Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music
WELCH, Kevin
(
b 17 August 1955, Los Angeles) Contemporary country singer-songwriter at the forefront of the 'Western Beat' style of the early 1990s. He grew up in Oklahoma, dropped out of college and joined bluegrass band; moved to Nashville early '80s and made his initial impact as a writer of country hits for Moe Bandy, Don Williams, Gary Morris, the Judds, Ricky Skaggs etc. Played local clubs with his band the Overtones comprising crack studio musicians. He signed to Warner-Reprise '88 and scored several minor country hits; toured with such diverse acts as Oak Ridge Boys, Billy Bragg, Joe Ely, etc. His failure on mainstream country radio resulted in his concentration on writing. He teamed up with Kieran Kane, Mike Henderson etc in formation of artist-driven and -owned Dead Reckoning Records '95; all pooled their resources on each other's recordings and also toured together in a kind of artistic co-operative. Albums included
Kevin Welch '90,
Western Beat '92 on Warner-Reprise;
Life Down Here On Earth '95 on Dead Reckoning.