What happens when the breakdown of a car mirrors the end of a relationship? Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin takes us on a heartfelt journey, sharing the deeply personal story behind his poignant song "Broken Hearts and Auto Parts." Recorded live in Hoboken with a raw, unfiltered sound, the album released on Warren Haynes' Evil Teen Records captures the spirit of creation in its purest form. You'll hear about the impromptu street performance that turned a friend's daughter's birthday into an unforgettable event and the unexpected that followed.
Ever wondered how experimenting with different producers and studios can reshape an artist's sound? Join us as Kevn opens up about the creative process behind his albums and EPs, including "Songs from the Laundromat". Kevn's personal connection to REM and the Southern rock scene comes to life as he recounts the band's profound impact on his music, leading to a moving tribute song that encapsulates those pivotal memories. From iconic studios to legendary collaborations, this episode is a treasure trove of musical anecdotes and inspirations.
But it's not all about music; Kevn's dedication to supporting veterans through the Shepherds Men organization shines a light on the pressing issue of PTSD. Hear about the vital support provided to soldiers and their families. This episode is a celebration of music, community, and the enduring bonds that shape our lives—perfect for anyone looking to be inspired by stories of resilience and creative passion.
www.drivinncryin.com - On tour through September.
www.kevnkinney.com - Select shows through October.
www.tastygoodyrecords.com
Please Like and Follow our Facebook page Music In My Shoes.
You can contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.
What happens when the breakdown of a car mirrors the end of a relationship? Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin takes us on a heartfelt journey, sharing the deeply personal story behind his poignant song "Broken Hearts and Auto Parts." Recorded live in Hoboken with a raw, unfiltered sound, the album released on Warren Haynes' Evil Teen Records captures the spirit of creation in its purest form. You'll hear about the impromptu street performance that turned a friend's daughter's birthday into an unforgettable event and the unexpected that followed.
Ever wondered how experimenting with different producers and studios can reshape an artist's sound? Join us as Kevn opens up about the creative process behind his albums and EPs, including "Songs from the Laundromat". Kevn's personal connection to REM and the Southern rock scene comes to life as he recounts the band's profound impact on his music, leading to a moving tribute song that encapsulates those pivotal memories. From iconic studios to legendary collaborations, this episode is a treasure trove of musical anecdotes and inspirations.
But it's not all about music; Kevn's dedication to supporting veterans through the Shepherds Men organization shines a light on the pressing issue of PTSD. Hear about the vital support provided to soldiers and their families. This episode is a celebration of music, community, and the enduring bonds that shape our lives—perfect for anyone looking to be inspired by stories of resilience and creative passion.
www.drivinncryin.com - On tour through September.
www.kevnkinney.com - Select shows through October.
www.tastygoodyrecords.com
Please Like and Follow our Facebook page Music In My Shoes.
You can contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.
Hey, this is Kevin McKinney from Driving and Crying, and you're listening to Music in my Shoes. He's got the feeling in his toe-toe. He's got the feeling and it's out there growing.
Speaker 3:Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 30. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. Today we're lucky to be able to continue with our interview with Kevin Kinney of Driving and Crying. I hope you enjoy. Learn something new, that's what.
Speaker 1:Music.
Speaker 3:In my Shoes is all about Music In my Shoes.
Speaker 1:I know it's a great thing and thank you for this podcast. It's a really great podcast.
Speaker 3:Well, I appreciate that. We appreciate you being on and talking with us. I do have a question. One of my favorite songs Broken Hearts and Auto Parts. We talked about this when we met. I absolutely love this song. I think this song is so good and to me, like I listen to it and I can be like I remember this time in my life and I think that a lot of people, if they listen to it, along with a lot of your songs, can put themselves in that situation. Also, what is your inspiration? You know what led you to write that song, which is just a great song.
Speaker 1:Well, I was kind of dating a girl in Greenville. Her car broke down a lot and you know we had a brief little. We didn't date for very long, a couple of months, but I don't know I broke up with her or she broke up with me, or I don't know I broke up with her or she broke up with me. I don't know what it was, but it was just. That was like the catalyst of the title, like Broken Hearts, auto Parts. Here we are again. She's stranded on the side of the highway, but I think that was a catalyst for the title of the song.
Speaker 1:It just you know, I think a lot of my songs you know are very like if you live in America, you pretty much you know, you run your car until it dies. You run your heart until it dies, you run whatever it is that you're doing until it dies. You know, I was really into Hot Wheels and I was really into whatever collecting soda pop. You just run it until it dies. And so you run relationships until they're just not working anymore and you run your car. I mean, unless you're rich, it exchanges their car with a perfectly running car.
Speaker 1:Like oh he's going to get a new car, I don't know. It's like I got to fix it again. So it's just part of the psyche of running out of ideas and running out of. It's been broken hearts and auto parts again. It's like it ain't been the best year so far, but in the end the whole thing turns around. You find some spirit and you find a cause. You just grab this old, broken-up guitar and you write yourself a song and make you feel a whole lot better. So in the end you morph, you change what you're doing and I love that song. I tell people when I do singer-songwriters festivals where I'm sitting there with four people who have written number one hits and songwriters, they're always like I don't know who they are. They look like just normal people, but they've written like 100 number one. I don't know. And they're always like, yeah, I wrote this for Miranda Lambert. It went to number one. I'm like like I don't know, like you know, and they're always like, yeah, I wrote this, for Miranda Lambert went to number one.
