>>PREVIEW
KIERAN KANE, KEVIN WELCH AND FATS KAPLIN
Wednesday, May 10
Knox United Church
Between them, they’ve written songs for Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, Trisha Yearwood, and Emmylou Harris and have played with Tom Russell, Ray Willie Hubbard, Pure Prairie League, Mark Knopfler and Nanci Griffith. When Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin hit the road together, Nashville must feel a little vacant.
While members of the trio have released several solo albums, their collaborative efforts, 2004’s You Can’t Save Everybody and this year’s Lost John Dean, are the style of music that tends to turn up on year-end critics’ lists. The songs capture the open sky snared up between mandolins, guitars and accordions –all moving along with rhythmic shuffling charm. Spare, earthy lyrics complement the sound.
Born in New York State, Kane started out as a drummer who taught himself mandolin and guitar, stopping off at the promised land of Los Angeles before finding his niche in Nashville. There, he hooked up with Welch and the two added Kaplan’s multi-instrumental talents and took to the road. And while Tom Russell warns that Nashville is a place that sucks up music careers and spits out the artist’s bones and blood, it’s Kane’s kind of town.
"I really like it here; this is an interesting place," Kane says. "People talk about Austin as a great place to be. One night on the road someone said Nashville was a town of hacks. We made a list of people who had stopped by for awhile here – John Prine, Steve Earle and so on – an enormous list. How many really, really creative artists making really on-the-edge music were here and happy? The industry notwithstanding, it’s a hotbed of creative activity."
Nashville also happens to be the place where Kane’s 27-year-old son Lucas is playing drums with another guy under the name of Jimmy the Lung. Lucas ended up playing percussion with Kane, Welch and Kaplin in Toronto and Ottawa after his dad gave Lucas a call in December when he had a Nashville gig the next day.
"I had never heard him play drums before, but my daughter said he was good. He said ‘sure,’ which surprised me. He was quite fearless about it and did a good job. It’s been good all around to do something different because I’ve actually started writing more since he has been playing with me."
Lucas plays on the set of drums Kane got at 15 and carted around for all these years. His 25-year-old daughter also plays around town in an all-girl band called Ruby Rocket, and Kane seldom misses their gigs. He is as close to his children as he was before he went on the road, he was home when they came home from school and spent a lot of time with them.
Despite his busy career and family life, Kane was able to co-found the Dead Reckoning Label 11 years ago. The label’s main function now is to make music and the tasks like marketing and getting royalties set up are left up to other companies, so Dead Reckoning only takes up a few hours of Kane’s time each week.
His collaborations with Welch and Kaplin are extremely popular in Canada and Australia, but they are less well-known in the States. He says the intimate quality of the music is not a factor in this, pointing out that Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent have a similar candidness, but are huge there.
"I don’t know what it is about the States. It’s too big, too many people, but it is very hard to conquer the States. But we are grateful for the appreciation we have in Canada and Australia." He pauses, adding, "I am curious about it (why some acts are more popular in different latitudes). I am not angry about it or bitter, but it’s a phenomenon I am curious about." |
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