That’s “Keeping My Brother Down”. A track from Nashville singer-songwriter and guitarist Kevin Gordon’s 2024 album The In Between.

I’ve been a fan of Kevin’s music for a long time and it was great to catch up with him recently. We talked about his early days growing up in Louisiana, his early punk band, his move to Nashville, and also the musicians, including Keith Richards, Scotty Moore, Levon Helm, Webb Wilder and Irma Thomas who’ve performed his songs. Stay tuned for more music and great stories from a very gifted musical artist.

DJ: [00:00:00] Kevin Gordon, thanks for taking the time to do this today.

Kevin: Oh, you’re welcome Dave. My pleasure.

DJ: I associate you with Nashville, but you were born in West Monroe, Louisiana, right?

Kevin: Well, I was actually born in Shreveport, 90 miles west. There’s some, uh, still inaccurate information, out there on the internet. Go figure.

DJ: Of course.

Kevin: But I grew up in, I grew up in Monroe.

DJ: I think Webb Pierce was from West Monroe.

Kevin: Yep. Yep. Little Walter was from outside of Alexandria.

DJ: Oh, wow. It was Webb who wrote the classic “In the Jailhouse Now” sung by both, uh, Jimmie Rodgers and of course the Soggy Bottom Boys. So…

Kevin: Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah.

DJ: Well, what type or types of music do you remember hearing, like for the first time when you were growing up in Louisiana?

Kevin: I think the, the stuff that I heard first that really stuck with me, and this was when I was a little kid, you know, pre 10 years old, was, uh, Jerry Lee Lewis and, uh, Ray Charles, our [00:01:00] folks, even though they were, you know, Beatles generation people, their tastes tended to run a little behind that.

So, they would, they would occasionally have these parties on the, on a weekend night and. It was, uh, I just remember hearing those, Ray Charles, those three Ray Charles country records. Uh, I don’t know if they had all three, but it was, you know, from those sessions. And, uh, I don’t even think it was the Jerry Lee’s, uh, Sun stuff.

I think it was the, uh, Mercury recordings.

DJ: Yeah.

Kevin: Stuff that came after that. But, you know, it was enough to give me the idea that. This was something I really dug and, and, you know, had literally a physical reaction to, you know, I would, apparently often just start dancing spontaneously, during these parties, which I’m sure was amusing for the adults. you know, drinking down the green daiquiris. Um. But, uh, that’s, that, that’s probably what I remember the most.

I mean, they, [00:02:00] they used to take me to concerts. you know, I think they snuck me into like Fifth Dimension concert one time. Trying to think what else. I went to several, but, um, yeah, music was always around. Thankfully.

DJ: It’s funny when you said that I, I always think about that too. ’Cause my parents were of the generation that most people their age were listening to like, I don’t know, late fifties, early sixties, you know, rock and roll or Beatles,

Kevin: Mm-hmm.

DJ: They were more, my dad was really into jazz, and they were kind of, uh, they had very interesting musical tastes.

And so, they did expose me to a lot of, uh, a lot of good stuff. I remember when I was young, my dad took me to see, I think when I first started expressing interest in guitar, he went to see Andrés Segovia, which was wild. I mean, he never, he never said a Segovia, never said a word the entire time.

He just came out, sat down, played, and then got up and took a bow. I mean, he was pretty old at that point, but it was, that was [00:03:00] pretty heavy for me too. It was like, wow, that’s pretty, that’s pretty cool.

Kevin: That’s amazing, man. Wow.

DJ: Well, was guitar the first instrument you learned to play?

Kevin: Well, still learning (laughs). Um… 

DJ: Me too.

Kevin: It’s kinda, yeah, it’s a bad day to talk to me about that. Uh, you know, I, I haven’t practiced for regularly for a while. I, I’ve just started back this past week and, um, there are moments of extreme frustration. But anyway, uh, yes, I had a, a great aunt gave me a, gave me like a plastic body nylon string acoustic when I was about eight.