Speaker 1:I'm like, wow, that guy wrote a number, and then this one go into number 10, or they're just great songwriters, you know. Then they get to me and I'm like, uh, they played this next song on car talk.
Speaker 1:Hey man, hey man that's pretty cool they played it as bumper music on Car Talk. I'm like you might have heard this one. I got nothing for you, but I do love that record. I specifically produced that record. It's on Warren Haynes, his label, his wife's label. Stephanie Scamardo put that one out and the Flower of the Knife on Evil Teen Records, which means they paid for it.
Speaker 2:Evil Teen that is a great label name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great label and a lot of great stuff on there. I kept it super underproduced. I had the guy Ray that I made it with, but it's my friend, lenny K, it's his favorite. He's like that's my favorite record. Listen to it on iTunes or whatever you want. But thank you for liking that one, because it is very raw and underproduced. But it's also really cool Because it's the first time Driving Cry.
Speaker 1:I quit the band many times, unbeknownst to anybody else, just me. But I was just starting to regroup the band again. So I got Mac and Tim and Dave. I said I was just getting really sick of making Driving Cry records. I seemed like I always had the last word. Everybody did what they where I had. I seem like I always had the last word, like everybody did what they wanted to do and then I always had like the last word. I'm like I just don't want to like.
Speaker 1:Here's what's gonna happen, guys. I'm gonna make a solo record. I got a room in chelsea. It sleeps six and my dad's gonna be in the hotel across the street. He's gonna come hang out and if you guys want to up, I'll put you up for four or five days and then we'll just go to Hoboken and we'll make this record and we're just going to do it live and I really want you to be there for it. But it's definitely a Kevin Kinney record, it's a solo record, but I want you guys to be on it. They were all super into it and we all did it Matt Carter and Tim and Dave and we went in the water studios where me and Warren made Flower and the Knife the same studio in Hoboken and we'd sit in a room and all the music you hear on there is live there's very little overdubs.
Speaker 1:It's all one room. It's super low volume and I'm not singing. Singing I'm just like I'm going like okay, of course, back roads.
Speaker 1:I'm just whispering so I'm not getting into the mics. And then I did, I re-sang it. But all the music is live, even the sax solo and stuff like that on yes, that's me. All that is live, even the sax solo and stuff like that on yes, that's Me. All that is live. I didn't want to overproduce it. After I had these really cool live sessions I didn't want to overproduce it and I mean I can always overproduce it later if I wanted to. But I kind of like how it's a very stark black and white record. So we recorded that in August, july and August of 2001. And we're meeting, we're in Chelsea and then we're taking the PATH train, so we're all meeting at the World Trade Center and taking the PATH train across the Hoboken and walking to the studio which is a mile from the path train. So we finished the record August 10th, a month before September 11th. Yeah, you know, and that was like, and so we didn't really it didn't really have a big fanfare of release or anything.
Speaker 1:I didn't really know what to do, as I almost didn't want to put it out. I was like I don't know what to do. I almost didn't want to put it out. I was like I don't know what to do. There's bigger things happening in the world right now.
Speaker 3:Didn't you record a version of the Beatles' Let it Be right after 9-11? I did.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So after we all did that, we went back to Atlanta. We're like, we're all getting along good, everything was great. And so we went in the studio in atlanta off of northside drive and we made demos yeah, we're making demos, and I was in living. I was in athens and I was going uh, you were making demos for what became the bubble factory record. Eventually, years later, because I just stopped, I didn't know what to do. So that night I did Let it Be. We were in the studio that day, so we recorded it that night and that was it. Then we didn't record again for a long time until we made the Bubble Factory record. I eventually moved to Brooklyn and then I did a.
Speaker 1:I lost my voice and did a whole bunch of other stuff. You know, I had to take a lot of time off. I could only do one show a month or so every two weeks because I had a cyst on my larynx that I didn't know about. Oh, so I was like you can hear me. There's a record called Come Around Again, a record that I made with Tim's cousin in between 9-11 and after Katrina. So there's a pretty big gap of me not doing much in there.
Speaker 1:I was trying to get the Broken Hearts record out. I toured a little bit, went to Holland, made this record Come Around Again, but anyway you could hear my voice, like really I could only talk like this and I was, you know, I was like talking like the godfather and like I could only order like drive-thru. I could just say like the number is like number one. Wow, you know, I had lost my voice and and I had the cyst removed and uh, we were preparing to go to Spain and do a tour and I went back to Brooklyn after that and I had just moved. So I was in a new neighborhood and I wasn't supposed to talk for like two or three weeks. So I just had Post-it notes. So everybody in my neighborhood I would just write they thought I was mute.
Speaker 1:I said Post-it notes so everybody in my neighborhood. I would just write. They thought I was mute, so I would write extra coffee, extra large iced coffee with cream. And then eventually my voice came back and I was like I hope they don't think I'm a grifter, but I remember after my voice, like Eddie Murphy in Trading Places.
