TUB GUT
STOMP and
RED-EYED
SOUL for
VALENTINES
Flamboyant entertainer tells how he could wear any color suit that suited him.
Kevin Russell—the front man for the Austin-based band Shinyribs—knows how to get a crowd going. And by going, I mean literally, as in an oft traditional conga line he leads out the door at the end of shows. If you were to view that performance outside of context, it might seem like American cheese—the embarrassment young people would feel watching their elders doing the “Macarena” at a wedding.
But after a couple of hours watching Russell do a variety of outlandish and funky dances in his brightly colored suits, accompanied by lightning-fast fingers across his strings, after being entranced by the swaying of his backup singers, after hearing his horn section blast in on grooves, well, you’ll be in the conga line.
The energy Russell and crew put into their music is invigorating. Then there’s always the quiet, melodic tune to settle the crowd down for a rest. This description from Wikipedia is busting at the seems, but it’s humorous when you look at how people struggle to quickly describe a band: “Shinyribs is a 9-piece swamp funk / Southern soul band.”
Shinyribs will be the lead act for bands at the “Valentine’s in Valentine” event on February 14, what has become a fairly-annual tradition of music and food for the tiny town of about 50, 36 miles west of Marfa. A restored “mercantile” store and outdoor stage are the backdrops.
It will be Shinyribs’ first trip to Valentine, although Russell has been to most of the other Big Bend destinations. So, while he doesn’t know it yet, the rustic store-turned-dance hall will be a perfect venue for his band, even if his outlandish performances don’t stick too closely to the more fiddle-oriented, boot-stomping country that surrounds us in the Big Bend. Also performing at the festival will be Slim Brown Trucker Band, Doodlin’ Hogwallops and Los Arcos Hermanos Pena.
For nearly two decades starting in 1994, Russell was with The Gourds—a band that continually won awards for the best live music show in Austin. When you went to a Gourds show, you knew it was going to be a great time, and a community of fans developed over the years that became tight, devoted to the pursuit of general happiness in songs rooted, initially, in alt-country and Cajun riffs, then expanding into almost every category of music. In 2013, the band split, or at least stopped playing together, and Russell went on with Shinyribs, which has released about 10 albums and garnered just about every “best” award from the Austin Music Awards.
Big Bend Sentinel sat down with Russell—who was in his Austin music studio surrounded by instruments—on a remote video call on Sunday. He was dressed casually, as opposed to what we eventually talked about with his suits.
With this first question, if there was a way for you to jump through the Zoom screen and throttle me, you probably would. But how would you describe Shinyribs’ music? And, to add a little challenge to that, without using any of the words on your website homepage.
Oh gosh. I would just direct you to a song of mine that I wrote specifically to describe my music. It’s called “Tub Gut Stomp and Red-Eyed Soul.”
But it is just an amalgamation of all kinds of roots music, mainly Texas, and specifically Gulf Coast, Louisiana, and Texas. And Central Texas, East Texas kind of roots music that I grew up with and that I’ve discovered later in life. Even, like swamp-pop music. I heard it as a kid, but I didn’t know it had a name.
Where did you grow up?
Beaumont, Texas, the Golden Triangle.
Are you sure you grew up in Beaumont? Memories can be deceiving.
Yeah, until I was 14. We moved when I was 14 to the suburbs of Houston—Humble, Texas, and then I finished high school in Shreveport. Shreveport’s my other hometown, where I learned to drive, started my first bands there.
It was the mid eighties, the drinking age was 18 then, so I was 17 with a neck beard so I could play in the bars.
(I point out that Russell says YOU-ston)
There is no “H” in Houston. That’s a silent H.
Well, I’m not from that neck of the woods. I’m from Dallas, so I say “Houston.”
I’ve seen your shows and they’re berserk in entertainment. And The Gourds was always the best freakin’ show in Austin town. But more down home than Shinyribs. You’re known for these crazy costumes, or lately the brightly colored suits.
And your band is already a dynamic show of singing, blasting trumpets, dancing, grooving back-up singers. So why do you need that extra layer of color?
I always wanted to dress up. Growing up watching the Johnny Carson show, Doc Severson was always dressed to the nines. And Johnny too. Men’s fashions in the ‘70s were so fly and crazy with colors and patterns. As a kid there’s pictures of me where I had some of the coolest damn suits, man, and so I’ve always loved that. But somewhere along the line…I guess Reagan. You know, we can blame a lot of the downward spiral of politics and culture on Ronald Reagan. With the Reagan era, shit just started to suck.
