The No-Mads

The No-Mads are guitarist Ned Boynton, organist / accordionist / pianist Robert Kennedy, and often their musical guests. In 2015, Robert got the call to play organ on one of Ned’s gigs, and the two quickly discovered a shared taste for TV themes, rock anthems, hot-club tunes, Italian folk music, popular music of Europe and the Americas, novelty songs, and jazz standards.

For several years Ned and Robert freelanced on guitar and organ in each other’s groups and occasionally crossed paths as hired guns in other bands. Adding to his focus on piano and organ performance, Robert got serious about accordion in 2018, joining the nascent Mission Hot Club, where Ned occasionally subbed on guitar. An accordion / guitar collaboration was natural for Ned thanks to his long history with accordionists in Los Pinkys, Surfer Roma, and The Caffè Trieste Family Band, so the composite sound of accordion and guitar easily became the foundation of The No-Mads. Robert and Ned worked regularly together as an accordion / guitar team during 2019 and early 2020, and then…

The COVID-19 pandemic gave the duo time to hunker down and dig deep into their repertoire, growing musical rapport and creating unique arrangements that have become No-Mads hallmarks. Steady gigs in San Francisco and beyond led the duo to record their album Cocktails for the Brokenhearted in 2025, featuring a mix of organ-guitar-drums and accordion-guitar-percussion material. The No-Mads’ core repertoire remains a vast collection of jazz tunes and whimsical, guilty-pleasure pop material whose hipness flies just below the radar.