Kevin McCollough
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Kevin McCollough

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"Kevin McCollough returns home for show at Rosebud Cafe"

Kevin McCollough returns home for show at Rosebud Cafe

November 26, 2004
ASHLI HERMES
Victoria Advocate

Victoria native Kevin McCollough will offer up some original Americana tunes during a concert at the Rosebud Cafe on Saturday.
The show will have no cover charge and begins at 7 p.m. at the cafe, 102 S. Main St. Special guest musician will be Kevin Smith.
McCollough grew up in Victoria and graduated from Victoria High School in 2000. He now lives in Austin.
"We have a pretty steady show calendar in Austin and then we play all over the state too," including the cities College Station, Dallas, San Antonio and Tyler, he said. McCollough and his band open for some notable names in Texas music; people like Jack Ingram, Kevin Fowler, Randy Rogers, Monte Montgomery and Bob Schneider.
McCollough's latest CD, "Milk Ice Meat Food Beer," was released in November 2003 and features nine original songs. "It's a good representation of my songs from a couple of years ago. We're getting ready to go into the studios to record songs that are a better rep of what we're doing now," he said, explaining that new band members have changed his overall sound.
"I like to describe it as Americana-Folk-Rock - kind of a mixture between Jack Ingram and Bob Schneider."
Their next CD release will have less country influences than "Milk Ice Meat Food Beer" and more "roots and folk," he said.
Saturday's show will be McCollough's first performance in Victoria in at least a year, and he says he's looking forward to returning.
"This is the first time we'll get to play there since the CD released, so it's going to be quite a little experience I think."
Copies of "Milk Ice Meat Food Beer" will be available at the show. For more information, visit www.kevinmccollough.com

Ashli Hermes is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6516 ahermes@vicad.com
- The Victoria Advocate


"Lone Star Music Artist Review"

Kevin is simply amazing! He is truly one of the best singer-songwriters to come out of Texas. His songs are full of depth and incorporate many different styles of music. His influences of Monte Montgomery, Steve Earle, Ryan Adams, and Jack Ingram are all components of his style. His originality and musicianship is clearly portrayed on his debut album MILK ICE MEAT FOOD BEER.

-Beatle Bob - www.lonestarmusic.com


"The Austin Music Scene"

-Exerpt from a story written for The Daily Texan (University Of Texas in Austin)


Two up-and-coming Austin musicians are realizing the hardships of becoming a professional and have remanded steadfast, despite setbacks, to fulfill their dreams.
Texas singer and songwriter Kevin McCollough says he dreamed of being a musician even before he could play an instrument. At the age of 10 he learned to play the guitar, joined his first band at 12 and began playing semi-professionally at 16.
“I’ve always felt this was something I’d be doing,” Kevin says. “I have a desire to play all the time.”
Kevin describes his music as an alternative meeting of Americana Folk Country and lists Texas legends Bob Schneider and Steve Earle as some of the many who influence his musical style. He played his first major Austin gig at Cain and Abel’s bar on Twenty-Fourth Street receiving payment in the form of food and beer; he has since become a regular at Saxon Pub and recently played his biggest gig yet as a headliner at The Pier on Lake Austin.
While trying to make a name for himself, Kevin has collided with two obstacles that often haunt up-and-coming musicians. First, he has realized the difficulty of maintaining personal motivation.
“I fight the struggle of wanting it right now,” Kevin says. “A lot of guys give in after six months or a year when in reality it takes 10 to 15 years to make it,” he adds.
While maintaining endurance and patience Kevin faces the difficulties of being heard in a city that is engulfed by music. Because Austin has hundreds of musicians playing a variety of genres it is difficult for an artist to find his niche or appeal to just one audience, he says. The over saturation of the Austin music scene has proved to be an even greater challenge to Kevin; which he realized while recording his first album. Buying studio time and putting out albums is an expensive part of being a musician and the abundance of music in Austin allows venue owners to pay their musicians less than many out of town venues.
All of the hard work is more than worth it to Kevin as he views these obstacles as steps to achieving the career he has chosen.
“It’s just a job like anything else, not anymore glamorous than any other job,” he says. However, for Kevin, the reward for a job well done would be to play on Austin City Limits.
“I would love to be on ACL; if that happened I could die happy,” Kevin says.


-Stacy May, The Daily Texan
- The Daily Texan


"Bringing it home - Young singer/songwriter faces hometown audience"



Victoria-born Kevin McCollough will bring his alternative country music to the Downtown Grill on Wednesday, along with Texas musicians Brandon Johnson and Kevin Smith.

McCollough, who graduated from Victoria High School in 2000, is now living in Austin playing live and pursuing his music.

The 23-year-old singer/songwriter said he first started playing guitar at age 9 when his dad left one laying around the house for a couple of months.

"I picked it up one bored summer day and I haven't put it down since," McCollough said. "I always wondered what would have happened if I had been busy."

McCollough said he's known since he was young that wanted to pursue music.

"When I was younger I used to think, 'Yeah, I want to be a musician. I want that lifestyle,'" said McCollough who is also majoring in audio engineering at Texas State University. "Even before I could play an instrument, I knew I was going to be a musician. I always had music in my life. I was always carrying around a little Walkman."

Though his favorite place to play is the Saxon Pub in Austin, he'll be playing for the first time at the Downtown Grill next week. He said playing in Victoria will bring unique perspective to his live performance.

"When you're playing in your hometown, sometimes it's hard for people to take you seriously," McCollough said. "In Austin, you're just another singer/songwriter doing your thing and you're doing it well. But sometimes it's harder to prove yourself in your hometown."

McCollough describes his music as a far stretch from Nashville-style country. His songs exhibit an Americana acoustic-rock style. He said he is inspired by the music of Steve Earle and Monte Montgomery.

The multi-talented performer writes songs, sings and plays guitar on his album titled "Milk Ice Meat Food Beer." He said he typically sits down to write lyrics first, drawing from his life experiences.

"Most of the time is about trying to figure out a situation with a girl," said McCollough, whose favorite song on the album is "Is Love Gonna Pass You By?"

In that song, his voice, a little rough around the edges, emotes the loss of the lovelorn. The song incorporates the sounds of a pedal steel guitar and a layer of female gospel choir vocals, which McCollough thought added a special air to the recording.

"Men are from Mars, women are from Venus," McCollough said. "We speak two different languages it seems."

JENNIFER LLOYD
Victoria Advocate

- The Victoria Advocate


"What other artists are saying about Kevin McCollough"

"Kevin is good!" - Glen Phillips (Toad The Wet Sprocket Founder and Solo Artist) - Kevin McCollough Review


Discography

MILK ICE MEAT FOOD BEER, 2003;
Radio Airplay Includes: "Free" And "Around The Sun".

LIVE AT 89.1 KEOS, 2004

Heart Broke Inn, 2007

Photos

Bio

"Kevin McCollough is a guitar troubadour and a musician's musician." Living in the heart of Austin, Kevin is one of the best kept secrets in Roots music today. With an all-star band, Kevin's shows prove to be a whirlwind of exquisite musicianship. Not to mention, his straight to the heart emotion- packed lyrics. Kevin received much acclaim in 2003 for his debut record: "MILK ICE MEAT FOOD BEER", which is still climbing the charts in the UK. This record birthed the top 10 most downloaded song on iTunes-UK: "Anorexic Beauty Queen". Kevin's newest record: "Heart Broke Inn" is the record his fans have been waiting for, "this glimpse into a relationship gone bad and his road to recovery is an instant masterpiece. Ryan Adams would be proud." This is one of those albums that will be a staple in everyone's record collection like: Wilco's: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot."