Kindred the Family Soul give annual free Reunion at Kingsessing Park

Kindred the Family Soul is hosting its annual free Kindred the Family Reunion, on Sunday at Kingsessing Park, with Shanachie labelmates Teedra Moses and Jeff Bradshaw, local rapper Chill Moody, Little League sensation Mo'ne Davis, and more. Fatin Dantzler - the husband in Philly's preeminent R&B marital pair, with fellow singer, songwriter, and producer Aja Graydon - talks about being musical and being married.

"It's funny, but there are a lot of people, men and women, who might not have gotten us at the start," Dantzler says. "They weren't married, in love, with kids, responsible. Then they get where we are. They move into relationships and marriage, become parents, take on civic duties. That's when we get them, the new fans. They find our catalog. People will always fall in love, become community-involved. People like that, they catch on to us every day."

Graydon and Dantzler have been making frank and funky married-people music since 2003's Surrender to Love. They have six children, all of whom appear with them in a new Walmart commercial. Kindred is a family with soul.

Twelve years since its debut, a decade since In This Life Together, Dantzler ponders Kindred's beginnings. "We had no idea what was to come," he says. "Just that those first albums would be pivotal for us - and we're thankful that people responded to those records. We're still trying to build on the foundations of those albums."

Kindred's career has built slowly and respectably, with solid hits, anthemic, jazzy soul songs such as "Far Away," "Stars," and "House of Love," touched by romance, honesty, and human goodness. Dantzler says that, while the band has never had huge sales, "we never hit some plateau and fallen off either. We hit many other high marks that we'd like to hit. But we're cool with how this has all grown. We're able to be in our community and not feel like we can't go anywhere without security. It's a cool vibe. We're your friendly neighborhood celebrities."

Kindred is part of Philly's musical community, coming up with The Roots, Bilal, Jaguar Wright, and the Black Lily jam sessions. The duo have watched this city's musical fortunes rise and fall and rise. Dantzler sees the current scene as more disjointed than it was in, say, 1999.

"Back then, the studio was the hub of any scene, be it Sigma Sound, Larry Gold's place, Jazzy Jeff's A Touch of Jazz," he says. "Most kids in music don't have that anymore, but there's still that same energy - to do something great. Meek Mill is grinding it out. The energy, that scene - it's just more dispersed."

Dantzler and Graydon's children appear on Kindred's recent album, A Couple Friends. They sing on the track "Mama Said Clean Up," a song that will be a springboard for a new book series for kids. They will certainly have their parents' support if they choose to head into music. "They have their little bands," Dantzler says, "doing their thing." Such support is what Kindred does; it's the theme of A Couple Friends.

Graydon jokes in a note that "this is the first time we've been able to write and record an album when I haven't been expecting a baby or just had one." They came to A Couple Friends as, well, a couple of friends and lovers doing what they do best. "We're still singing, still reflecting. There's still good times and hard times and better times. That's how it's always going to be."