"I was raised on the road Staring down the line Got my education Reading those highway signs" "I Am No Drifter" - Kevin Welch 1986 Cross Keys Publishing Co., Inc., (CBS Music Group) ASCAP

by Tania McMasters

It's fairly safe to say that singer/ songwriter Kevin Welch has always been a bit of a rebel. A sentiment which might explain why his sound has been labeled everything from alternative country to good ol' American roots' music. His provocative writing style is richly flavored with common parables that deal with love, loss, family, faith, and hope. As a performer, Kevin Welch manages to mesmerize audiences with unrivaled talent and an irrefutable southern charm.

Welch began his professional music career as a successful staff songwriter for a major publishing house, a comfortable gig that he held for nearly 18-years, penning hits for some of Nashville's top country artists' including The Judds, Ricky Scaggs, Tisha Yearwood, Don Williams, Roger Miller, Waylon Jennings, Moe Bandy, Gary Morris and many Others. Welch, who doesn't fancy himself as being "much different," from any other professional songwriter admits that recording his own material is certainly more self-fulfilling, with the exception of a very special cut.

Originally signed by Warner Reprise, in 1990, his self-titled debut release, Kevin Welch, was quickly hailed as a breakthrough album among Nashville's elite. Music critics agreed that Welch's aching vocals and robust melodies were mature, well-crafted and full of promise.

The Gavin Report (a leading industry trade publication), dubbed Kevin Welch as "one of the best songwriters in America." People Magazine, lauded his "renegade style," in a positive picks&pans record review. "We owe an awful lot of thanks to Brother Steve (Earle), for kickin' down the doors around here with Guitar Town," Welch stated humbly.

Kevin's restless nature runs rampant in his first release. Stand-out cuts like "Some Kind Of Paradise," "True Love Never Dies," The Mother Road," and "Long Way Home," are representative of his allegorical approach to songwriting. "When someone is able to put on film or record -- a little bit of truth then people will respond to it. In art you realize you're not alone and the recognizable factor solicits an emotional response." Welch reflected. The album's final cut contains a delicate and simple music structure. "A Letter To Dustin," conjures up a unique lyrical spin on the emotional tug in the heart of a parent separated from a child.

Welch continued his sure-footed sense of musical direction with his second Warner Reprise release, Western Beat. The album, released in 1992, is full of distinctive metaphor and genuine integrity. It was co-produced by Welch and Dead Reckoning co-hort, Harry Stinson.

Welch succeeds at transporting the listener on a very distinct journey with Western Beat. This release is filled with a progressive melding of today's popular culture, the beat movement and reference to American tradition and history. Welch speaks in terms reminiscent of John Steinbeck's box-car hobos, Mark Twain's Mississippi steamboats and Woody Guthrie's positive interpretations of movement and freedom. These themes are witnessed in tracks like "Sam's Town," "The Restless Kind," "Same Old Rain," and "The Other Side." His rendition of John Hiatt's "Train to Birmingham," serves as icing on the cake.

In his latest record, Life Down Here On Earth, Kevin Welch ventures into new ground, by releasing the album on Dead Reckoning, a label that he co-founded with fellow music mavericks, Kieran Kane, Harry Stinson, Mike Henderson, and Tammy Rogers.

This album is considered by many to be his most expressive and auspicious release to date. Welch embraces a genuine confidence in who he is and it shows. "The Feast Of Bread And Water," offers a touching reflection of love on his terms "You're afraid of your own shadow/ And I won't let you walk in mine/ There's a light somewhere inside you/ But you will not let it shine…Love is something that you make/ Love is something that you give/ It ain't something that you take/ No that ain't no way to live."

"Life isn't particularly complicated," noted Welch. "Living is basically simple, and we tend to overcomplicate things. There is this bizarre geometry theory that deals with fractal patterns --light is reduced to a molecular level and each tiny little piece is exactly the same as the next, and so it is with most people…any tiny little story carries within it the biggest story that we can imagine," he matter-of-factly suggested.

His keen observations and prolific musings are an unmistakable Kevin Welch trademark. His songs are drenched in dramatic poetic gesture. On the influences that may have shaped his writing character, Welch discussed his life as a child on the road. "I have read like hell as far back as I can remember… My Father was an aircraft mechanic and we were always on the move. I seemed to be surrounded by all kinds of people from all sorts of different places. When I was about 3-years-old, my Mother tried to compile a list of all the towns where we had lived -she gave up after about thirty."

Life Down Here On Earth, is a canvas in which Welch tackles the World head on. In the tune, Kicking Back In Amsterdam, he asserts his defiant streak, with the lyric - "I do these things cause I know I can." The title track powerfully demonstrates his ability for complex structure. Welch, who is joined on piano by C.C. Winans, as well as the

Fairfield Four (one of the leading groups around), raises the roof declaring "I've killed a lot of time / that ain't my greatest sin / but I forgave myself / and I'm alive again."

As a writer, Kevin Welch pushes himself beyond the mediocre. These days he finds himself down at the Cumberland River, hard at work on a future release promising to "make a record unlike anything I've ever done before." When asked if he has any advice for novice writers, Welch simply maintains "You have to be present to win." He also issued a homework assignment to his musical peers -"Go out an get a copy of the Willis Alan Ramsey album (available as a 1990 CD re-issue on Shelter Records)…this stuff is unbelievable and features the amazing talent of Nick de Carro, the greatest string arranger on earth!" Concludes Welch enthusiastically.

Life Down Here On Earth Kevin Welch Dead Reckoning Records Catalog #3. 1995 Producer: Kevin Welch Western Beat Kevin Welch Warner Reprise Catalog #9 26823 - 2. 1992 Producer: Kevin Welch and Harry Stinson Kevin Welch Kevin Welch Warner Reprise Catalog #9 26171 - 2. 1990 Producer: Paul Worley and Ed Seal

"Early Summer Rain"
by
Kevin Welch

I dream with my eyes open
I see with my eyes closed
I watch through many windows
Heaven only knows

Some words they can't be spoken
Some things can't be explained
Out where it gets lonesome
In the early summer rain

Black Crow he's the joker
Red Tail Hawk's the king
Diamondback he's the taxman
He don't miss a thing

Out where there's no forgiveness
Out where there is no blame
Out where it gets lonesome
In the early summer rain

CHORUS
There's wind down in these ditches
There's red dust on the rye
But there's storms up on the ridges
There's a silver tear in my eye
All I know is you my friend
Will not see my pain
Out here where it gets lonesome
In the early summer rain

There's a red flying horse by the roadside
Spreading his wings again
Me and him are gonna take a little ride
Hope we catch a good tail wind

Take me to the purple mountains
Where nobody knows my name
Out where it gets lonesome
In the early summer rain

CHORUS
There's wind down in these ditches
There's red dust on the rye
But there's storms up on the ridges
There's a silver tear in my eye
All I know is you my friend
Will not see my pain
Out here where it gets lonesome
In the early summer rain

(For T.C. Cannon)

©1992 Cross Keyes Publishing Company Inc., ASCAP