But I couldn’t get used to, even with nylon strings, I couldn’t get used to the feeling of my fingers being sore. So, uh, I let it go for the sake of other. Youthful pursuits and, uh, picked it up again. When I was 17, 18, uh, my girlfriend’s mother, at the time, [00:04:00] um, she was, she was of that, you know, probably the last generation of people who, you know, just kept a guitar on the wall, you know, hung on the wall for, for. Recreation for amusement, you know, and, uh, she had like, uh, this really cool, it was a copy of a Gibson Hummingbird, but I remember it being a really cool guitar, you know. but, uh, she, bought, she found me another, a little acoustic guitar at a, at a thrift store, and, uh, gave that to me with a Xeroxed, you know, chart of, of chords, of basic chords, you know, and said, here you go, kid. You know? So, you know, and, and I just, I would take lessons every once in a while, but it was like either my teacher would quit teaching or move out of town or, you know,

DJ: Right.

Kevin: Uh, there was always some unexpected end to it.

So in the meantime, I would try to learn off of records. the old fashioned [00:05:00] way, you know. but uh, yeah.

DJ: Well, at what point did you start playing music with other people or either like joining or starting bands?

Kevin: That would’ve been in high school before I picked up the guitar again. I was singing in a band, my high school classmates, and we did like, I think our repertoire consisted of 23 Ramones songs and one Sex Pistols song.

DJ: Nice. Yeah.

Kevin: But, but, uh, the guitar player in the band was a guy who lived about a block away from me at the time, and he was one of these guys that.

He was just super smart and he spent all his time, it seemed, when he wasn’t at school in his room, you know, reading science fiction novels and, uh, you know, listening to stuff like, you know, Queen was a big fan for him and things like that, that were, you know, not quite in the same wheelhouse as what we were playing, you know, but yeah, [00:06:00] he, uh.

It was interesting. And, and, and our drummer was, his favorite drummer was Neil Peart. So…

DJ: Rush!

Kevin: …so getting him to do Ramones songs and, and not, you know, uh,

DJ: Into Neil Peart.

Kevin: Yeah. Kind of hilarious. But, uh, man, it, it was fun. It was, it was fun. We had a good time. But then, uh, you know, uh, from then after that it was like sophomore year of college. I had a little band. By this time, I was playing guitar and, you know, we were doing like rockabilly stuff pretty much. but I think we only played in public once, which is probably for the best. Um, me. Interest of the public health, um, you know, but, uh, you know, you do what you can, you know, from it and keep going, you know. So. 

DJ: Well, in your college years you earned a master’s degree in poetry from, was it University of[00:07:00] Iowa?

Kevin: Yeah. I got a, I got a B.A. in English from the state college that I went to that was there in Monroe, and then, uh, went to Iowa for grad school and, uh, yeah, got a, got a master’s in creative writing. I was in the, it was the Iowa Writers Workshop, which, you know, it was famous and infamous institution.

And, uh, I was in the poetry workshop and we were. As I like to say, we were the juvenile delinquents of the, of the writing program. you know, just got into all kinds of trouble. but along the way, you know, I had lots of time because it was a studio degree, it wasn’t an academic degree, you know, rigidly anyway, so you had a lot of time to yourself to read or write or whatever else you were doing.

And so I just remember having, um. Those Freddie King instrumental records. and I also had an Eddie Cochran, uh, this really rare, uh, live record. So I was going back and forth between learning, you know, trying to [00:08:00] learn, hide away the right way. And, uh, uh, from the Eddie Cochran record, his version of, there was a version of “Milk Cow Blues” on that record.

And the solo he took was just like, I want to do that, you know? And, uh, just really captivated by it. And by this point I had a, you know, I had a Gretsch, it wasn’t a 6120, but it was. It was, you know, uh, was it ’64, ’65, uh, Nashville, which probably would’ve still been called some sort of Chet Atkins model. Um, it was the, one of the ones with the double cutaway, um, and fake F holes. but, you know, still very much had that sound, uh, at least to my ear then,

DJ: Yeah, my brother, who, he lives out in California, but he has a beautiful ’62 Gretsch Country Gentleman that I get to play occasionally when I. When I see him, uh, which… 

Kevin: Oh man. 

DJ: …it’s just so nice. But, [00:09:00] um, oh, and, uh, speaking, speaking of “Milk Cow Blues”, I, there’s been a lot of people have covered that, but I always loved the, the very early, The Kinks covered that very early on, and that’s such a great version.

Kevin: Oh yeah, that’s right.

