KEVIN RENICK
                                                                                                                                                      kevin@kevinrenick.com

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Hello, friends! If you've come to this site to learn about Kevin Renick, songwriter, musician and composer of the title song for the movie UP IN THE AIR, you've come to the right place. Welcome!

       "One of the best true-life success stories we've heard lately."
       MTV News


Greetings friends, fans and colleagues! 2014 has been a turbulent, unpredictable year in my life, but it has resulted in a fertile creative landscape in which I am poised to release more new material in the coming months than ever before in such a short time. My new album, CLEAR THE WAY, is steaming towards completion and should be out in early 2015. The first single, "Rescue Them" is now available for download from iTunes or from CD Baby here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/kevinrenick4  You can also order the physical CD single directly from this website by sending $3.00 plus 2.00 for shipping/handling to: Kevin Renick, PO Box 31785, Des Peres, MO 63131 or sending payment via Paypal to kevinrenickbusiness@gmail.com. "Rescue Them" is a call to action for solving the problem of abandoned or lost pets and will hopefully shed some light on this important issue as well as being a useful musical tool for animal rescue organizations. Stay tuned for lots of exciting developments in the weeks ahead...
Kevin Renick
 



COMING SOON: THE NEW ALBUM BY KEVIN RENICK:




Publications and fans around the world responded with amazement to the unusual tale of St. Louis singer/songwriter Kevin Renick, which began in 2009 with the release of Jason Reitman's acclaimed film UP IN THE AIR. Renick's theme song for the movie, starring George Clooney, drew unprecedented attention, and since then he has blazed his own unique trail across the landscape of popular music. Check out his 2013 release Under The Wishing Tree, featuring "Goodbye Typewriter," which became Renick's first music video, directed by Wolfgang Lehmkuhl and seen at the 2014 Wizard World Film Festival.

    
     ALSO AVAILABLE:



                                                                                     
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UNDER THE WISHING TREE (s/r 2013)
A 16-track opus that Kevin worked on throughout 2012, featuring "Goodbye Typewriter," "The Box It Comes In," "Feeling My Way," "Lost Time" and "Figure Out," a popular song that trended widely on the internet. $12 (physical CD). Also available thru iTunes and CD Baby.com


UP IN THE AIR (Original Soundtrack Recording, Rhino Records, 2009)
The official soundtrack to Jason Reitman's film. Features Kevin's original cassette recording as presented to Reitman, along with CSNY's "Taken At All," Sad Brad Smith's "Help Yourself," Elliott Smith's "Angels In The Snow" and many others.

CLOSE TO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL
(s/r, 2010)

Kevin's self-released debut. Features an evocative studio version of "Up In The Air," the hilarious "The Sorry Song," the No Country For Old Men-inspired rocker "Call It, Friend-o," and "Read A Book," Kevin's first children's song. Currently available only as a download.

COME ON DOWN (s/r, 2011)

This 7-song mini-album released in 2011 features Kevin rocking out with a full band comprised of Ned Watson (lead guitar), Ted Moniak (guitar, bass and mandolin) and Andrea Spencer (drums). It features the country song "It's Gonna Be Hard Without You,"  a catchy tune co-written with old high school friend Christa Juergens, "No Second Dates," and the poignant ballad "Call It A Life," recorded with Grammy-nominated engineer Adam Long. Currently available only as a download.

THE ROAD TO OLANDRA (s/r, 2011)

This unusual ambient/spoken word disc was a collaboration between Kevin and Canadian soundscape artist John Soboca
n. Utilizing poems and introspective essays Kevin wrote before "Up In The Air" happened, Sobocan created haunting, ethereal soundscapes that perfectly complemented and magnified the impact of Kevin's ruminations on loss and loneliness. $10.00 (Only available as a physical release through this site.)


The official Up In The Air soundtrack is available in record stores, through iTunes and amazon.com. Under The Wishing Tree is still available as a physical package for $12 from this site; it is also available from most popular online retailers. Kevin's albums Close To Something Beautiful and Come On Down are available from iTunes, cdbaby.com and amazon.com. The Road To Olandra is presently a mail-order ONLY item. For mail orders, simply send check or money order with desired items specified and $1.50 postage per disc (up to $4.50, after which we will pay remaining postage), to: Kevin Renick, P.O. Box 31785, Des Peres, MO 63131. You can also order via Paypal, at: kevinrenickbusiness@gmail.com.



