The O'Kanes

The O'Kanes consisted of singer-songwriters Jamie O'Hara and Kieran Kane. Kane was born October 7, 1949, in Queens, New York, and began performing at the age of nine. He then moved to Los Angeles, California, to begin working professionally in the music industry.[1] After this, he was persuaded by country singer Deborah Allen to move to Nashville, Tennessee.[2] By 1980, he had signed to Elektra Records as a solo artist, where he recorded one album and charted eight singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.[3] O'Hara (August 8, 1950-January 7, 2021) was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, and initially sought to play American football until an injury forced him to pursue a musical career as well.[4] He supported himself by performing at various nightclubs throughout the Midwestern United States until also moving to Nashville by the end of the 1970s.[5]

The two songwriters met for the first time when both had publishing contracts with Tree International Publishing in Nashville. At the time, O'Hara had success with the songs "Older Women" and "Wandering Eyes", both recorded by Ronnie McDowell,[5] as well as "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)" by The Judds.[2] Inspired by the success of these songs, O'Hara chose to write with Kane after the two met each other and realized they worked for the same company. One of their collaborations, "Bluegrass Blues", was recorded by both the Judds and Southern Pacific. The two of them then decided to record demos of their collaborative songs. Initially, they did not intend to become an official performing act, but ultimately chose to do so after both of them reacted favorably to the sound of their recordings.[2]