Kevin Holm-Hudson

Interview With Kevin Holm-Hudson

SBS:  Welcome to our pages!  Whether you’ve been here with us in some way before, or you’re brand-new to the site, it’s probably best to get an introduction from you so that we get everyone on the same page to start.  Tell us a little bit about the history of your music, and what’s happening with it lately!?!

Kevin Holm-Hudson:  I wrote my first song when I was 8 years old — actually writing out the melody on a staff with treble clef (thanks, mom, for those music lessons!).  After that early start, though, I wrote only a few songs here and there, mostly in high school.  I didn’t come to songwriting as a discipline until much later, in my 50s.  I now have three full-length albums and a holiday-themed EP (original holiday- and winter-themed songs) to my name, solo and with my band Dr. Kevin Holm-Hudson & The Adjuncts.  The “Doctor” part is real — I have a doctoral degree in music composition from the University of Illinois, which I have frittered away writing songs rather than symphonies — I am now a Professor of Music Theory at the University of Kentucky).  The Adjuncts got their name from our first gig as a band — a live broadcast on a syndicated radio show called Red Barn Radio.  At that time I was a solo artist, but the producer told me, “It would help if you had a band.”  The Adjuncts were put together in a few weeks, with the understanding that — like an adjunct instructor — they were being hired for one gig, with no guarantee of a second gig.

My latest album is Travelers Rest, released in February.  I am working on the planning details for a new release, which I will perhaps begin work on this summer.

SBS:  Let’s talk about the before and after of where you’re currently at.  What’s something about the music that you’re making now that you don’t think you could have done five years ago, and what’s something you think you’ll be able to do with your music five years from now that you can’t do today?  How have you grown as an artist/band, and what steps do you take to continue your artistic evolution?

Kevin:  I have definitely gotten better at recording my own music, and more confident with my singing.  It begins with a demo on my home studio, which I then bring to my producer, Jim Gleason.  Working with Jim, I have been encouraged to try new approaches.  On Travelers Rest, I went with the comment a friend made that my voice was my “secret weapon.”  There are more elaborate vocal arrangements, including an a cappella track.  Five years ago I would not have imagined my music would be getting airplay around the world, or that sounds recorded in my travels around the world would make their way into my music.  I am always open to new sounds and influences — my music resists being categorized into any easy genre.  Five years from now?  I hope to keep writing music.

SBS:  If you were to assess the overall health of the independent music scene right now, what would you say?  What are the positives and the negatives about the current state of independent music, and what do you feel like artists & bands can do to contribute to the community & help it grow beyond the music being made?  If you’re not actively looking to listen to the music of other independent artists/bands, is it really all that fair to expect anyone would listen to yours?  How do you help the scene around you grow?

Kevin:  I am happy to be part of a thriving local music scene in central Kentucky.  I would always rather hear a musician play an original song rather than a cover.  Local original music is like local artisanal food — it’s the musical equivalent to “farm to table.”  There is a very good chance that when I hear a local original song, it may be the only time I ever hear that song in my life.  That motivates me to listen attentively and actively.

Technology is both a positive and a negative.  I’m grateful for being able to make music without corporate gate-keepers who, in older days, would have denied me access to even a basic studio.  But I also believe the technology must be tempered and directed by the songwriter.  The use of AI to generate chord progressions, melodic lines, and even “human” singers is like paint-by-numbers.  No one would confuse paint-by-numbers with a real work of art.

SBS:  What do you consider to be the biggest accomplishment or achievement you’ve had with your music to-date?  How do you personally measure your own success – is that something that even can be measured?  Is it awards, accolades, chart position…or is your definition of success based on something entirely different?  Should success, however you define it, be something that artists are continually focused on – or is success something that naturally occurs in the course of doing what you love to do?

Kevin:  I have no illusions.  I’m 63 years old.  I won’t be the next “big star” out of Nashville, nor do I have any interest in that.  For me, success is measured by just being able to keep keeping on, one song at a time.  I have friends and fans who follow my music, and the positive feedback of total strangers enjoying my music for the first time.  I try to make the music that I want to hear — in whatever styles or genres the Muse leads me into, and fortunately other people are into what I’m doing and they enjoy sharing in my journey.

