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Kevin Welch, another of “one of my favorite songwriters” – yes it’s a big list, but it’s a good one – finally makes an appearance on the “Songs and Stories” podcast. I first saw him decades ago at my SECOND Strawberry Music Festival. He was touring with The Dead Reckoners, a band of songwriting and studio ringers that included Kieran Kane. (Welch and Kane eventually toured as a duo, then a trio accompanied by instrumental wizard Fats Kaplan.)
Kevin Welch was at the epicenter of the Americana genre before it had a label. (The term “Western Beat” was tossed around for a bit. It was even the title of his second record back in 1992.) These days, he’s touring primarily with his son Dustin Welch, another formidable songwriting and guitar slinging force from the Welch clan.
I caught up with Welch recently before a house concert in Gilroy, CA. We talked about Americana and Western Beat and his lifelong work as a working songwriter. These days, in addition to recording and touring he runs songwriter workshop/retreats at his Texas hill country home, about an hour south of Austin. Welch talked in details about the experience he went through as a songwriter *teaching* songwriting for the first time.
This episode includes “Come A Rain” and “The Great Emancipation” off his latest release, “A Patch of Blue Sky”, and “A Prayer Like Any Other,” from “You Can’t Save Everybody”, one of the collaboration albums he did with Kieran Kane. (It happens to be one of my favorite songs, so I couldn’t resist.)
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