DJ: Well, at what point did you start writing songs after getting your degree? Or was it before you got your degree?

Kevin: Oh. Yeah. I was, I was, I was confused even before then. Uh, you know, I, I just remember as soon as I. Literally got a guitar in my hands. Maybe not, maybe not in high school. Uh, but once I was in college, my stepdad found me this, was a 335 copy made by Ovation of all things. you know, I think he, he paid 80 bucks for it, you know. So electric guitar, oh man, here we go. You know? I just remember almost as soon as I got that guitar, like of course I was obsessively trying to learn [00:10:00] stuff, but I was also trying to write, you know, and it just seemed like something that, you know, needed to happen. so, know, it was, it was, uh, something that, stuck with me apparently.

You know, it wasn’t until, it wasn’t until I got to Iowa that I started writing songs that were, I guess I would say close, close to what I’ve been doing for, 30 years. before that, you know, in college. I was writing songs that were sort of like, you know, X was a big influence. So you had some of the rockabilly thing in there, but it was also a lot of, you know, of the sort of punk rock energy, I guess.

DJ: What do you remember the first time you performed one of your original songs, either for an audience or maybe you just tried it out on some friends?

Kevin: I think it had to have been, probably my, our first bar gig, uh, which was hilarious. We had no idea, know. About money or what to ask for or should we ask for money? What do we charge at the door? It was [00:11:00] owned by a father and son and like many people in Monroe, didn’t know how they ended up there or why, but there must be some nefarious reason, you know? I’m not, I’m not saying these guys were criminals, but they were basically running a book, a bookie operation out of the background and a club out of the front room and the waitresses. I think there was one of them who was of age, the other three. Were 16 or 17. it was just this amazing little, you know, world of depravity and, uh, and because, my bands, me and my friends. It was such a small scene in Monroe, you know, for the sort of punk rock people, uh, that we would all tell each other where, you know, where the bar was that was friendly at the time, you know, to us. And, uh, this place, it was called Harry’s, welcomed us in because, you know, I, [00:12:00] I don’t think there was much happening for those guys before then.

And, uh, other than, the illicit activities. But um, so we played there the first time for half a case of beer, no money, and, and, uh, you know, packed it, it wasn’t a big room, but you know, it just felt like, wow, you know, this is amazing. And, uh. don’t think much audio exists from those times.

Thank, thank goodness. But, uh, uh, that’s probably when I first started.

DJ: Well, in the early nineties you moved to Nashville. Was the intention to be around the Nashville music scene, or was your goal to actually work in the music business at that point?

Kevin: I had this, what now seems like a fantasy, that I could move here and keep doing what I was, what I wanted to do, and that somehow the songs I was writing could [00:13:00] fit into. You know, the mainstream country market you know, this is coming from a guy who had no interest in mainstream country radio.

You know, it’s like, you know, I mean for me, like, you know, Steve Earle and Marty Stuart were about as country as I got. You know, we used to wear those early records out when I was playing with Bo Ramsey in Iowa. You know, we would wear those. Out, which were then on cassette, you know, the Hillbilly Rock, Marty Stuart record, and, uh, the first two Steve Earle records, uh, on MCA.

So I thought, you know, uh, based on that, that it might work, you know, and, um, did. Succeed, I guess as far as, you know, I, I got a little publishing deal about a year after I moved here. and it was with a manager, who represented three country artists who were kind of, you know, kinda left of center at the time.

Uh, [00:14:00] it was, um, Lee Roy Parnell, Pam Tillis and this guy named Marty Brown from Kentucky, who was, God bless him, kind of a lunatic. Just, you know, just really manic and, but very, very traditional. Like, like Hank Sr. kind of vibe, you know? So it sort of made sense. And he, the manager, uh, Mike Robertson was his name.

He, he thought that I, I was gonna write something that one of his artists would record. And, uh, you know, good idea. And thanks for paying my rent for a year. But, um, it was like the worst creative year of my life, frankly. And, uh, I guess it was, you know, but I got exposed to that whole Music Row thing, which was a, a new world to me, you know?

Oh, you know, I have an appointment to write at. Warner Chappell at 10:00 AM with this person that I’ve never met before,

DJ: Hmm.