Speaker 2:He actually has legs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so eventually my voice. When it did come back, it was really full. So I immediately did demos in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. I did it at the Blue Ribbon Studios and then me and Anton Feer started playing every week. Me and Anton Feer played every. We practiced every Tuesday and Thursday for about three or four years and then played every Monday night for free on Manhattan at a bar that Gavin DeGraw owned called the National Underground, and then eventually we made a record called Good Country Mile and then that morphed into regrouping, Drive and Cry and Full On and did whatever went to the Great American Bubble Factory. So I don't know I hope y'all are writing this stuff down. Somebody's listening right now going. I have no idea what this guy's saying this is like all.
Speaker 1:French to me. I thought he just said nobody knows who he is. Why is he acting like he knows what I'm talking about, like I'm talking about 10 by Pearl Jam.
Speaker 3:These are zero reference points.
Speaker 1:I am a cult figure. I just wanted to know. You're listening to a cult figure talk about things that only nine people care about. There's a lot of stuff to look at, listen, jamie out there in Janesville in Wisconsin you're number 12.
Speaker 2:Mcdougal Blues is that McDougal Street in New York City, or where did the name McDougal be? That's McDougal Street. I used to live on McDougal.
Speaker 1:Street. Yeah, I played there. I used to live on McDougal Street. Yeah, I played there. I wrote that song Actually it's about the Indigo Girls.
Speaker 1:They used to pick me up and take me to the Updown Lounge, yeah, and we would do shows together and they'd pick me up in Brookhaven. And their first trip to New York they got their car stolen. It was just a disaster. And then me and Peter at the same time, after we did those, mystery Road, demos Island wanted a more named brand producer for the Mystery Road thing. So they asked him if he would do my first solo record. So that wound up being McDougal Blues, which was recorded in three days at John Keene's. And there's a funny story though you can edit this in and out, as I know I'm ranting a lot but I played Cafe Wa with. Monty Melnick was hanging out with me helping me sell my merch Because he'd played at Cafe Wa when he got there. He's like I played here in 1968. He had a three-piece band and I'll have to research it on Wikipedia what it was called Back in the day, everybody played there.
Speaker 1:Right, it was like the. It was the place. It was the place to play.
Speaker 3:If you played there, then it was like you kind of made it Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he was from Long Island, I think it's Queens, I think so. So, um, but he's like I haven't been in here since I, since I played here like 1968. But um, so I, somebody in athens, I don't know what, why they, it was so kind. He gave me like 500 hours or more, I can't remember. He said can you play cafe wa? I said absolutely. He said but it's kind of weird.
Speaker 1:It's like there's a band there from eight to two in the morning and it's all set up with these plastic shields. But I'm trying to get a solo artist to come do an hour and a half show before that, like at 6, like 6 to 7.30. So I said, sure, I'll do it. So I came in and I did a little folk show and it was pretty well attended. And then I went out on the street and had to sell my merch and, like the COVID, they have these COVID tents and stuff out on the street where people would eat during COVID. So that was where I sold my merch and my nephew was in town busking in Washington Square, so I invited him to Cafe Wah. We did a couple songs.
Speaker 2:Oh great.
Speaker 1:And then we're out there selling merch on the street, on McDougal Street Wow, that's great. Here's the best part of the story, though. My friend, Jeff Spell, and his daughter come. She's from Atlanta, she gets there a little bit late and misses the show, so she's like it's her birthday. I was like you know, I'll sing you a couple songs. So I pull out my guitar and me and my nephew play a couple songs on the street and this guy who runs the business next door runs out and goes you can't, no, no, no, no music, you can't, no busking. I said what she said no busking. I said I'm not busking. I I said what she said no busking. I said I'm not busking, I'm just playing her a song, she says no music.
Speaker 3:I said this is McDougal Street.
Speaker 1:Wow, what's the matter with you? She said this is awesome. I said this is going to wind up in a song. It's going to wind up in a song, right?
Speaker 3:So that just happened six months ago, eight months ago. That's funny, isn't that funny? That is funny.
Speaker 1:I got shut down from busking on McDougal.
Speaker 3:So the song REM from Songs from the Laundromat EP and you made a bunch of EPs, like four EPs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were. I was really excited about doing those. They're called Songs from the Laundromat, Songs about Car Space and the Ramones, songs from the Psychedelic Time Clock, songs from the Turedelic Time Clock, songs from the turntable. And then the Best of Songs was the album of it. It was Sadler Vaden. It was a project I put together with Sadler Vaden, who's now in the 400 unit of Jason Isbell. So all those records have a lot of influence. I really wanted to capture what I was doing with Sadler.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to wait to do this record because, like I said before, a lot of people give me songs, demos of their band and you have to put your best song first or second and I'm just going to keep fast-forwarding. I'm like, oh, I get it, but you get me right away. Same thing with albums. All my friends keep giving me these albums and they keep putting like 16, 17 freaking songs on them. I'm like I never made it to the 20th song, even my own records. My friends don't know who. The 12th song is on Bubble Factory. They're like why don't you do this song? I was like I recorded this song. It's the last song on Bubble Factory. They're like I recorded this town. It's the last song on Bubble Factory, like, oh, I never listened to that long, I know because you're getting where you're used to going in five or six songs You're where you should be, even in Atlanta, and also that's about all the time I got to listen to your record. Like, stop giving me 20 songs. So it's like I'm just going to make six songs Like a glorified EP a little longer than a single. Now I have, if you know, anybody who wants CDs, I have hundreds of these CDs because nobody buys CDs. So yeah, so anyway, that was the catalyst of that was just release these EPs and that way I want to use a different producer and different studios and I just want to really use a different producer and different studios and I just want to really experiment. So like demoing studios, demoing producers and then demoing songwriting styles. I wanted to do all these different styles because I'm schizophrenic as far as my styles go and then really take advantage of this guy, sadler Vaden, who has a for a young man as he was even then just a breath of like. He's an old soul, like he's an old 70s rock soul and he understands pop music. He understands all that.
