from where she lives alone”
A pot of African violets on a kitchen windowsill
“Violets above her kitchen sink”
An empty wooden porch swing at dusk with string lights in the trees
“I’m alone on the porch swing, my heart all asway”
A red vintage Impala parked in front of a Nashville storefront with guitars in the window
Uncle Buck’s Impala
Delilah Lied: a Marine Corps emblem, baby booties, a clock, broken glass and drops of blood on a wooden table
A child sits alone on a bench beneath a tree, with the words “The happy child is in me”
Black-and-white close-up of a young girl with windblown hair
The Fret Shop guitar store sign lit up at night
The Fret Shop
A brass band with sousaphone and saxophones plays in front of The Fret Shop porch at night
A band plays on a house porch under purple and pink lights for a large crowd
A band plays on a porch hung with string lights as the audience watches
A fiddler and a dobro player perform on a porch under string lights
A musician plays upright bass on a porch
Close-up of an acoustic guitar soundhole with an abalone rosette
Nikola Tesla plays a lightning-bolt electric guitar in his laboratory beside a crackling Tesla coil
Tesla and his electric guitar
A joke book titled How to Learn Guitar While You Put Off What You Should Be Doing, beside a guitar and picks

For industry

Publishing Information

Artists, producers, publishers, and music supervisors will find my publishing and registration details here.

Writer
Charles “Ken” Mackenzie (ASCAP)
Writer IPI
1314900387
Publisher
Kenmack Music, LLC (ASCAP), Huntsville, Alabama
Publisher IPI
1314900289
Download one-sheet (PDF)

Useful Links

Contact

Let’s Talk Songs

Pitch requests, co-write and collaboration inquiries, and lyric sheet requests get a prompt reply.

Send Me a Message

Your message comes straight to me, and your email address is used only to reply.

“like a songbird in the soft light when the wren is first to sing”