Kevin: But my manager thinks I’ll get along [00:15:00] with swimmingly or my, my publisher and, you know, I, that was just totally opposite of any sort of, uh, artistic or whatever creative impulse that I’d ever had.

You know, I couldn’t quite, I couldn’t do it, man. You know, I tried but right after I got let outta my publishing deal, after a year, I met my friend Gwil Owen. And, uh, we hit it off immediately and wrote four songs that ended up on the first Shanachie record, uh, Cadillac Jack’s #1 Son. We wrote four of those songs within two or three months, I think two of them in one night. so that showed me that, you know, yeah, the co-write thing can work if you’re with the right people who you know, if you understand each other, yeah, it was kind of, it was a rough first couple of years in town, but it was, I mean, compared to trying to move to New York or L.A. it was a piece of cake.

I mean, it [00:16:00] was back in the south, which is kind of, you know, it felt more like home, even though. Tennessee compared to Louisiana is, you know, they’re still worlds apart. you know, and, and I already had friends here who were musicians that I knew from Iowa. I may have known a couple of people from Louisiana, I don’t remember.

But, um, so it was just a, an easier place to land, I guess.

Hey, quick reminder to check out Frets with DJ Fey on YouTube. Subscribe for free and you’ll find extras like Shorts and videos featuring live performances of Frets guests. Subscribing really does help keep the podcast going. And did I mention… it’s free. Now back to the show.

DJ: Well, I know our friend Joe V. McMahan produced a lot of your albums over the years as well as providing guitar work. But um, you’d mentioned Cadillac Jack’s #1 Son that was produced by Garry Tallent, who was the bassist in, uh, Springsteen’s E Street Band. How did he get involved in the making of the record?

Kevin: I had a, a fan, At the time who was also an attorney who, uh, wanted to, you know, get some experience doing entertainment law and, uh, hell, you know, I was young and green and broke. And, [00:17:00] uh, so he, you know, he offered to do some stuff for me pro bono. And, uh, he. Knew, I can’t remember how he met Garry, but, um, they were acquaintances and, um, this attorney, uh, Doug, helped me raise some money to record what would become, that first Shanachie record. So we actually had that record done, you know, a year and a half before I got a, a deal to release it on Shanachie. so, yeah, I just, we brought Garry in and, I really liked him immediately and, you know, of course, pretty much anybody does who meets him. He’s. He’s just a normal guy.

He is just, you know, sweetheart, in addition to being an incredible bass player and, and a really good producer. so, it was just a great experience. he had his own studio, with a guy named Tim Coates, who’s a great engineer here in town. So we worked there and man, you know, learned so much about how to get good sounds out of [00:18:00] a small space, and, uh, you know, heard some good stories along the way about, you know, Springsteen and, people like that. Danny Federici, I remember, came to town while we were doing overdubs and actually ended up playing organ on a couple of things on that record. That’s where I met Southside Johnny, who I ended up, uh, touring with for a little while, during, a short period when he was. Wanted to do a stripped down thing without horns. He wanted to do blues, he wanted to do Little Walter songs. But anyway, so yeah, meeting Garry was, was a great experience 

DJ: It’s a great record. I’ve had it for years and I’ll, I’ll talk a little bit more about, how I came to be aware of Cadillac Jack’s #1 Son later. But, uh, we’ll get to that. Well, you became known for and very much praised for your songwriting over the years. And your songs have been recorded by a lot of great people, including Levon Helm, Keith Richards, Webb Wilder, Irma Thomas, who’s still, she still put out, I [00:19:00] think she put out an album last year.

Kevin: Amazing. Yeah.

DJ: She’s great. Uh, the duet with Lucinda Williams on your album Down to the Well is beautiful.

Kevin: Well, thanks.

DJ: And that track that, that appeared on a couple compilation albums, I think.

Kevin: Yeah. It was on the Oxford American, uh, Music, cd, whatever they called it then, and it was on a, what was then, what was it called? An alt country compilation. Uh, it was before we called it Americana, uh, that a label called Dualtone put out. ’96 or ’97 I think. No. Maybe it, no, it would’ve had to have been after that.

’cause we cut Down to the Well in ’99. so yeah. it was good to get it out there or I remember getting a call from the, the guy who was putting those compilations together for Oxford American at the time, and I was working at an art gallery downtown here, and I was. At the time I was up on a ladder about 15 feet in the air trying to, uh, drive a masonry nail into this mortar, uh, so that I could hang [00:20:00] this huge painting on this wall.