Speaker 1:So the REM song, yes, was my tribute song to REM. When they broke up I wrote this fun song called REM. It was kind of like you know, bowie has Andy Warhol Right and some bands have different songs about other bands. Replacements have Alex Chilton Right, replacements have Alex Chilton. So I mean REM meant a lot to me, but they have meant a lot to me in a specific timeline, because when I first moved to Georgia I had no idea like you did with Driving Cryin' no idea who these guys are. I moved here and they were already back in the early 80s, they were already kind of becoming it's post-Murmur, and when I got here this album Reckoning had just come out. So I'm not sure what the timeline is for that 84.
Speaker 1:That was like the first time I'm listening to rem and that's what I'm working at the sewage plant, and so every morning I'm listening to this, the violent femmes, uh, first record, and I'm listening to reckoning on my way to work every morning and so that's the first line of the song. There's a reckoning in the morning on my way to work seven chinese brothers in the south central rain, and so that's I'm kind of working my way through how I know rem, like I'm just this. I'm like I say I'm only writing this song for myself, like 99 of the songs that you hear driving crying, they're just for me. I, I listen to my. I mean I'm like making my own Soundtrack, I'm making my own soundtrack and a lot of times I think I'm the only one listening to it. But that's fine with me.
Speaker 1:And so then I move on to when we're opening for them, and we get to open for them, and the clicking of the projectors, because they had actual movies they were playing behind them, that was their video screen. They actually had like Jim McKay, like the Jim McKay the director, you know, like running the projectors sometimes. So the clicking of projectors reminded me again, and then it's just the whole dynamic of the thing and then it ends with the last verse is the interviewer on the radio what do you think of the Southern Rock and Roll, kevin? Hey, you know the Allman Brothers and I'm like well, I don't really own any Leonard Skinner records and I have a few Allman Brothers records I like, but I mean, really, the biggest Southern Rock band I know is REM and they're always taken aback.
Speaker 1:What I said, yeah, the biggest Southern rock band right now in the 90s 1991, was REM. They're the biggest Southern rock band. They redefined Southern rock. They created the kudzu circuit, let's Active the DB Rock. They created the kudzu circuit, let's Active the DBs. I mean they created REM too. Everybody's feeding off wire and Joy Division and they were all feeding off of the Manchester sounds and creating their own version of this kudzu circuit Fetch and Bones and all this Southeast rock and roll, the windbreakers and all that stuff. So you know, to me that was what Southern Rock, the new Southern Rock, was going to be. And so, and you know, a couple of times when I did it live, like when I put that CD out, I said you know, the biggest Southern Rock band that I know is REM. I mean, you can visibly see some people in the front row like fuck you. You know what I mean. Like wow, I was like wow, I really upset some people right there.
Speaker 3:What I can say is that you do sound like the music. Everything it sounds like REM when you play that song.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, what I did was I told we took a break and we made that record here in Atlanta where we made Mystery Road. We went back to the same studio. Like we made that studio it was called Soundscape when we did it. Then, like, bobby Brown bought it and then, or somebody like maybe the Goody Mouth, somebody bought it and then, or somebody like maybe the Goody Mob, somebody bought it. That was like Jermaine Dupri, somebody who you know. Once again, there's a whole other bubble of Atlanta music. That's amazing, right, that a lot of people don't even recognize the Goody Mob and that whole scene there that happened at that same studio that was Straight to Hell was recorded at, but also that whole genre of stuff. Yeah, so we went back to that studio and we recorded Bubble Factory there too.
Speaker 1:But I told Sadler and Dave, I said and I didn't need to tell Tim because Tim used to open for REM and the Night Porters but I said, man, just listen to REM for like two days and let's come back in, just listen to the first two records and let's come in and let's approach it. And so everybody do what they think is. So Sadler. Sadler's thing is he's adding these really high REM. He's doing the Mike Mills.
Speaker 3:It sounds like Mike Mills.
Speaker 1:And the drums are a little more complicated than just a rock song. Of course Tim is doing his Mike Mills bass lines the best he can and the beginning of the song. That's all the stuff that Peter influenced me. A couple of songs that I give him credit for helping me write were the Indian song Wrapped in Sky, some of those McDougal Blues, so there's a morph of the songs. It's a tribute to the songs that I stole from him, that stole from me that stole from him, so it's an interesting song.
Speaker 1:If you guys make it your song of the week after listening to this, it's a fun song.
Speaker 3:I like it.