SBS:  When you’re working on something brand-new, and something about it just doesn’t feel like it’s coming together the way that you think it should, how do you know when it’s time to give up on it, or how do you know that it’s time to dig in even harder and find a way to make it work?  Are there distinct red flags you can hear when something’s not working?  What are the signs you look for that tell you to stop forcing the material?  What would actually encourage you to keep going with the process instead?

Kevin:  Sometimes you just have to rip it up and start again.  Several of the songs on Travelers Rest required a total do-over several times before I liked the result.  We save everything, of course, in case we need something from an earlier version.  One song that comes to mind is “Light of Peace.”  When I play it live, it’s an upbeat folk anthem, but it didn’t sound right that way when we got to recording it.  I then came up with the idea of doing it a cappella, if only because I knew none of my peers on the music scene here would dare to even try such a thing, and I thought it would stand out.  I wrote out a four-part choral arrangement to be sung without words, and after recording those four voice parts the song started to blossom.  I am a big fan of multiple-double-tracking, doubling my voice in unison four or even eight times — it changes the vocal quality considerably.  We ended up with four vocal tracks for each of the four parts — a 16-voice choir of Kevins all backing up my lead vocal.  I was thrilled with the result.

SBS:  One of the points of general consensus in the art of making music, is that we all get our sound from somewhere…we hear what we like, then more often than not, we take tiny pieces of what we love to find our own voice & approach to go on and make music in our own way.  Essentially, what I’m saying is that it’s absolutely natural to be inspired by other artists/bands, and almost every artist/band ends up having that inspiration show up in their own work in some way, shape, or form.  What the real key is though, is retaining your own organic perspective – you still wanna be original too, right?  So how do you go about doing that?  Are there artists or bands that you know have been an influence on your style & sound?  How were you able to incorporate that influence without becoming too noticeably derivative and still be yourself?  Should we embrace and celebrate our influences more than we do?  It’s almost like we try not to admit influences exist in the pursuit of being original, but it’s like, bruh…if it’s there, we can hear it.  We all borrow something from those that came before us to some extent, don’t we?

Kevin:  I love so many different songwriters…Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Todd Rundgren, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush…the list goes on.  I especially admire artists with irregular trajectories — people like Neil Young who record whatever they want.  If my music comes out as a stylistic tribute to one of those influential singer-songwriters, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes it’s a good prompt.  Once I wrote a song “in the style of” John Prine, knowing of course that the result would be nothing like John Prine and nowhere near as good as John Prine.

SBS:  Has there ever been a time where you wrote something inside one of your songs…maybe it’s a lyrical line, or maybe it’s a riff of some kind…something that you did, where you surprised yourself?  I like to think we all have a moment or two where we can stand back and be amazed by something we created, and appreciate the fact that maybe, just maybe, we exceeded our own expectations of what we thought we could accomplish – you know what I mean?  Get as specific as you can so the fans out there know what they should be paying attention to when they hear it – what’s your favorite thing that you’ve written on the inside of one of your songs, and why does this particular piece resonate so much to you?

Kevin:  I surprise myself all the time — this is how I know the Muse is real.

One song that comes to mind is “If I Could Tell You,” from Milkweed. I was aiming for a mid-60s psychedelic Byrds vibe, and I’ve always thought that was a magical sound.  Of course I can’t tell you what it’s about — “If I could tell you, I’d let you know.”  That line comes from the radical psychiatrist R. D. Laing, by the way.  IYKYK.

I have also begun story-songs not knowing how the story will end.  Sometimes the plot will veer in an unexpected direction or the narrative will become dark and violent.  If you really want to surprise yourself, open yourself to new possibilities — in your life as well as in your music.