And, uh, the phone rang and I answered it, and it was Rick Clark who. Used to produce all of those Oxford American compilations. And he said, uh, just wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we, you know, put Down to the Well on our compilation next year, you know, and almost fell off the damn ladder, you know? I was like, are you, are you kidding?

Which was, it was really good, you know, it led to some good things. , I played, uh. One of the big stages at, uh, Jazzfest in New Orleans that next year. And, uh, several other things. unfortunately the label did not, uh, find it worthy to think about placing an ad in the magazine about the record, which completely still baffles me.

But alas, that’s the way it goes with, with labels, uh, sometimes. yeah, the, and the Lucinda thing was actually, I won’t say it was an afterthought, but it was a, we had tried to get her [00:21:00] on the Cadillac Jack record, but the timing was. just didn’t work out. And we were gonna have her sing on “Pauline”, and she didn’t think it was in the right key for her, so it didn’t happen.

But, uh, with “Down to the Well”, we had recorded the whole thing and given it to the label, and they had asked us to remix about half of it and do a little bit of supplemental recording on a couple of tracks. and that’s when, uh, my friend Bo Ramsey, who was one of the producers on that record, had the idea to reach out to Lucinda about singing on “Down to the Well”. And, uh, because, uh, before then, we just had a stock, you know, background vocal. And I sang the second verse. And, uh, we just got lucky. Lucinda was around and available and she came over to the studio where we were working and, you know, uh, I think what you hear on the record is like the second take, so it was just a [00:22:00] real stroke, of luck there, that, that, that happened.

Kevin: Hey, this is Kevin Gordon, and you’re listening to Frets with DJ Fey.

DJ: That’s great. I mentioned Joe McMahan earlier when Joe was on one of the early episodes of this podcast. I was reminding him and see if you remember this at all, that I met you and Joe when you guys were playing a St. Louis show years ago. And his Joe’s sister, Michelle and I have been friends for years.

And that particular show you and your band crashed at her place for the night and, uh. Before even heading to the venue, we were all kinda hanging out over at, uh, Michelle and Dave’s and, uh, getting ready to head to the show. And,

Kevin: Yeah.

DJ: I’m trying, I’m trying to remember if that was Twangfest or if it was, I almost feel like you guys played the Duck Room and, that show, I don’t know, it’s been so many years, I’m pretty sure at that show is where I bought, Cadillac Jack’s #1 Son. So I’ve had that. It’s sitting right 

Kevin: Oh man. 

DJ: Um,

Kevin: That’s awesome.

DJ: Yeah. Well, Joe’s great. obviously met him [00:23:00] through his sister, but how did you guys, how, how did you cross paths and meet?

Kevin: I remember sometime in the, you know, ’93 or so, need, I had a local gig and I needed a guitar player you know, I, I tried to get. A mutual friend of mine and Joe’s, guy named Buddy Flett, who’s a fantastic songwriter and R&B guitar player from Shreveport. was living in Nashville at the time, and he was kind of a mentor to me when I first moved here.

We would do, uh. Things like go eat catfish on Fridays for lunch, you know, and just talk about, how it felt to do the, do what we were doing, which was, you know, writing songs that were not country songs, in this town, you know, and the comedy and tragedy of, you know, both ends of it, you know.

But, uh. I asked Buddy to do my gig and uh, you know, he, he, such a wise guy, [00:24:00] wise man, that he goes, you know, you should call Joe. And, uh, he gave me his phone number yeah, you should call him, you know, and, uh, so I just called him seemed interested. I think at the time he was playing with, uh, Jo-El Sonnier, who was a, a Cajun artist, Cajun guy from South Louisiana, who somehow, the grace of the gods had a deal with MCA at the time and they were, you know, they were kind of trying to, sell him sort of, I guess as a Cajun Elvis sort of thing. and those are great records, you know, and Joe-El was fantastic. He was wonderful accordion player and singer, you know, he was the real deal. yeah, Joe was playing in Jo-El’s band at the time , yeah, so that’s, I just remember I. Joe was living over in Donaldson and, uh, which is a suburb out, out by the airport, east of here, uh, not too far away. And, uh, I just drove over there and met him and him, you know, I guess it would’ve been a cassette at that point, full of songs. so that’s how we kind of got together. And, uh, [00:25:00] he had an interesting history in that he.