Speaker 1:I was really afraid it was going to become popular, though, because I was like I don't want to play it every night. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Do you ever play it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I play every song. I'll play every song. I'll play every song. That Drummer of Crime will do it. Sure, we do it. It has to be the right. I won't do it in Athens. I mean, maybe on a solo show. I might have done it last time I was in Athens, Because there's a bit of a comedy thing in there where it goes to the A minor, where it's like I'm like this is a tribute to all the songs that Michael, all the hours that I spent trying to decipher Michael's lyrics.
Speaker 3:And I just got.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I don't want him to get mad at me, because I do love him.
Speaker 3:It's a tribute.
Speaker 1:It's a tribute and I think he even admits that there's. Some of his lyrics are a little hard to decipher from the first two records.
Speaker 3:Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1:I'm not the first person to point it out, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so kind of keeping in that line. If you go to YouTube and I've been watching this a lot it's you and Chris Robinson of the Black Crows singing the REM song King of Birds. Okay, that is absolutely fantastic, and thinking of both of you being together singing, I never could have imagined it, and it looked like you were fully comfortable. Chris Robinson in the beginning looks a little nervous.
Speaker 1:We didn't rehearse it as well. He even said that like, oh, I wish we'd have practiced it a little bit more.
Speaker 3:But he really starts to get into it though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we get it, we figure it out.
Speaker 3:But you have. You know it's for the Chronic Town 40th Anniversary concert. Yeah, and Peter Buck, mike Mills of REM are playing with you, rich Robinson of the Black Crows on guitar and Mitch Easter of.
Speaker 1:Less Active, who you just mentioned he's playing.
Speaker 3:It's just a great video to watch, but that song you guys knock it out of the park. Well, thank you. That's another song that I wish that you could just go and buy and hear all the time, because it is really, really good.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. When we did that tribute show in Athens the night before, it was really good too. I really I stressed out about doing it. You know it was not easy, knowing that, you know you're playing it with the guys and all that you know, but it was one of my favorite songs and Once again, that song meant a lot to me because art mimicking life.
Speaker 1:There was a moment in the REM film where Michael, during the green tour, michael started they were doing the opening to King of Birds and there's a line in With the People that I wrote, called what it is we need and what they believe I need what it is, I see, what they believe I see. It's been a long, long long. It keeps on going on and on with the people, and so Michael started opening King of Birds with what it is we need, what they believe I need what it is, I see what they believe I see. And then he might have said with the people, but I'm not sure, so they had to get permission from me to like it's on tour film, and so I'm like, well, I stole With the People from King of Birds, so it's free, yeah paid back with interest.
Speaker 1:It's paid back with interest, but well, thank you. That song really means a lot to me. I really love that song, the whole Black Crows Driving and Crying saga. It was like we stole their drummer first of all.
Speaker 1:They had a drummer. Our drummer was replaced. We needed a drummer. We called I'll say we, but Tim called. Tim called Jeff Sullivan, who was in the Mr Crows Garden, and we basically stole him from the Black Crows Straight out of high school, by the way, straight out of high school, and they weren't happy about that at all, and there was a bit of an animosity between some of our friends. I never had animosity I still don't against anybody ever. Music to me is not a competition.
Speaker 3:Wait a minute. We say that all the time.
Speaker 2:That's one of the themes, that's the mantra of the show. Yes, music is not a competition.
Speaker 3:It's not a competition.
Speaker 1:And there's no hierarchy of who gets to be famous next. You did six months and then you did seven months, and it doesn't matter. Somebody is going to leapfrog over you because they're just better and what they did was better and it was more concise at that moment, and it's just. Yeah, it's not a competition, which is like watching these who gets inducted into the. I think that the minute you get inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you're no longer in the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame should only be available to people who aren't discoverable in the Hall of Fame, like Irma Thomas Mitch Ryder. You know, the minute you get into the Hall of Fame, you're all of a sudden not a Hall of Famer. That's like I think you phase yourself out of it. It's like sound phasing. It's like, okay, now you're in, you're actually out. No, but I'm in. It's like, no, you just got in, but that made you out. It's like, well, that doesn't make any sense. Like, well, you should have wanted to get in there, but you should have said no. But um, you should have said no.
Speaker 1:You know, I can say that because I have no uh thing of ever being in it, but, uh, there was a long stretch of driving, kind and me and chris and rich. I love them and I've always gone to see them play, but I never go backstage to see shows anyway, so I never go backstage. I don't want to meet the band ever. I've been offered to meet Robin Trower every time I come to Atlanta. I never say yes, because he's Robin Trower, I don't want to meet him. I don't want to meet Bob Dylan, I don't want to meet. Every time I do meet somebody, 70% of the time it's like a weird environment. Or they're just talking to their manager, friends or whatever the weatherman, the local weatherman, and I'm just like I don't know, there's somebody. I don't want to meet you. I'm outside at the venue. When I do meet Bob Dylan, I want it to be at Kroger, like.
Speaker 3:I'm in.
Speaker 1:Dahlonega Kroger. I'm in Dahlonega Kroger and I'm over there in the juice section and he's like hey, man, you seen the iced coffee? I was like, yeah, man, actually the iced coffee is weird because they don't put it where the creamers are, they put it by the juice. He goes hey, thanks, man. That would be my ultimate Bob Dylan moment. I'm never going to go backstage and try to meet Bob Dylan. It will never happen. I don't want to meet them. I don't want to meet the Stones. There they are, they give it to me and I'm done. I'm good with it.
