Client Press

AL.com Interviews Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin

“Why are they alternative and I’m Southern rock”?

Kevn Kinney, singer/guitarist for Drivin N Cryin, is trying to wrap his head around how a certain digital outlet classifies his music.

“We just did a little tour with the Gin Blossoms and Collective Soul,” Kinney continues. He’s referring to two ’90s groups, each with some enduring but not exactly “Heart-Shaped Box”-edgy hits. “And they’re both listed (on that aforementioned digital outlet) as alternative. I don’t know. I think we’ve made a lot more alternative records than Southern rock records.”

by Baby Robot Media

DittyTV Sits Down For 5 Questions With The High Divers

The High Divers consist of the married Luke and Mary Alice Mitchell, Julius DeAngelis, and Kevin Early. Their new EP, Ride with You, was released on June 7, about two years after their touring van was T-boned by a semi-trailer truck, giving them broken bones, deep scars, and new perspectives.

by Baby Robot Media

PopMatters Talks Upcoming Drivin N Crying LP With Aaron Tasjan

Live the Love Beautiful is the latest album from the legendary Drivin N Cryin and the group’s first full-length album of new material since 2009’s working-class opera, Whatever Happened to the Great American Bubble Factory. Produced by acclaimed singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, who had his own two-year stint with the band as touring guitarist circa 2013, the album captures a number of things, including the current all-cylinders lineup, which features co-founders Kevn Kinney and Tim Nielsen, longtime drummer Dave V. Johnson and Estonian-born guitarist Laur Joamets.

by Baby Robot Media

Leslie Tom Releases Video for “Didn’t Think Twice” to Coincide with the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

Watch Leslie Tom’s video for “Didn’t Think Twice” here.

Country artist Leslie Tom has released her official video for “Didn’t Think Twice” today as a tribute to the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The video, which premiered at Wide Open Country, honors the sacrifices of the brave soldiers who landed on the shores of Normandy that fateful day.

All proceeds from the release of “Didn’t Think Twice” will benefit the Association of 3^rd Armored Veterans. For more information, please visit: www.3ad.org

A note from Leslie about “Didn’t Think Twice”:

“When I began working on my third studio project and happened to watch a video on YouTube called ‘Just A Common Soldier’ I knew I had to write a song as a tribute to my grandfather and his service to our country during WWII.

Within a few days of D-Day, on June 6, 1944, Milton Smallwood Alexander, a 26- year-old Texan and my grandfather, landed on the shores of Normandy with a tank regiment of the Third Armored Division. As a tank driver, he was one of the brave Americans who liberated France, Belgium, and then Germany before returning home to resume a “normal life.” Like many of the Veterans of WWII, nightmares must have wrestled in his head of that horrific war, especially those of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and watching his best friend die beside him as a deuce-and-a-half accidentally rolled over him, ultimately saving my grandfather’s life. For that generation of men, war was not discussed, though we can only surmise that the experiences they had were with the “Greatest Generation” for a lifetime.

The original version of “Didn’t Think Twice” was released as a duet with former Navy SEAL, Pete Scobell on Veterans Day 2016. A chance meeting with an Uber drive in south Florida in December 2017 led to me connecting with the Association of 3^rd Armored Veterans and another grandchild of a 3AD WWII veteran, Lou Baczewski, who is a historian and documentarian. Lou wrote and produced the documentary feature film “Path to the Past” about his grandfather’s experience during WWII through France, Belgium and Germany.

After Lou and I talked, it was decided we would re-cut “Didn’t Think Twice” with new lyrics specific to the experiences of those that fought in WWII and new music by the River Rats Band out of St. Louis, who produced the original music score for the film. Using images of 3AD WWII fighters and my grandparents, Lou directed and produced the new video version of “Didn’t Think Twice” which is dedicated to the WWII veterans that served in the 3AD.”

by Baby Robot Media

Creative Loafing Interviews Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin

In the song “I Used to Live Around Here,” Kevn Kinney sings, “I used to live around here / a long time ago / I used to play in this bar / before we had a stage.” It’s just one number from Drivin N Cryin’s ninth studio album, Live The Love Beautiful (out June 21 via Drivin N Cryin Records), a collection of inward ruminations and distant personal memories set to the tune of no-frills Southern rock ’n’ roll. It’s also the kind of thing Kinney might say during a lull in the conversation at pretty much any local music haunt. Therein lies the allure of Live The Love Beautiful’s sentimental journeys. Bass player Tim Nielsen, drummer Dave Johnson, and guitarist Laur Joamets have crafted a winding backdrop to Kinney’s personal narratives about everything from reconnecting with Drivin N Cryin’s first LP to looking within himself to find true happiness.

by Baby Robot Media

Americana UK Premieres Joanie & Matt’s “The One Above”

New York City based folk-duo Joanie & Matt are Joanie Leeds and Matthew Check, and they have a new album out on July 19th called ‘Sterling‘. On it Joanie & Matt have crafted songs for the marginalised, but have done this by working from their joint interpretations of what they describe as the “inherently misogynistic ancient texts from the Hebrew Bible“. Recrafting their Jewish heritage they have on ‘Sterling‘ created seven tracks that are provocative tales encompassing the #MeToo movement, the LGBTQ+ community and substance abuse; each chapter unfurling gritty honesty through a modern feminist lens.