Here is the video for Without Us, the new single from folk duo The Kennedys. Through the song, singer-songwriters Pete Kennedy and Maura Kennedy explore the impact that humans have on the world around us, the only planet we’ve got, and ask the question of whether that natural world would be better off without us. It’s a thought-provoking concept.
Maura explains the story behind Without Us: “I wrote ‘Without Us’ one late afternoon on a hill looking out over the Hudson River. It’s a beautiful view, and I often think what it must have looked like before humans came along to change the landscape. Our species can be reckless and take nature for granted, but it’s the only world we have, and it should be treasured. I imagined that if, at some time in the future, we go extinct, the planet will very readily reclaim itself, and nature quickly erase all evidence that we were here. Nature doesn’t need us, and might even do better without us. That’s the thought that inspired this song, and we recorded it using mostly acoustic instruments: banjo, mandolin, and harmonica, to keep it close to nature.”
Fittingly, the accompanying video features the duo in some breathtaking, beautiful natural locations, alongside ruins and other evidence of human influence. Light fluttering mandolin, bright banjo and rhythmic harmonica fill out the sound, elevated by sweet notes of pedal steel. Meanwhile, Maura’s voice follows an easy, engaging melody.
Pete and Maura Kennedy have been writing, recording and performing as a duo for more than 30 years. As well as two dozen records, there have been some interesting side projects along the way, including working as folk DJs, hosting The Dharma Café on Sirius/XM radio. When they met, Pete was a member of Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra, and Maura joined too. Their work with Griffith included the GRAMMY-winning Other Voices, Other Rooms album and tour and producing her final album, Intersections. They continued to tour with her right up to Griffith’s last show in 2013.
Without Us will appear on the pair’s upcoming album Smoketree, which is due for release on 21st August 2026. Pete and Maura played and sang all of the songs on the album, producing and engineering them all in their own studio in the Hudson Valley. They say: “We like to take our time and let the music grow naturally. We used a lot of rootsy, mostly acoustic instruments on this one: 5-string banjo, mandolin, and harmonica, as well as pedal steel, Rickenbacker 12-string, and a twangy Telecaster. After three decades, we’re proud to still be growing creatively.”
Exclusive Q&A with Maura Kennedy of The Kennedys about the song and video:
What is the story behind this song? How did it come together? What is it about? What inspired you to write it?
I meditate every morning, and when the weather is nice, you’ll find me on the back porch, looking out over the Hudson River. It couldn’t get more peaceful than that. After one meditation, I felt especially close to nature, and I thought, The planet would do much better without human interference. I recall reading a book some years back called The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, and I, too, contemplated how quickly and efficiently the planet would recover from the virus of mankind once we were gone. I know it sounds cynical, but, from nature’s perspective, it’s a positive concept! I always have a notebook with me, and so I wrote the whole song right then and there on the porch.
If listeners can take away one thing from having heard this song, what do you hope that it is?
I hope the song would cause listeners to consider the harm that human beings do to the planet, and inspire them to change something – even one thing – to help stop or reverse the damage.
How does this song fit in among the others on the album? How is it similar or different?
Even though this song is a little dark, it’s meant to be encouraging, like many of the songs on this album. In this case, encouraging us to be more ecologically responsible. When we write a song like this, we’re very careful to not be preachy about our message. Here, I paint a picture in the hope that the listener actually does imagine a world without us. The quieter message in the song is that humanity seems to be heading in that direction.
What is your favourite thing about this song – a music interlude, lyric phrase, the vibe – what do you like best about it?
I love Pete’s pedal steel solo; it’s such a classic country solo, and it gives me the chills every time. I also love my harmonica fills; I finally figured out how to bend notes on the harmonica, and now you can’t stop me!
Speaking of vibe, what kind of feel were you going for on this one? Did it change a lot in the studio, or did the song turn out to be exactly like you imagined it would?
We were definitely going for a laid-back, country/folk vibe. That softens the message and makes it more digestible, if that makes sense. We knew exactly what we were going for in the studio, and it turned out just as we imagined it would.
Tell us about the video. Whose idea was the video treatment, who directed it, where did you film it, etc.? How does the video add to the message of the song?
I knew that I wanted to shoot in beautiful, natural surroundings, and contrast that with locations shot in ruins. We’d hiked at the Cornish Estate Trail in New York, and I knew that would be the perfect location for the “marching through the ruins” scenes. But we shot the first bits while we were still on our southern tour. We played a concert in Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, FL, and the beauty of the place took my breath away – that’s the very first scene in the video. We came back the next day to shoot, and then the following day we went to the neighboring park, Silver Springs State Park, to get some shots we were missing. That was down in Florida. There are a few other shots from the southern tour, including bits shot at Green Cay Nature Center (Boynton Beach, FL) and in Nassau, Bahamas. When we got home from the southern tour, we packed up the banjo, mandolin, and pedal steel and headed up to Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland County, NY. We’d hiked there before, and we knew the perfect place to shoot where we could show a much wider shot of the landscape. We got our ruins shots after that at the Cornish Estate Ruins in Cold Spring, NY. I just set up a tripod in a few places and let it roll as we explored the grounds. A final few scenes were shot at our home in Tarrytown, NY. I think the contrast between the park scenes and the ruins and junkyard scenes illustrates the vast difference between natural beauty and the stamp of mankind.
What’s coming up next for you?
We’re really looking forward to hitting the road after putting this album together. We love the energy of playing for an audience. Being in the studio is such a focused, cut-off-from-the-world experience, and that’s great. We can be as creative as we want to be and try out different sounds and arrangements. But playing our songs in front of a good listening crowd is one of the greatest joys of our lives, and we’ve already got a pretty full CD release tour shaping up.
