About Kevin Renick

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This was a worthy challenge I set for myself: could I pick out a dozen events that were the most influential and far-reaching in my overall musical story? After contemplating the matter for some time, here is what I came up with.

In my senior year of high school and after graduating, I learned that I could sing and play some Neil Young songs credibly, which gave me an early burst of confidence and earned my first approving comments from other people, in the realm of music.

Meeting Ted Moniak in college, who was destined to be my primary collaborator, creative soulmate and the guy who pushed me to learn and apply the most important rules of musicmaking.

Brian Eno. Literally everything about this wizardly, incredibly influential artist, but specifically his philosophizing about "using limitations to your advantage" and "trying things to see where they might go." Without reading and absorbing Eno's varied and inspiring insights about musicmaking, it's doubtful I would've written "Up in the Air" or even had the courage to keep writing songs my way.

Jim Ford is the husband of my cousin Nanette, and one of the first dedicated musicians and songwriters I had the opportunity to hang around. At music parties at his house, Jim would sometimes invite me to sing a Neil Young song or two such as "Down By the River" or "Heart of Gold." In September of 2008, Jim was playing monthly gigs at the Grove Deli in Webster Groves, and he invited me to be his collaborator that month for an evening of Neil Young music. This was to be my first actual show in front of a crowd. It went very well, I was compensated with a nice meal, and most importantly, the owner Joe asked me if I wanted to play a show myself at the Deli. Thus it was that the first "Kevin Renick & Friends" performance took place in October of 2008 with Kathy Pour and Ned Watson as my musical cohorts. I could not believe it was happening, actually, and it was so rewarding, and my friends in the audience so supportive, that I broke right through the creative barrier previously holding me back. I was off and running now, partially thanks to Jim's help.

Getting my song "Up in the Air" into the hands of director Jason Reitman in February of 2009. This proved to be absolutely the pivotal moment in my aspiring artistic career, setting a whole ton of things in motion.

Recording the albums Close To Something Beautiful and The Road to Olandra in 2010. There is no way to better learn about recording techniques and creative choice-making than to actually start DOING it. Recording my first album CTSB was a revelatory experience, with songs like "Read A Book," "The Sorry Song," "Call It Friend-o" and "Janey" all having memorable stories behind their creation.

Meeting engineer Adam Long through a contact I made in the wake of my mother's death. Adam turned out to be an ideal music engineer for me to work with, and many of my most enthralling experiences getting music recorded happened because of the attentive and enthusiastic way he works and how it jived with my own temperament.

My first concert at the legendary Sheldon Concert Hall in 2011. All the key people I was working with at the time took part, and even Christa Juergens, with whom I'd written a couple of songs already, flew in for the show.  

Putting together a Neil Young tribute show at Off Broadway in 2011 soon led to the formation of an actual Neil tribute band, which I dubbed SHAKEY DEAL. The band evolved through several different incarnations, taking a big leap forward when fiery guitarist Mark Arnold joined in 2015, and its positive reputation grew over time. Soon enough we scored some fairly BIG shows, including a couple of well-attended concerts at Delmar Hall (from which terrific videos were taken) and a solidly professional outing at Jacoby Art Center in Alton in 2018. 

Meeting the effervescent Denise Chappell at a very surprising Sherlock Holmes radio podcast in 2015. Denise turned out to be a splendid musical partner both live and in the studio; she ended up recording some key original songs with me including "Fast and Off," "These Things Happen" and "Different Without You." Performance-wise, we evolved as a duo to the point where we were soon doing songs I could never have imagined playing in concert before, such as duets by Johnny Cash and June Carter like "Jackson," and Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," which Denise sings beautifully. Through this part of my music career, I grew unquestionably as a musician and performer, and likely had more pure FUN in the process than ever before.

The recording of CLEAR THE WAY in 2017 was something I approached as a serious, ambitious artist, paying attention to the sound, the packaging and the intent of the songs like the "experienced" artist I fancied myself to be at that point. From the ambitious 12-minute opening experimental track (intended to be a very personal meditation on unexpected life changes) to employing an actual harpist on "If We Can Keep Dancing" to the wildly intense personal statement I made on the title track working with Ted Moniak and Adam Long in the studio, to the absolutely emotional and melancholy circumstances surrounding the track "Just Movin' On," which found me working with legendary producer Lou Whitney in Springfield and overseeing one of the most potent recording moments of my career, when Rick Haegg, my childhood friend who'd never recorded in a studio before, and Ted Moniak laid down a dueling guitar instrumental that gives me chills to this day...as Rick passed away not long after recording his part. CTW felt like my first real shot at participating in the old-school artistic process that was soon to become undervalued in a rapidly changing music industry. A fabulous review of the album by Jackson Truax in early 2018 was something of a reward for me for the tireless work I'd put into the creation of this album.

Although I was known for doing mostly folk-rock style music in the singer/songwriter tradition, I was a passionate fan of ambient and evocative instrumental music. I had dabbled in that on The Road to Olandra and the opening track of Clear the Way, but I dreamed of the opportunity to create ambient music in a more focused context. That opportunity came in 2018 and 2019, when my friend Walter Whitney and I embarked on an experimental project at his studio. I also initiated some tracks for the project at Adam Long's studio thanks to his very enthusiastic and helpful encouragement of the ideas I started expressing. Though it took a long time to finish, partially because of the pandemic, LOST IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY was finally completed in 2023. It was my first ambient recording and a landmark of "outside the box" musical conceptualizing. I love the album and feel very proud of it, even as I know it won't be to everyone's taste. But it opened the door to all sorts of fresh new ideas.