By Patrick Fellows

I first heard Drivin N Cryin at Murphy’s in the fall of 1989. Straight to Hell was ubiquitous, but for me it was simply my gateway drug into their catalog. Me, eighteen with one collegiate mission.

Form a band and become a rock star.

Drivin ‘N Cryin became the first band that I learned a whole catalog of in real time. From Scarred But Smarter, to Whisper Tames the Lion, Mystery Road and then Fly Me Courageous as well as Kevn Kinney’s solo album McDougal Blues. I was about as big a fan of them then any other band at the time.

In April of this year, DNC released Crushing Flowers, their eleventh album. I had the opportunity to speak to Kevn Kinney about the past 40 years being in Drivin ‘N Cryin.

Drivin ‘N Cryin will be playing at Chelsea’s Live, November 10th, 2026.

Tickets are available HERE

PF:I had the opportunity to see you play during Jazz Fest this year. It was maybe a couple weeks after Crushing Flowers had come out, and you had played Mirror Mirror that night, which was awesome. Um, and, you know, listening to that new album, this new album, it feels really familiar, but also kind of fresh and new. So I guess my question is, how much different do you feel writing is for you now versus maybe back in the 80’s, over the last 40 years, how much it's changed for you? Or is it the same?

KK:Nothing has changed, you know? I don't co-write, so it's just me writing about my life and what affects me. I keep, it's very easy to be me because I just am me.

That's it. I only write for me. I don't write for other people. I don't co-write. I don't co-produce. I don't, I don't play guitar on people's records. I might sing a background melody that I enjoy doing. I'm not really.

And I'm not, um, everything I write is pretty much a true story. So it's, it's, it's just, uh, I've, it's from Scarred but Smarter to Scarlet Butterfly, and everything on the first Drivin ‘N Cryin Records, it's Crushing Flowers. It's exactly the same.

PF: We saw you down in New Orleans, you handed out CDs from the, Let's Go Dancing project, where different musicians cover your songs, how did that get started, is it still going on, what's next for it?

KK: Oh, yeah, yeah, it's still going on, my wife is, I mean, we've been a little, it's, she's almost to her goal.

I, you know, I have nothing to do with it. Um, it's, uh, which I, you know, she didn't want me to have anything to do with it, because she didn't, which is great with me because I don't really want to. I didn't really want to ask anybody to do it and it's probably why it never got done. But she had a vision about doing this project. And she does all the artwork for it and she just, she curates the whole thing and she picks the bands and. So it takes what song she thinks we're going with that band and so I, I'm just, It gets done and then she goes, you want to hear a song of, uh, is it, one of your, one of your projects songs?

She goes, yeah, I said, all right. So the latest one, she played me, was like Sixpence None the Richer doing, so Let's Go Dancing, totally deconstructed.

So. So it's very humbling to me and, I'm like, I hope it doesn't get too popular because it's gonna make me look, I don't know. I feel very, I'm a little embarrassed...Yeah, the best, the best, what I really love about it is that she really encourages people to deconstruct and do their own version and there's no rules.

If you want to change the words, you can change the words. If you feel strongly about this song or whatever, you know, so it's kind of like all up in the air. Uh, you know, um, We've had some, you know, fantasy people that we tried to get, that she tried to get, you know, and, uh, you know, but like, I don't know everybody on there.

There will be 100 songs and a podcast for each song

PF: What are your favorite things to do when you're not out there playing tour and when you're at home, what do you like to do?

KK: Well, I wake up every morning and I go get, I walk my dogs. I walk 3 of my dogs every morning, a little over a mile, depends on the route. We cross the train tracks or we go to the forest or I drive them to Stone Mountain and then I come home and I have some oatmeal and yogurt. And then I fill my bird feeders. And then I probably clean the car. I like to have a clean car, especially if I just came home from tour. I try to clean the Drivin ‘N Cryin van. Get it all back to normal, get the oil changed. Uh, and then I love to do sit on my table, and uh, have lunch maybe, and do my crossword. I like to do crosswords, two or three crosswords every day, you know an LA times, crossword book. And I love to do crosswords. I love to read.