There seems to be a trend in men’s wear these days for more color and more flash and more interesting patterns and fabrics. But really what happened was I never had the courage to do it. I didn’t think I could pull it off until I hired an artist for my Okra Candy record—my third record with Shinyribs. Her name is Ashton Guy. She drew me on the record cover.
There’s a picture of me, and I’m sitting on a throne with all these horns and furs and stuff, and she put me in a red suit with a purple shirt. And I was like, well, I gotta get a red suit now.
One time we went to New Orleans, of all places, and I forgot my red suit. And so I asked a friend of mine, “Is there anywhere in New Orleans I could get a red suit?” And he said, “Yeah, like the Walgreens—anywhere basically.” So I went to this crazy warehouse. And I realized as I was going through the stacks that I could get any kind of suit I wanted. I’m not relegated to just a red suit. No. I could have a purple plaid suit. I could have a pink suit. I could have a lime green suit. So I bought three or four suits that day.
I noticed when I went to your website, the description of your band is a “super group.” What is a super group? Is that like Kool & the Gang or something?
Yeah, I don’t know what that means either. A super group? I mean, it’s a big band. I have big bands.
And so tell me a little bit about this super group. Are they all kind of freaks or have they grown to be a family?
Well, the band has changed so much over the years. The membership has been several people through the years. Things have changed dramatically in the last few years because there were a lot of older guys in the band. Some have passed away. Some have stepped away, retired from touring.
Do you even know their names?
I don’t. I don’t know their names. I give them numbers and colors and that helps me. I have a core group, you know, Keith Langford, the drummer, is still with me. He was with me in The Gourds. I’m married to his sister and have been for 30 years or more now. So, that’s the bedrock—me and Keith’s partnership.
And then my bass player, a guy named Mason Hankamer, who was also from the Golden Triangle—Port Arthur—a young guy that’s my music director and co-producer on the last couple of records. I have a great keyboard player, a guy named Eric Baker, a really talented guy.
For the night in Valentine, I will have a guitarist named Jess Clifford with me. These are all like 30-year-old people, young musicians, but great musicians. And I have a revolving cast of singers. The main singer right now, my Shiny Soul Sister, her name’s Schaefer Llana, and she’s from Mississippi, but she’s moving to Austin. And we’ll have as the second singer that night, one of our subs, a guy named Mars Wright, a male Shiny Soul Sibling. An added bonus is one of my good friends who played with me for years, who retired from touring but will be joining us on steel, guitar and bongos—the great Marty Muse.
Okay. This is the only time I’m gonna mention The Gourds. For your reunion show in Austin last summer, I was lucky enough to go to both shows. And I literally was seeing people dropping to their knees and just weeping. It was quite emotional. Was that because of shitty music (Russell has a song titled “Shitty Music”), or what was going on with that?
I thought we played really well considering we hadn’t played together in 10 years. You know, it is just emotional because it meant so much. I think every band is like that. It has a community around it. So many friendships, and relationships, and history and the stories. And it’s those years of our lives when we’re in our twenties and thirties—we’re all at that age where we are nostalgic about those times. It happened kind of suddenly, The Gourds breaking up or taking a hiatus or whatever we called it, and not everyone had a chance to say goodbye. I think people were grateful to have another chance. And some people brought their kids because they wanted their kids to see this band. It meant so much to them. It was sort of like our last show at Threadgills, where with every face in the crowd, there was a story.
I knew every single face, I didn’t know everybody’s name, but I knew all those faces. And that was wild. That’s just wild to be part of that. Wow. And it was all I could do to not start crying. The first couple of songs, I was so feeling so much emotion. I was like, “Man, I gotta check myself. Keep it together, man!”
And we are planning to do a reunion this year sometime, another show. We’ll probably do one a year, I would think, going forward. I’m not sure where it’s gonna be yet.
With your extensive discography of dozens of releases, do you ever just get tired of making music?
I don’t get tired of making music, ever. I love making music. I love working up songs, arranging songs. I was in here last night, and it felt a little like COVID times because no one was out. It was eerily quiet. No sounds anywhere. And I was just in here recording, writing a song. I just had an idea and it was great.
Have you ever been to Valentine?
I’ve never been to Valentine. I was asking my friend Graham Jones about it. He’s gone to those shows before, and I was kind of wondering, “Is it a dancing thing? Is it a sit down thing? What’s the vibe?” You know? And he sent me some video and kind of gave me a feel for it. It looks kind of like Luckenbach.
Yeah, but not as touristy.
I know it’ll be cool. I’m thrilled to have the gig. I know a lot of people have done this gig over the years, so I feel quite honored to be able to be there.
Valentines in Valentine is Saturday, February 14, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Mercantile. For tickets, visit valentineinvalentinetx.com. You can learn more about Russell and band at shinyribs.com.
