Kevin Welch
b. 17 August 1955, Long Beach, California, USA. Raised in Oklahoma, Welch worked as a jobbing songwriter for many years after he moved to Nashville as a teenager. His songs include "Let It Be You" (Ricky Skaggs), "Plain Brown Wrapper" (Gary Morris), "Those Shoes" (Joy Lynn White), "Time's Up" (Carlene Carter with Southern Pacific), "Too Old To Die Young" (Moe Bandy) and "Velvet Chains" (Gary Morris). After building up a reputation as a good club act, he has recorded his own albums of tough, hard-hitting songs with his band, the Overtones. They were signed to Reprise Records in 1988 although it took a further two years for his debut to be released. There is no compromise for radio play with his rough-edged, acoustic-based music, and the nearest comparison is with Steve Earle. Warner/Reprise were uncomfortable with Western Beat and would have rather had an album in the Garth Brooks mould. Welch left the label and while touring in Norway with Kieran Kane they hatched a plan to start their own record label, Dead Reckoning, for which Welch has released several albums. Although he is a popular performer, it is as an outstanding songwriter that Welch enjoys most success as the cream of contemporary country artists queue up to record his songs.
Listen to Kevin Welch
at Finetune.
Albums
- (1999) Beneath My Wheels
Top Tracks
- Something 'bout You
- I Am No Drifter
- Beneath My Wheels
- Hill Country Girl
- Bastard Nation
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