Speaker 1:But anyway, they offered us this tour. They did, the Black Crows did, and they were like you want to do the Black Crows tour? I was like I don't know if it's from some booking agent. That's like this would be a cool thing, because I don't know if they even like us or I don't know anything. I don't know. It's been a long time since we talked and then Chris called me a week later. He was like hey, man, we really do want you to do this tour. So I was like OK.
Speaker 1:And then ever since then, I feel really great that we've cleansed the waters and we're just back to talking about music again, because I really respect them and I think he's one of the best American rock singers.
Speaker 1:He's really great Out of an American guy who can come out there and do the thing and just be a lead singer something. I'm not. I'm a guitar player. I'm stuck in my little box, my monitors and I got my amps. I can't. But lead singers are different Steven Tyler, chris Robbins, they're all Mick Jagger. They're a different breed than the people who have to play the guitar too.
Speaker 2:But Chris didn't always show that when he was in Mr Crow's Garden the early, like over at the dugout in Emory and stuff, he sang kind of Michael early, michael Stott-ish.
Speaker 1:He was very confident, though I think maybe he was maybe on stage, but I've known him. He worked, he lived down the street from us. I knew he was going to be a star. I mean, I knew it. I knew he was going to be a star. He had a confidence that I just recognized right away. He believed in himself, he had confidence and I saw that just recognized right away. He believed in himself. He had confidence and I saw that in him right away.
Speaker 2:But that Black Crow's voice that Chris has, he was singing a completely different way in Mr Crow's, don't you think?
Speaker 1:I think that he was into the Long Riders and different things like that. Yeah, I mean, Like I just didn't see it coming.
Speaker 1:I was blown away when he. I was blown away by, but you know they reminded me that that was years. Like their record came out in 91, so they actually did that thing that I think bands should do is like like driving, crying. We got together, we were big in the clubs and then we made our record. I think if we would have waited four years to make our first record it would have made maybe a bigger impact commercially.
Speaker 1:We struggled to just do the punk scene, the underground scene, for years, like just us in the van driving Tuesdays in Salt Lake City and all that. We were just happy with that. We're like at least we're out there, we're doing it. But like the Cars, the Cars' first record, that's the band that's been around six years and they've been playing these songs. She talks to Angels. If they would have released that in 1980s. I mean they wrote that in the late 80s, in the late 80s 87, 88 I think and it got better. But they found the right producer for it. You know all that stuff. So yeah, I think he was different. But I mean my punk band. I was not. I mean I was terrible. What was your punk band called? We were called the Prosecutors. There's a 40, we had a 45. And I'm terrible, it's great. So, speaking of punk bands, I love it.
Speaker 3:Jimmy, when you were in college we've talked about it before on the show. You were in the Violets, correct? Yeah, and it turns out that you opened up for Driving and Crying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a show on Halloween 1989 or 90 or something at the Georgia Theater. It was a really fun show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't remember the opening band, but that's out of respect, don't have to laugh so loud.
Speaker 1:No, but I'll tell you what Anybody who opens for Driving and Crying. Unless I pick you, and even when I do pick you, I probably won't see you play. And there's a reason for that Because of what I was saying earlier, how the story arc of what I'm doing really is something Like I'm going to do a show this Saturday in Roswell. I'm already creating the story arc for it all week long, which is something I have the benefit of doing because I don't tour. I don't do tours anymore, I only do weekends. But one of the worst things I can do is see a great opening band. So I'm sure you were great, but you probably would have thrown my show off, because I really do chase like if they're a ska band or something and they're great. I'm going to. I don't want to try to mimic a couple songs like them. The crowd really liked them. So I intentionally don't watch the band before me hardly ever, so that I could come out with a fresh game plan of what I had going on. But I know that that show was not a great show for me because I think we all bought Marshall amps and I was at loggerheads with my guitar player, buren, at the time, about volume and things like that and we were having a hard time trying to meld the punk world with this other side.
Speaker 1:Guitar player now was playing I love beer into death but he was playing some pretty like kind of rock stuff that I was not into, like guitar solos and stuff, and I was really not into rock guitar solos. You know, as I have ramones and I was, you know I, you know wire and all that, all the things psychedelic music. It doesn't have a lot of guitar solos. The guitar solos are usually counter melodies, which is what I just do myself. I usually can do a counter melody. I don't really like guitar solos. It's kind of like guaranteed applause getting crap. It's like everyone's knowing. Not that I'm not a great guitar player, but when I have a guy shredding over here he's just. Then he ends it and people go crazy and then I'll do my solo and I'll do like a Dwayne Eddy song and he's like I'm doing a counter melody. When I'm done with it, crickets.
Speaker 1:No one's like that was a beautifully understated guitar solo that man just did. Is anybody reflecting this? I'm like I don't expect it, so I don't ever hear it and I'm totally comfortable with it. But I intentionally don't try to make the crowd clap for a guitar solo.
Speaker 3:And Dwayne Eddy has just recently passed. I know I actually have a Dwayne Eddy album Rebel Browser. His big album I have the album from when it came out.
Speaker 2:It was my parents.
Speaker 3:He's one of my heroes that vinyl like if you hit someone over the head, I think that you might kill them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because it's that thick vinyl that they used to use back in the day. Yeah, but yeah.
