SHINYRIBS

BAND BIO

Once you’ve seen Shinyribs’ Kevin Russell on-stage and heard his band’s music, it’s impossible to forget him. Known for his outrageous outfits and antics, Russell is a regular Austin fashion icon, liable to turn up in anything from his lime-green sherbet leisure suit to a flashing LED cloak, which he donned for a soulful performance of “East Texas Rust” on the award-winning PBS show Austin City Limits. Born and raised in Beaumont, East Texas, Russell has been dubbed (mostly by himself) the Baryshnikov of the Big Thicket, the Pavarotti of the Pineywoods, the Shakespeare of Swamp Pop or the Shiniest Man in Showbidniz. Balding with a scraggly beard and an unapologetic gut, Russell boasts the indelible spirit and nudge-nudge, wink-wink playful quality of a man forever young, who points to the likes of Tony Joe White and the Coasters for his rib-tickling, mind-expanding, butt-shaking “is he for real” sense of humor. As a member of The Gourds, Russell took his musical inspiration from the fertile Ark-La-Tex turf and became a pioneer of Americana.

Shinyribs is one of the music world’s best-kept secrets, but not for long. The eight-piece outfit was named Best Austin Band for 2017 and 2018 at the Austin Chronicle’s Austin Music Awards and their album, “I Got Your Medicine,” was tapped as Album of the Year. Shinyribs was also nominated by Black Fret in 2015 for a grant and was selected as a recipient. The crack eight-piece band features Russell on lead vocals, uke and electric guitar, as well as keyboardist Winfield Cheek, bassist Jeff Brown and drummer Keith Langford, with the Tijuana Trainwreck Horns (trumpet player Tiger Anaya and Mark Wilson on sax and flute) and the Shiny Soul Sisters (Alice Spencer and Kelley Mickwee), as well as occasional on-stage appearances by the Riblets, Shinyribs’ very own dance troupe.