Artist Spotlight - Kevin Russell

Kevin Russell made his mark as frontman for the legendary Gourds and increased popularity with his wildly popular current outfit Shinyribs, but his teenage band the Picket Line Coyotes truly launched the singer-songwriter’s star in the mid-1980s.

We recently spoke with Russell about his early years leading the rambunctious Coyotes during his formative years in Shreveport, Louisiana for the forthcoming How Will You Shine: The Songwriting Legacy of Kevin Russell (TAMU Press, 2027).

Alt-Country Specialty Chart: Explain how the Picket Line Coyotes took shape.

Kevin Russell: We became Picket Line Coyotes when we made a demo tape so we could get a gig at the Killer Poodle in Shreveport. I took it to the owner of the Killer Poodle and said, “Here’s our demo tape.” I think they thought it would be fun to watch us become corrupted at their bar, but I never went down that road. I knew there was stuff going on that I did not want to be involved with. I was pretty straight edged.

Did the Coyotes play the Killer Poodle pretty frequently?

We had a residency at Killer Poodle every Tuesday for a while. The Killer Poodle was our home away from home. That’s where I went the night I graduated from high school. It felt so good to get there. Our senior song was Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” I walked out to that going, “Oh, god, get me the fuck outta here.” I was so happy to be done with that and went straight to the Killer Poodle.

Describe how serious you were as a songwriter back then.

There definitely was a degree of seriousness when [we became] the Picket Line Coyotes. I felt like I knew possibilities that these guys hadn’t even considered being the songwriter. I knew about bands like the Replacements, R.E.M., Gun Club, Minutemen, Rain Parade, Divine Horsemen, Blasters, Los Lobos, X and the Meat Puppets. You were not gonna hear them on the radio at the time. You had to know who they were. They were not like Twisted Sister and Bon Jovi.

And the Coyotes set themselves apart by playing original songs like those bands.

Yeah, Shreveport was mostly cover bands, but I was trying to broaden horizons. We were very into original music and snobbish about it. So, I was already that way about original music and if you do a cover it’s gotta be done in an original way. Make it your own version. Don’t do a perfect imitation of the original. That was boring to me. We were always banging our head against that wall in fighting for original music. We were trying to create a scene in Shreveport and we did.

You also recorded your debut album Fashion Dogs in 1986.

Recording Fashion Dogs was a great experience. I feel like we were just young, passive and agreeable nice boys and didn’t really know what we wanted or what to do.  We learned a lot from it. (Producer) Pat (McCoy) tried to make us into something I don’t think we were, but in so doing we learned that there are different approaches and arrangements and structure to think about with the songs. All we could do was learn and we did. The record isn’t bad. We liked it then and I’m still proud of it. There’s some good stuff on Fashion Dogs.

Describe any memorable gigs supporting that album.

We tried to open for the bands we looked up to if they came to Baton Rouge or wherever. Opening for True Believers is how I met Alejandro Escovedo. Also, we opened for Soul Asylum. I remember watching (Soul Asylum lead singer) Dave Pirner. He looked like a rock star, but we really made an impression on them. “Y’all kicked our ass tonight,” Pirner said to our guitarist Rob Bernard [after the show]. “Holy shit,” Rob said. “All right.” He took the compliment. That was a really memorable show especially for where Soul Asylum was in that moment. They looked like they would be the shit. They rocked pretty hard back then.

– Brian T. Atkinson