Guitarist, son dead in murder-suicide
Cordray’s family, fans mourn loss of mentor, friend
Beloved Houston blues guitarist Kenny Cordray and his son died over the weekend in a murder-suicide at their Harris County home.
The 62-year-old local legend, who co-wrote ZZ Top’s “Francine” was found shot to death Sunday afternoon, and even as police struggle to figure out what happened, the local music community is pouring out its grief.
“Being around Kenny Cordray was like being around the biggest superstar, the biggest music icon but with no ego and the most humble guy you’ve ever met,” said fellow guitarist Tim Salter. “He never met a stranger.”
The weekend tragedy unfolded just before 5 p.m. when a neighbor in the small town of Nassau Bay called police after hearing a burst of gunfire. When officers entered the living room of a home in the 18300 block of Carriage Lane, they found two bodies with apparent gunshot wounds.
The victims were later identified as Cordray and his son, 33-year-old Kelly, authorities confirmed.
Officials questioned the musician’s wife — who was at home at the time of the shooting — in the search for a motive.
It was not clear who fired the fatal shots, police said Monday.
“We’re still determining that,” Nassau Bay police spokesman Glenn Sharp said. “It’s an open investigation, so it’s kind of hard to tell right now.”
Cordray’s daughter, Julia Cruse, issued an online statement about the fam-
ily’s loss.
“Something terrible happened today. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I know it cost me a brother and a father,” she wrote. “I’m grateful that I didn’t see this coming. I’m grateful that I hugged them both today.”
In the post, she described her brother as “troubled” and her father as “wellloved.”
Musical mainstay
Cordray launched his musical career in the 1960s and established himself as a staple in the Bayou City music scene. After building a name as the lead guitarist of the rock group The Children, he stuck around when the band got signed to ATCO Records, according to his website bio page.
He later set out on a solo career and struck it big when he co-wrote “Francine,” one of ZZ Top’s hits.
In 2012, he put out an album with Love Street, titled “It Takes Everything,” a labor of love more than three years in the making.
After adopting the lifestyle of a hard-partying musician early in his career, Cordray sobered up in his 30s, becoming a stalwart member of the local recovery community.
“If you went to his shows, it’d be half AA people,” Cruse told the Chronicle on Monday. “They were very loyal to him, and he was an amazing storyteller.”
Just before his death, he celebrated 12,000 days of sobriety.
As news of his death spread through the Southeast Texas music scene, rockers, fans and other musicians took to the internet to share their grief.
“I just lost a man who was like a brother to me, Mr. Kenny Cordray. He was a very special person, husband, father, grandfather and the best damn guitar player in my universe,” wrote recording engineer Andrew Bradley. “He also made himself available to help other people in their times of trouble as an advisor and mentor. We have lost one very wonderful person and his son.”
‘Loved his family’
Cruse described her father as someone who “really loved music and loved his family.”
Although they’d had their differences in the past, Cordray and his son apparently had mended fences and grown close.
“They were always together; my brother was always in the studio with him, always helping him,” Cruse said. “They really loved each other.”
In his final weeks, Cordray had headed back to the studio to work on a personal project, Cruse said.
He documented the music-making online with a string of photos, but his last Facebook post was a link to a story titled “Charles Bukowski’s Top 10 Tips For Living a Kick-Ass Life.”
It includes kernels of wisdom about love, confidence, pain — and passing.
“There’s nothing to mourn about death any more than there is to mourn about the growing of a flower,” reads one quote.