Once you’ve seen Shinyribs’ Kevin Russell on-stage and heard his
band’s music, it’s impossible to forget. Known for his outrageous
outfits and antics, he’s a regular fashion icon, liable to turn up
in anything from his lime-green sherbet leisure suit to a flashing LED
cloak, which he donned for a soulful performance of “East Texas
Rust” on the award-winning PBS show Austin City Limits. Born and
raised in Beaumont, East Texas, Russell’s been variously dubbed
(mostly by himself), the Baryshnikov of the Big Thicket, the Pavarotti
of the Pineywoods, the Shakespeare of Swamp Pop, or the Shiniest Man
in Showbidniz. One of the pioneers of Americana as a member of The
Gourds, Russell took his musical inspiration from the fertile
Ark-La-Tex turf. In the immortal words of the title track to their
most recent album, “I Got Your Medicine,” Shinyribs have the cure
to whatever ails you, moving that ass until you’re a helpless member
of the Kevin Russell-led “all-in” conga line which snakes through
the audience at the close of every show. “It’s the universal dance
anyone can do,” he says. “Nobody feels self-conscious or out of
place. It’s a great way to get everybody involved. You can’t
really top that.” As Austin royalty, Shinyribs are one of the music
world’s best-kept secrets, but not for long. The eightpiece outfit
was recently named Best Austin Band for 2017, while I Got Your
Medicine was tapped as Album of the Year at the Chronicle’s
prestigious Austin Music Awards. Balding with a scraggly beard and an
unapologetic gut, the 50-year-old Russell boasts the indelible spirit
and nudge-nudge, wink-wink playful quality of a man forever young, who
points to the likes of Tony Joe White and the Coasters for his
Shinyribs-tickling, mind-expanding, butt-shaking “is he for real”
sense of humor. The crack eight-piece band features, aside from
Russell, keyboardist Winfield Cheek, bassist Jeff Brown and drummer
Keith Langford, along with the Tijuana Trainwreck Horns (trumpet
player Tiger Anaya and Mark Wilson on sax and flute) and the Shiny
Soul Sisters (Alice Spencer and Kelley Mickwee), as well as occasional
on-stage appearances by the Riblets, Shinyribs’ very own dance
troupe. About his status as a local hero, Russell says, “The
competition is pretty serious here in Austin. I don’t know how big a
fish I am, but I certainly flop around a lot.” Kevin Russell might
not take himself too seriously, but he is dead-on serious about the
eclectic blend of music he favors, combining Texas blues, New Orleans
R&B funk, horn-driven Memphis soul, country twang, border music, big
band swing, roots-rock, Tin Pan Alley and even punk into a raucous mix
that includes such out-of-the-blue cover nods as David Bowie’s
“Golden Years” (a posthumous tribute with an unlikely “On
Broadway” groove) or the Beatles’ “Everybody’s Got Something
To Hide Except Me and My Monkey” (interpolated into a live version
of “Poor People’s Store,” his populist “jingle” for an
imaginary bargain basement outlet). Russell’s Shinyribs have
recorded four albums since starting out as his “solo” side
project, starting with 2010’s Well After Awhile, followed by Gulf
Coast Museum (2013), Okra Candy (2015) and last year’s award-winning
I Got Your Medicine. The band’s impending release came to fruition
with demos Kevin started in his backyard studio, with Los Lobos’
Steve Berlin providing some of the horn arrangements. Russell’s
parents were both music lovers, his father teaching him his first
guitar chords, “then pretty much letting me go my own way.” As a
teenager, he went through a hard-core punk phase, attracted to west
coast acts like Minutemen, Hüsker Dü and Gun Club, followed by an
alternative/college fascination with R.E.M., the dBs and the
Replacements. “I was raised in an era where there were no rules,
where marketing and specialization hadn’t yet become the status
quo,” he says of his vast musical canvas. “I think of radio as
playing all styles of music; everything is up for grabs. I never
wanted to play just one kind of music. Honestly, I don’t know how to
do anything else. I love mashing things together you wouldn’t
expect, like a donut taco. “My thing is to love and respect
everyone, to accept everyone for who they are. You can be whoever you
want to be at a Shinyribs show… that’s what I’m trying to convey
with my music and the performance.” The past flows through
Russell’s aesthetic sensibility to become something, well, Shiny and
new. “It’s cool to see the old stuff still works. I’ve taken a
great deal from the best showmen I’ve seen over the years. I don’t
want people to hero-worship me like a celebrity. This isn’t about
me… it’s about us. Making everybody feel special.” His goal
remains to create music that makes us feel better about ourselves…
even the sad songs. “I feel good when I play and sing this music. I
want everybody to experience that same pleasure. I just want to keep
serving the music I love, and continue to evolve my art.”
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04/07/2020 Last update