Spent a year at, uh, Berkeley, the music school in Boston, uh, studying guitar, but bailed on it after a year. So he already had this real, uh, deep knowledge of, music in terms of theory and our chords work together. Et cetera. A lot of different influences. but you know, we both had a deep love of, music that was primarily rhythmic in nature, you know, like John Lee Hooker or Lightnin’ Hopkins.

So I think we both were kind of. Pointed in similar directions. and it was a partnership that just kind of grew, over those next few years. it was great. And then Joe introduced me to, Paul Griffith, a great drummer from Louisiana who I used to. See play when I was in college, still living down there, he was in a band with a guy I just mentioned, Buddy Flett called A-Train.

They were a very popular band in Shreveport. but [00:26:00] Paul was living here at that point. And he was playing with, uh, he played with a bunch of different people. Oh hell, Carlene Carter, I think, who else? but he was, you know, for my thing it was really great. You know, Paul is just a wonderful, very distinctive player and grew up, you know, right outside of New Orleans and took lessons from, You know, real sort of heavy hitter local players there in New Orleans when he was a kid. so then, you know, I met Paul and also, uh, Ron Eoff who, has played bass with me since Joe introduced us. Ron, you know, he has a tremendous history. He was in a version of The Band, circa 1983. He grew up with, uh, Levon Helm’s nephew Terry.

And, um, at some point, got to join forces with, with Levon and, Rick and Richard, and Garth in a version of The Band. But, uh, has played with a bunch of people, Delbert, and he was playing with Jo-El at the same [00:27:00] time anyway, meeting Joe led to a lot of things as far as finally, you know, sort of getting, a rhythm section that really understood where I was coming from. Maybe in a way that even I didn’t understand at the time, you know? But, uh, we had a lot of fun, man. It was…

unfortunately, you know, some of those, some of those gigs on the road were more about the fun than the music. Uh, it took, it took several years to kind of. Uh, reassess. yeah, uh, no regrets. Had a good time.

DJ: That’s great.

Kevin: Yeah.

DJ: Well, you’ve recorded and released a lot of great albums over the years, and in 2024, your fantastic record, The In Between came out. I bought it digitally on Bandcamp, but it became available and I just ordered a vinyl, so I’m excited.

I’ve been beefing up my vinyl collection, so I’m excited to get that.

Kevin: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you.

DJ: But not long after you started recording the [00:28:00] album, you were diagnosed with throat cancer, which put things on hold. First of all, I’m thrilled you were able to recover from that. And it’s very admirable that you picked up where you left off in the recording studio, and the result was a really fine album.

Kevin: Oh, well, thanks. Uh, yeah, it was, uh, it was a special time. Um, you know, definitely didn’t see that coming. we had, uh, had done one set of tracking sessions, which, you know, for those who. Don’t know music biz terminology. That’s, that’s just where you go in and you, you are basically recording, the band, basic elements of the band, uh, that, that are going to be on the recording, and that’s where you figure out your arrangement, you know, it’s just kind of the ground, , the grounding for whatever else you add later.

So we had done one set of tracking sessions, uh, in November of ’21. And, uh, [00:29:00] as we’ve often done, you know, we, we take the luxury of kind of just listening to it, and not, you know, not be in a hurry. , And see what, what we want to try to go back and. Redo if, if we want to or, or what, you know. So, uh, I guess it was in March of ’22 that, you know, I was sitting on the couch one night with my wife watching television and happened to lean back and, you know, stare at the ceiling while.

And I ran, just ran my hand down my throat, you know, down, down the outside of my throat. why I did that, I have no idea. Um, but I noticed that things were not symmetrical. Yeah.

So, 

DJ: Not a good, never a good sign.

Kevin: No. And, uh, you know, um, I can be sort of, uh, paranoid about my health, so I was immediately concerned. Uh, and I had just [00:30:00] had sinus surgery, two months before that in January.