Speaker 1:It's almost as thick as the wax. Yeah, it's just crazy Like a 78. It's crazy.
Speaker 3:You mentioned Bob Dylan before that you want to meet him in I don't remember what store Kroger, Kroger but on your 2022 solo album, think about it. The song Catching Up to Myself reminds me. That song reminds me of Bob Dylan from his Rough and Rowdy Ways album that came out a few years ago. Yeah, Kind of the way that you sing it, kind of the way the music is. I really think that fits in with that. Were you thinking about Dylan?
Speaker 1:Well, that was for a movie that was from a soundtrack of a movie that never got made. Russell Crowe hired me and my friend Shelly Colvin and the guy from Squirrel Nut Zippers to do some songs for this thing. So that one was one of my contributions, me and Shelly wrote it, so I was catching up to myself. I think the script might have had something to do with it. I'm not sure it's about catching up to yourself. I don't know. Maybe I'm imagining way too much, maybe I never read just the outline of what the story was. But it is definitely part of my Bob Dylan piano, his later. I'm definitely not afraid of that. That whole record is a dedication to that.
Speaker 1:I really wanted to understate a lot of my singing on that record. It does not sound like Kevin Kinney to that. I really wanted to understate a lot of my singing on that record. It does not sound like Kevin Kinney. Which is the fun part of it is that it's actually what I sound like when I'm at home. Like my voice gets affected.
Speaker 1:The way I sing is a byproduct, I guess, from really crappy monitors in the punk days where I had to come up with a voice Like you couldn't sing like this. In a bar you couldn't go like catch the wind until it blows. It never laughs, it never shows. You couldn't do that because the monitors had been some punk band had smashed them and they had beer in them and there were no good monitors. I remember the Rat in Boston was probably the best monitors because they had them up on the ceiling so bands couldn't really destroy them. There's a couple of bars where we had good monitors so I kind of came up with this way that I could hear myself sing and that's kind of what stuck. Well, kids win, but it's extremely know but it's extremely midwest I'm from the midwest, so it's like very distinctive.
Speaker 2:It's very distinctive, yeah, very distinct, but it feels like you have another octave, or is that just, I don't know. There's something about your voice.
Speaker 1:It's so you can go high, you mean or lower high, I can go I can go high now that I had that. You know, when I had that surgery 10 years ago, it freed up that surgery I had. It was a cyst, not a tumor. I don't know what the difference is, but it was a cyst that was laying on top of my larynx. It wasn't I don't know what it was, but it had rested my vocal cords for like 10 years so I hadn't really used my. So I had to take it off. I had like brand new, because it wasn't like the vocal cords had polyps on or anything, they just weren't, they were just being muted, so they were perfectly healthy. So when I took the cyst off, they came back and so I had this voice which I never had before. That's cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, but I also can. I can really high, depending on how I'm standing and how much I ate. I mean, I can't eat three hours before a show. I don't usually talk too much before a show.
Speaker 3:I know how you feel. I try not to talk the night before a podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Good idea. Good idea. So Brand New Key. I've been listening to that for a couple yeah. Good idea, good idea.
Speaker 3:So Brand New Key?
Speaker 1:I've been listening to that for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh, and you know, when I first saw this song, I'm like is that the Melanie song from back in the day? And I listened to it and sure enough it is. And Melanie, you know, she made her name back in Woodstock in 1969. Uh-huh, melanie, she made her name back in Woodstock in 1969. And I remember listening to her sing this when I was this kid and I looked it up because I couldn't remember when, but it was a hit here in America in late 71, early 72.
Speaker 1:What made you decide to do a cover. That's good. There's a guy on Broken Hearts Auto Parts. His name's Tom Clark. I cover one of his songs. It's one of the few times I cover a song, because I fell in love with this guy. We're very much like. We grew up 90 miles apart from each other. He grew up in DeKalb, illinois, and you have to say DeKalb because it's not DeKalb, not DeKalb, it's not DeKalb County. Georgia, and we're just kindred souls. He had a punk band. His first records were produced by Steve Albini.
Speaker 1:Oh OK, Another person that just recently passed Another person that recently passed and then he became a singer-songwriter and he's good friends with Lenny K as well all part of our little New York world over there and so we were staying at Tom's house. We used to stay at his house. He lived right at the Manhattan Bridge, right across on the Manhattan Bridge, on Bushwick Avenue, bushwick Avenue Extension, and he had a basement which is really cool, an old school basement, and he was doing a soundtrack again. So he says my friend, somebody's doing a soundtrack and I did this song and Lenny did this song and there's a brand new key. I said you want to try a brand new key? I said absolutely, because I remember when that came out I was a Boy Scout and I remember being a young Boy Scout a tenderfoot or whatever and we were going to a camp out one time and I remember these older Scouts were like razzing me To this day it bothers me, it doesn't bother me, but they were like you know what?
Speaker 1:Brandon Key is right. I was like no, it's like sex.
Speaker 1:I was like sex. That song is about sex. I was like no way. Yeah, you got a brand new roller skate, so you got a brand new key.
Speaker 3:And I know Melanie has said there's some things that could be taken. Is that true? It is so they weren't messing with me.
