Janelle Kendall is used to being on stage. Whether arguing a case in court or playing a gig with her band, this Stearns County attorney knows how to perform. In fact, she was playing in public as early as age 5, when she began plunking tunes on the piano in the local mall.
"That was when my parents said I would be musical," says Kendall. Her sons are musical too. "The older one would stand and direct songs on the radio when he was 2. And the younger one was playing drums on one of those kiddy drum sets when he was 5." Combine that with parents who have been making music together for 20 years-hubby plays bass-and you have River House, the family's Christian rock band.
Kendall may be the de facto head of the House, but she's all about group harmony. "I make all the suggestions [for new tunes], but there isn't anything we do just because Mom wants to," she says.
The family began playing gigs about a year ago at special events at its church, with Kendall on lead guitar and vocals, her husband laying down bass lines, their 15-year-old on keys and their 13-year-old on the skins. "It's certainly handy for scheduling rehearsals, having everybody in the house," says Kendall.
River House isn't Kendall's first band. She played in a country western band, BLT, when she was an assistant county attorney. Those very different lives occasionally intersected. "Every once in a while I would run into somebody who would say, 'You look familiar.'" Her response? "Yeah, you don't want to know."
So why didn't Kendall make a career out of music? "It was very time-consuming, between my day job and having children at that time, but it was fun while it lasted," she says. She had originally planned on using her musical experience to be an entertainment lawyer, but then she ended up clerking at the Minneapolis City Attorney's office. "And that got me off on a whole different path-I got hooked on the criminal stuff," she says.
And she's still hooked on music. And her family. The fact that she can combine the two has her over the moon. "Making music with my husband and kids," she says, "that simply can't be beat."
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