{"id":9360,"date":"2025-03-12T01:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T08:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/lenny-kaye\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T16:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T23:03:21","slug":"lenny-kaye","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/artistic-influences-mentors-supporters\/lenny-kaye\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenny Kaye"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Lenny<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lenny Kaye (1946 -)<\/strong> is best known as guitarist for Patti Smith<\/a>; he accompanied her at her first poetry reading in 1971 and has stuck with her ever since. However, during the 1980s, when Smith was semi-retired and raising her family in Michigan, in addition to fronting his own band, Kaye stepped in as guitarist for The Jim Carroll Band and continued to support and collaborate with Carroll later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaye was the best friend a guy could have and a reliable guitar player in a pinch for Carroll. Kaye came to the Jim Carroll Band in 1982, when he co-wrote and performed “Still Life”<\/a> with Carroll for the band’s second album, Dry Dreams<\/a><\/em>. Kaye became a regular member of the band on the third album, I Write Your Name<\/a><\/em> (1984), for which he also co-wrote the opening track, “Love Crimes”<\/a>. Following the demise of the Jim Carroll Band, the two continued to collaborate, writing songs for Blue Oyster Cult and Boz Scaggs, as well as collaborating on new songs for the Basketball Diaries<\/em> film soundtrack<\/a> . . . unfortunately, the new songs were not used for the soundtrack. Later, the two collaborated on “The Beast Within<\/a>” on Pools of Mercury<\/em>,<\/a> Audio Literature’s The Basketball Diaries<\/a>,<\/em> and “Woman” on Kerouac: Joy Kicks Darkness<\/a><\/em>. The two also performed together onstage frequently; check out the Performance Reviews<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An accomplished guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Lenny Kaye is perhaps best known for his work with Patti Smith<\/a> for . . . I’m thinking it’s in the 60+ years vicinity as of 2025, much of the time as lead guitarist for The Patti Smith Group. He also had his own band, the Lenny Kaye Connection, and has worked with Suzanne Vega and Kristin Hersh. On top of all that, he’s a terrific writer (check out all of his stuff on Amazon!<\/a>). He wrote the autobiography of Waylon Jennings<\/a> and wrote an amazing book on crooners<\/a>. Oh also, he taught an American Studies course at Rutgers University, and is a talented rock critic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lenny Kaye is at the top of my list of favorite Jim Carroll connections. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lenny Kaye (1946 -) is best known as guitarist for Patti Smith; he accompanied her at her first poetry reading in 1971 and has stuck with her ever since. However, during the 1980s, when Smith was semi-retired and raising her family in Michigan, in addition to fronting his own band, Kaye stepped in as guitarist … Continue reading Lenny Kaye<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9419,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[13],"class_list":["post-9360","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2qY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9376,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/artistic-influences-mentors-supporters\/patti-smith\/","url_meta":{"origin":9360,"position":0},"title":"Patti Smith","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim and Patti Carroll met Patti Smith in 1970 and they ended up living together for a while; Carroll moved in with Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe; Patti and Robert had been a couple until Mapplethorpe determined he was gay. Smith appears as \"Jenny Ann\" in \"Jenny Ann, Like a Cat,\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/jcps-215x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8855,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/spoken-word-lecture-recordings-by-jim-carroll\/basketball-diaries-audio-literature\/","url_meta":{"origin":9360,"position":1},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (Audio Literature)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Cover Art: The Basketball Diaries Audiobook The Basketball DiariesBy:\u00a0Jim CarrollRead by:\u00a0Jim CarrollPublished:\u00a01995Publisher:\u00a0Audio LiteratureFormat:\u00a0audio cassetteCover photo:\u00a0Michael ZagarisMusic by:\u00a0Lenny Kaye In this Audio Literature presentation, consisting of two audiotapes, Jim Carroll reads his cult classic book\u00a0The Basketball Diaries, which he wrote between the ages of 12 and 16, from 1962 to 1966.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art: The Basketball Diaries Audiobook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bdaudio.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5880,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-lenny-kaye-at-cornell-university-1997\/","url_meta":{"origin":9360,"position":2},"title":"Jim Carroll and Lenny Kaye Sound Off in Statler Show","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cornell University, 3 March 1997 Review by Jade Chang, Cornell Chronicle Musician and author Jim Carroll sings one of his self-penned rock songs, with accompaniment from guitarist Lenny Kaye, at Statler Auditorium on March 3. Jim Carroll performing at Cornell University -- Photo by Denise Weldon\/University Photography Author, poet, musician\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of Jim Carroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/chang.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5906,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-lenny-kaye-cornell-1997-cassie\/","url_meta":{"origin":9360,"position":3},"title":"Jim Carroll and Lenny Kaye","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cornell University, 3 March 1997Review by Cassie Carter My review of this performance covers more than the performance itself . . . I drove ten hours (from East Lansing, MI, to Ithaca, NY) to see Jim Carroll perform with Lenny Kaye at Cornell University; I did it partly because it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5878,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/tom-clark-benefit-at-brownies\/","url_meta":{"origin":9360,"position":4},"title":"Tom Clark Benefit at Brownies","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll at BrowniesTom Clark Benefit 12 April 1997, New York City Three Reviews Review by JDALYbabel-list (Patti Smith list-server) Well, the Tom Clark benefit at Brownies was really great. Brownies is a small club: there were 200 tickets sold. 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