Artist Spotlight - Mark Rubin on Kevin "Shinyribs" Russell

Mark Rubin’s Dispatches: Songs from a World Gone Mad offers pointed sociopolitical (“Dog Whistle”) and spiritual (“Blues for the Innocent”) commentary throughout. The razor sharp collection defines the folksinger’s mission statement.

“My friend Si Kahn told me once that if you’re going to be a folksinger you need a folk to sing for,” Rubin says. “Otherwise, you’re just a singer-songwriter. I plan to find out exactly who the folk I’m singing for is with Dispatches.”

We recently caught up with the former Austin resident and current New Orleans-based songwriter about his early days in Central Texas with Gourds and Shinyribs lead singer and songwriter and longtime friend Kevin Russell.

“My relationship with Kevin predates the Gourds,” Rubin says. “I knew him in his first band Picket Line Coyotes. I didn’t know the Gourds much at all. I was too busy working with the Bad Livers and probably only saw the Gourds twice.”

Alt.Country Specialty Chart: Explain how you met Kevin Russell.

Mark Rubin: The Picket Line Coyotes came to Dallas all the time from Shreveport when their manager was also my band Killbilly’s manager. She handled both our affairs. We met them and found out they were really swell guys. Kevin and I hit it off immediately. I ended up going out to Shreveport and hung out with them there. Kevin’s a wonderful guy, great songwriter and engaging front man.

Describe Shreveport in the Nineties. 

It was interesting to see Kevin in his environment. Shreveport was a really small town with not much to it. Shreveport has none of the cool, fun things you think about when you think of Louisiana. It’s more like Arkansas culturally than anything else. The Coyotes eventually moved to Dallas.

Explain how the Coyotes fit in with the Shreveport music scene.

What’s interesting is how Kevin had his hands in all the cool cultural things that were happening. He knew or had played with all the cool bands going on. He was working with this gospel group called something like the Goldbergs or Goldsteins who were led by this three hundred pound black chick who sang white country gospel in Shreveport.

Friends say the Coyotes had been a big thing in Shreveport.

Yeah, Kevin was so beloved in Shreveport that even when he moved to Dallas he would go back to Shreveport and play solo shows. He was still a vibrant member of that community. He was a big deal even back then. Everybody knew the cat and everyone had something nice to say. He was what we call a grossa macher in Yiddish, a big maker. He was part of it if there was something going on musically. He was a force on the scene.

Yet the Coyotes didn’t make much impact in Dallas.

Dallas is a big town. The Picket Line Coyotes were great but they became just another band in that scene. They didn’t have the pull that they had in Shreveport. They were a big fish in a small town there. I think that ended up contributing to their demise eventually. They were a really great live show. They were very energetic and kinetic. They had punk rock energy in what was definitely pop music. Very frenetic energy based around the songwriting.

Kevin took that songwriting in a different direction with the Gourds.

Yes. The Gourds were more country oriented than Picket Line Coyotes. The Gourds reminded me of the Band whereas my band Killbilly was a straight up bluegrass band with banjos and mandolins and guitars. We were on another track but we were peers and still hung out.

You eventually played on Kevin’s first solo album Buttermilk and Rifles.

Playing with his solo band Kev Russell’s Junker was so satisfying because of the way he performed the music and the way we put it together with this small little combo. It felt like his songs were wrapped up in an Americana chamber music. We left lots of space. The music was focused and compact in this tight little unit. The songwriting was spectacular.

– Brian T. Atkinson