Speaker 1:No, oh well, maybe they were right, Well, anyway. Well, I apologize to you, john Schnickerbook, whatever your name is, I've always held this against you. But yeah, that's produced by Tom Clark and I did the guitar solo, I think, but I think maybe Tom did it, but I think that's Tim and Dave and we're down in the basement in Brooklyn and, uh, we just had a lot of fun with it. It was, that was. I didn't know anyone would ever hear it. We and Tom found it like when he a couple months ago, we were like, oh, we got to put this out For fun.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it's on Apple Music. Yeah, so I've been listening to it for the last few weeks. Isn't it great? I think it is. It's so great it is. I love it. I would not have brought it up if I didn't like it. Yeah, so it is good. Hey, when I met you, I met you up at the Shepherds Men event in Murphy, north Carolina.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it it's an organization that does a lot of good for soldiers that have a lot of bad going on for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And how did you get connected with them? I got connected with them through Blackberry Smoke and my friend Scott Munn and they work with them. They were working with them for a long time and Britt Turner pretty much was helping a lot with them and all of their fundraising and awareness. But what it is is it's this really great organization that takes soldiers out of the VA system who are kind of run up against. They're in the VA system, they have PTSD, it's severe PTSD and they're medded to the max Like nothing's working, and their thing is 20, 22, I think their number is 22.
Speaker 1:Correct, for how many people either commit or attempt to commit suicide daily? I think Was it daily either commit or attempt to commit suicide daily? I think Was it daily. Because it's such a. I mean you take like I say, like I did at that show. I say support your troops. And that became. I said that is not a political statement, that's a people statement. You're talking about 18, 19, 21, 22-year-old people.
Speaker 1:Of course some people are patriotic and they volunteer, but a lot of people who volunteer for the services are poor and they have DUIs or they can't get out of them. They're at their wits' end. They can't go to college. They don't have any money and they got nowhere to go. You can go to the military. They give you three beds and a cot, as they say, and when you get out we'll take care of you and all that, which I think they do.
Speaker 1:But some people have some pretty severe traumatic things. Some of the people that I've talked to there they're in a Jeep and it gets an IED and all of a sudden six of the people that he had breakfast with this morning are dead and now you live with that the rest of your life. Now you're supposed to get over it, I guess, but you can't, I couldn't get over that. I mean, I've had moments in my life that were traumatic and I carry them with me, but they've never been like that where I didn't get to go home and go to bed and see my family, my wife, that night, like I did.
Speaker 1:You know, um, and they're just told to suck it up and they do it and they, and then they get back and you don't really they're invisible to us. You know, I don't really know what a veteran looks like, because we all look like, we all look the same. So they live in the same world as me. I'm aware of our surroundings and that it's an invisible world out there. So what they do is they do this. Great thing, like I love about the Ronald McDonald House, is they offer not everybody has to take them up on it, but they offer to bring the whole family here for family healing and it's a daily therapy for the soldiers, but it's a really good success rate for what the shepherdsmen they call the shepherdsmen do for these veterans and it's real inspiring to me. I'm still learning about it, but I'm there for them whenever they need me. I'm still learning about it, but I'm there for them whenever they need me. They're doing a run on Memorial Day up at the I think it's Reforation Rury and Woodstock.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to go up during the day. I'm going to be up there from 3 to 5 and just going to play some music on the patio and hang out, you're not running. No, I am not running. Not running, no, I am not running. I think I'm beyond my running days. A couple torn meniscuses, yeah, I don't think I can. Maybe someday I don't know Get some podcasting shoes. Man, I got podcasting shoes, but yeah, I might walk. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Maybe, I'll walk it, but I'll definitely be there to celebrate when they come back from the run. And they're these guys. They give back to their they've given already and then they support each other. It's a self. They're helping each other by doing even more than they did. You know, there's a guy, gary, that I just love. He's a great guy and I just get to know these guys. I can't even wrap my head around it.
Speaker 3:When I met you shortly afterwards, a gentleman had come up to me that had been through the program and was explaining it and talking about it, and the last thing he said to me was I would not be here today if it wasn't for this program. And that really kind of hit me like I would not be here today if it wasn't for this program, and that really kind of hit me like wow, this is something that's pretty important to people, yep, and hearing it from someone that is still here because they went through it, that makes you really think a little bit more about life.
Speaker 1:It really does and it just you know. You could say you know, support your troops and you could say thank you for your service, but it just always feels like not enough Right, and I don't know what else I can do. Once again, I can't even fathom what it was like to be in that situation. So I'm always here. Whatever they want, I'm there. But I wish I was a bigger star. But they get bigger stars. Travis Tritt helps them out. Charlie Daniels really helped them out. I know they have a lot of angels out there that really helped them out and they deserve it. Yes, they do. They do Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Well, we've come to the point where that's it for episode 30 of Music in my Shoes. All right, and I'd like to thank our guest, our special guest, kevin Kinney from Driving and Crying. Kevin Kinney, band solo artist, plays Rhodey. Rhodey plays at his home for himself.
Speaker 1:Music lover and music listener. That's what I am. I'm a music Kevin Kinney music lover that happens to have some of his own bands that he makes music in. That's what I am.
Speaker 3:I like that. Really appreciate you joining us today. Also like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located here in Atlanta, georgia, and, of course, to Vic Thrill for our podcast music. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing. I'm ready to go home.