Photo by Monte Landis
SELECT PRESS AND FAN QUOTES

"Homey and nostalgic, that's how one might describe Kevin Renick's newest album Under The Wishing Tree...There’s an air of serenity that surrounds the entire album. Every track fills you with tranquility, solace, or lightheartedness—a laidback and serene sound. It’s one of those albums you throw in on a Sunday morning while enjoying a nice, calming moment and a cup of coffee."
PlaybackSTL.com

I knew halfway through listening to it that I was going to put the song in the movie. It was beautiful...it was authentic. Here was a guy singing in an honest, authentic way about what it's like to search for purpose, and it became very important for me to include this song in the credits. It lent a voice to the enormous amount of people who have lost their jobs in this country."
Film director Jason Reitman

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your song at the end of Up in the Air. As a filmmaker, I usually stay through the credits if I know somebody who worked on the film. In this case I didn't, so I was on my way out of the theatre when your song came on. It stopped me in my tracks. Needless to say I didn't mind making my friends wait in the hall for the few minutes it took to enjoy your song.”
Film director Alex Houston

"Your story is so rich on so many levels, and offers hope to all artists working hard to be recognized."
Jeff Maxwell, KFWB 980, Los Angeles

"Having written a song called, quite cannily, 'Up in the Air' before he even knew about the movie, Renick seemed to psychically tune into the zeitgeist that made it possible for such a film to thrive in the first place...Renick imbued the track with a sincere blue collar humbleness.”
Jordan Oakes, St. Louis Magazine

"Jason Reitman's gently funny drama had a soundtrack chock full of delights, from Crosby, Stills & Nash to (a not-so-young) Young MC. But the record’s highlight was possibly the most life-affirming story of the year. Out of work and down on his luck, Missouri musician Kevin Renick discovered that the lo-fi song he’d written chimed almost perfectly with the themes of Reitman’s film, right down to the title. So he did what anyone in his shoes would have done: he tracked him down, pressed a demo into his hand and the rest, as they say, is history."
Empire Magazine (UK), "Best of 2010" Wrap-up

"The soundtrack is apt and lovely, specifically the title song 'Up in the Air' by Kevin Renick. When he was sacked, Kevin penned the song and by chance met Reitman, handed him a cassette tape and shared with him the story behind the song, and Reitman and his diligence converted the tape and used it on the soundtrack to the film. This act sums up this film perfectly.”
Amy V. Gathercole, Britfilms.tv

"I've had the soundtrack for a while and I can't stop listening. It closes with the title tune, written by Kevin Renick, a St. Louis songwriter and regular-joe job-loss victim who gave his demo to director Jason Reitman. It's pretty, but brutal."
Sean Daly, St. Petersburg Times

"Much of the soundtrack is sweet, gentle and, in the case of the title cut by Kevin Renick
—a singer/songwriter who was laid off from his job, just like so many characters in the film, and submitted the song to Reitman unsolicited—quite moving.”
AMG Music Guide

If you stay through the end credits of UP IN THE AIR, you’ll hear a song by Kevin Renick, an independent musician based in St. Louis, MO. Renick sent the song to Reitman, which he'd written a year before the film was announced (coincidentally, the song and film share the same name). The song’s inclusion is a fitting coda to a film about the connections between strangers in an overcrowded world fraught with alienation.”
Matt Fagerholm, filmmonthly.com


"I haven't heard such diversity of lyrics, music and overall sound on one pop CD in a long time.  Your new CD Close To Something Beautiful is a beauty. Major kudos!"   

Philip Gounis, St. Louis poet
 
"Renick's melodies slither into your ears and induce a melancholy madness. You want to guffaw and weep and skip all at once."
Film director Wolfgang Lehmkuhl

         
                                
"Multi-talented, diverse...listening to Renick's music is like taking a breath of fresh air. I find it refreshing that this artist's music taps into so many different genres while at the same time bringing a sense of connectedness to one's life experience."
Amy Barfield Martin, CD Baby customer





Photo by Sue Armstrong
When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed...
Neil Young
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