Bob Kendall (1943-2023) was a country musician and equine physiatrist (nicknamed Horse Back Man) from the Cumbria area in north-west England, bordering Scotland. He passed at the age of 79 and was known through his region for his renditions of country and western music, performing at hundreds of pubs, village halls, and venues in his lifetime. Over in the Brough area across the pond he frequently played backup for friends and other musicians. His album liner has some notable words of gratitude:”Thanks to Tom Tyson, the Music Farm for production and to members of my band, David Midgley and Ken Bowman for backing music and vocals.” Cumberland and Westmoreland Herald had necessary information to his story blocked behind a paywall, which we used as an essential resource when researching this obscure recording. His website obituary is currently raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Bob was born to John and Margaret Kendall, one of four children, all boys (John, Albert, Arthur, & Bob). He was raised in the Dutton village in the United Kingdom, his mother passed away at a young age. His father raised the boys on his own, doing the task would have been impossible without help from the local Peel family, who are credited as living locally and stepping up generously in assisting with the 4 young boys. After his schooling Bob worked with a local craftsman named Joe Rudd, they produced wooden yard rakes the “traditional way”. He went onto work on the railways, before this making window frames, and is credited with “a critical eye for any [window frames] he thought had not been well put together”. Bob had two children with his first wife Pat, named John and Mark. He had a second wife, Margaret, and they had a daughter born named Bev in the early 80’s.
Bob is remembered fondly for the jokes he told and his ability to create humorous songs spur of the moment, often based on members of the crowds he was performed in front of. Word of mouth spread through the area of Bob’s performances, which led to him traveling through a large area to sing on stages, he ventured to Yorkshire, Lancashire and southern Scotland, never needing a booking agent, and at a point in time doing 30 show nights in a row. After marrying his second wife, Bob realized he had a dream to own racehorses that he quickly made reality. The Kendall family moved to Brough in 2000, where Bob discovered he had the ability to feel a horse’s spine and massage out of place nerves back where they should be. Eventually he began to service horses beyond his own, other folks racehorses, show jumpers, and trotters.
Bev, his last child, suffered a horse-riding accident that led to Bob producing a CD for the Injured Jockeys’ Fund, leading him to produce several other cds afterward. One of the horses he purchased in Ireland, named Abbenoir Black Abbot, beat a horse trained by Martin Pipe over the hurdles at Hexham. Bob healed Ballyflame, a horse he discovered in a field near Carlisle, from a failed racehorse into a grade A show jumper through his nerve massage techniques. Also owned by Bob was Lachain Lass, a real “tearaway” horse when Bob first purchased her. After almost a decade of training “Mel” as she is nicknamed, developed to become a grade A show jumper and has qualified for the Horse of the Year Show. Bev is alive and well today in Brough and his son John is doing well in Penrith. This album in uploaded natively below, and can be streamed ad-free on YouTube as well.