Kevin Gordon

Kevin Gordon is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, poet, and folk art collector from Louisiana.

His songs draw from experiences growing up in the South, and have been recorded by Levon Helm, Keith Richards, Webb Wilder, and Irma Thomas.

Gordon was raised in West Monroe, Louisiana, where he was exposed to blues, honky tonk and rockabilly.

He started playing guitar and writing songs at age 17 or 18, and played in a punk band while in high school that performed Ramones and Sex Pistols covers.

While Gordon was attending the University of Louisiana at Monroe, poet Jorie Graham encouraged Gordon to apply to the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, where he earned a master's degree in poetry.

On weekends he began playing local gigs with Bo Ramsey.

Gordon moved to Nashville in 1992 to work as a songwriter.

Gordon's first album was Carnival Time in 1993, initially released on cassette and later reissued on CD.

Gordon is joined by Ramsey (guitars), Steve Hayes (drums), Mike Murray and Rick Cicalo (bass), Mitchell Moss (fiddle, mandolin), Dave Moore (accordion), and Al Murphy (fiddle).

E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent produced Gordon's 1997 EP Illinois 5 a.m. on the Motherlode label.

Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Scotty Moore, and D.J. Fontana recorded "Deuce And A Quarter" (written by Gordon and Owen) for the 1997 album All the King's Men.

Gordon and Gwil Owen co-wrote four songs for Gordon's 1998 album Cadillac Jack's #1 Son which was also produced by Tallent.

Gordon's next album Down to the Well was released in 2000.

Personnel included Joe McMahan (guitars, mandolin), David Jacques (bass), Paul Griffith and Bryan Owings (drums), Kevin McKendree (keyboards), and Bo Ramsey (slide guitar).

Gordon's duet with Lucinda Williams on the song "Down to the Well" (co-written with Colin Linden) was featured on the 2001 Oxford American Southern Music Sampler in their annual Southern music issue.

Gordon recorded 2005's O Come Look At The Burning live to a 16-track tape recorder in McMahan's home.

The album included covers of Eddie Hinton's "Something Heavy" and Willie Dixon's "Crazy Mixed Up World."

In 2009, HBO licensed Gordon's song "Watching The Sun Go Down" for the television series True Blood.

Gordon collects folk art in his home in East Nashville.

His collection can be viewed by appointment or at his Gordon Gallery website.

His collection is also exhibited in shows at local venues.

Gordon's 2012 release Gloryland was produced by Joe McMahan and supported by Scott Martin (drums), and Ryan Norris (keyboards) of Lambchop.

A standout song is "Colfax" which related a childhood memory of a high school band and the KKK over 10 minutes of ever-changing music.

Another highlight is "Pecolia's Star," a duet with Sarah Siskind about folk artist Pecolia Warner.

Recorded in Louisiana, 2015's Long Gone Time was again produced by Joe McMahan, and drew praise for his lyrical imagery drawn from growing up in the South.