So, uh, I went back to my, the guy who did that surgery, my ear, nose and throat guy, thinking that it was possibly some side effect of having had that surgery. and, uh, he was immediately concerned, which. Didn’t sit well with me. Um, but uh, ended up, you know, going and getting, you know, doing what you do.

You go to the in endocrinologist and get a biopsy, you know, and, and fun stuff like that. And, uh, it took until late May before we had. A diagnosis. And, uh, right after that, uh, like a week later, we had already scheduled another round of tracking sessions with a different rhythm section. Um, we just wanted to try some of the songs with a different band and see how it, how they hit it.

So that was a very interesting time. You know, definitely felt a sense [00:31:00] of, uh, urgency. you know, so, and I remember working on songs like, uh, ”Catch a Ride”, you know, like, the morning that I was going over to Joe’s to, cut stuff with this other band. So the whole thing took on a, a different.

Emotional tone, I guess. The sessions went well. We ended up cutting more songs than we had planned on, but you know, I had this little problem I needed to get taken care of and, uh, went to, uh, an oncologist and, you know, got set up for what would be a very interesting summer.

And, uh, ended up, doing seven weeks of radiation and, uh, supposed to be six rounds of chemo but only ended up doing four. but had great doctors and, you know, uh, there just really wasn’t much time to, freak out about it because, uh, they wanted to start treatment like right away. [00:32:00] So. My wife and I had a, a trip already scheduled to fly out to see our son in Portland, Oregon, in early June of that summer.

But the day after we got back, you know, I was, at the hospital, you know, getting my first, radiation treatment. and, you know, it just becomes your, your new normal. You know, it just becomes your job, you know?

DJ: Hmm.

Kevin: And, uh, you know, I gotta say that the people who worked in the radiation room and all that, you know, the doctors, everybody made it as comfortable as possible.

Um.

DJ: That’s great.

Kevin: You know, I was really lucky. And, um, so I was done with treatment in mid-August. And of course part of the question was, what’s this going to do to my throat, to my voice? and as I like to joke with people, uh, unfortunately it didn’t do anything.

DJ: Oh, I think most of us would say, we love that it didn’t affect your voice, so.[00:33:00]

Kevin: I mean, I, I do, I do hear a little more of a, a rasp in my talking voice, but, uh, vocally, it’s, it’s pretty much the same. and I think some of the differences probably due to being a little older, as much as it is, you know, having gone through that. But, uh, so yeah, uh, that fall we, as soon as I was feeling good enough, because the worst part of treatment for something like that is the period immediately after you finish the treatment, because you’ve got all that, poison in your system and, uh, it takes a while to get out.

DJ: Sure. Sure.

Kevin: So, uh, but I remember I think by October we were, I was recording vocals again. so really kind of got lucky, you know, I mean, just the timing of everything in addition to the obvious, fact that I, you know, knock on, knock on wood, you know, recovered and have been [00:34:00] fine ever since. 

DJ: It’s great that you came through. Okay. That’s, that’s awesome.

Kevin: Oh, thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I feel lucky for sure.

DJ: Well, I love Nashville and I’m overdue for another visit. You’ve lived there for what, close to 30 years, or is it 30 years now?

Kevin: Oh, it’s been almost 34. Good lord. What the hell? Ha. What happened?

DJ: That’s right. ’cause it was ’92, I guess. That’s right.

Kevin: Yeah. Summer of…summer of ’92. Yeah. I don’t know what happened, but here we are. You know? Um, yeah,

DJ: Well, when I am down there, I usually go to my favorite spots. I love Robert’s Western World, of course, Tootsie’s.

Kevin: Oh yeah.

DJ: Yeah, I usually kind of tend to hit the same spots. Exit/In if there’s a good show.

Kevin: Yeah. Sure.

DJ: Well, Kevin Gordon, and so much for doing this. I’ve been hoping to talk to you for quite a while now.

Kevin: Sure, Dave. My pleasure man. Uh, thanks. Thanks for having me. And uh, yeah, let me know when you get to town.

DJ: Yeah, I will [00:35:00] call you up.

Kevin: Yeah,

DJ: All right,

Kevin: Please do.

DJ: Thanks much.

Kevin: You bet, Dave. Thank you.

DJ: You can find more information about Kevin Gordon and where to purchase his music in the show notes to this episode. As always, thanks for listening and… stay tuned.