SBS:  I’ve been having a lot of great debates lately about whether or not everybody that’s making music has the right to be heard…and you’d probably be surprised by how different people seem to feel about this issue.  I know where I stand on it, and I think you can all probably get an idea of what my position would be from this free interview we’re doing here & the way we run things at sleepingbagstudios…but regardless, I’m putting this question out there to you, because I’m interested in YOUR perspective.  Just because you’ve made a song, does that mean people should listen?  If your answer is yes, do your best to explain why you feel that way & why we should make a sincere effort to listen to the music of others.  If your answer is no, explain why you feel that way, but also explain why people should still be listening to your music if that’s the case – what would make your music the exception, and not follow the rule?  Is there any value to an idea that’s not finished, or a song in its demo stages, or maybe something that’s not recorded in a top-shelf studio or with good equipment – somebody still took the time to make that song to the best of their ability with the means they had to create it – should that be listened to, or not?

Kevin:  A line from my song “Milkweed Lullaby” puts it best: “Let these songs like seedlings fall where they may / Let them nourish those who hear along the way.”  That’s my philosophy.  If I start to insist that someone listen to my music, there’s some unhealthy ego involved.  I also have no way of really determining how a song with connect with people.  My favorite song might not resonate with somebody at all, or a song I dash off in 15 minutes becomes an audience favorite that I get requests for!  You never know.  It’s all there for the listening.

SBS:  There are ups and downs in the dynamics of almost every album we listen to, with very few exceptions.  Even those exceptions, probably still come down to more of a personal preference about what we enjoy about music and how we personally hear it, rather than anything being completely and totally “perfect” – you know what I mean?  Does an album actually need to have some kind of up/down dynamics in terms of what’s appealing to the masses in order for the best of the best songs in a lineup to be fully appreciated?  Wouldn’t every artist & band avoid the ‘down’ side (less accessible/less popular for example) if they could?  Does the ‘down’ side represent something else perhaps, like the story of an album or journey of an artist?  Is the ‘up’ side of a record as potent or noticeable if it doesn’t have a ‘down’ side to go with it?  Would a completely balanced album somehow be boring if it didn’t have the ups/downs that most have?  Do we HAVE to like every single song on a record for it to be considered complete?  Are the dynamics of an album something anyone can really steer in the direction they want to, or are all artists & bands simply going with the strongest material they have created at the time?

Kevin:  A great question!  I’m of the generation that grew up listening to records, beginning to end, uninterrupted except to turn the record over for Side 2.  “Concept albums” were a thing.  So, yes, track order is very important — it’s the first thing I start to work on when planning a new album, once I’ve picked the songs.  I also think in terms of “tonal segues.”  A song in G major can flow well into a song with a completely different style that also happens to be in G major.  On the other hand, a radical key change can suddenly transform the mood.  Think for example of the end of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, from the bright C major to “Wholy Holy” to the somber key of E-flat minor for “Inner City Blues.”  It’s almost a slap in the face, back to reality.  I’m very much aware of how those transitions work in my albums.

I don’t think much of radio potential, or Spotify charts (HA!).  Different listeners listen to an album for different reasons, and will select different songs as their personal favorites.

SBS:  I wanna send out a shout-out to YOU from me personally – I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to talk tunes with me throughout the years, and I appreciate the time YOU have taken with this interview too.  Because this one’s a little different in the sense that it’s been sent out to multiple people and is a little more generic in that regard, I have no doubt whatsoever that we probably didn’t get to talk to you about something you wanted to talk about – so let’s fix that!  This final space is what we call the SBS Open Floor – a spot where you can say anything else you want to say to the people out there.  It can be anything at all…your main websites…something else you want them to know about you and/or your music…your favorite bands in the scene right now…the secret 11 herbs and spices to the Colonel’s secret recipe – you get the idea, and it’s probably best you choose something that suits you rather than take any of my suggestions, but feel free to take the SBS Open Floor for a ride.  Whatever it is you want the people to know, now is the prime time for you to tell’em!  Thanks again for everything – keep in touch!

Kevin:  Thank you for this opportunity!
You can find my music at:  https://kevin-holm-hudson.bandcamp.com
I have a YouTube music channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@kevinholm-hudsonmusic7706
Listen deeply – find your roots to find your sound.

Music is something we do together.

If you dig what we do at sleepingbagstudios & want to be part of the madness, by all means click here to be featured on these pages of ours!