• Kevin Abernathy (guitar/vocals) • Jeff "Geezer" Simms (bass/vocals) • Jeffery "Free J Supreme" Warren (drums/vocals)
Kevin Abernathy has been around the music block. He's played in rock bands
in San Francisco, Atlanta and Nashville but was raised in Madisonville
Tennessee, a tiny town at the foot of the Cherokee National Forest in southern
Appalachia. There was nothing rock-n-roll about it - a courthouse, a couple
stop lights, faded storefronts, red mud stuck to the tires and fenders of
beat up trucks, country churches, country people, porch music, southern
drawls thick as Sorghum syrup, ten years behind the times - and all of it
thousands of miles away from his heroes like Aerosmith, Van Halen, Jeff Beck,
Montrose, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others.
Christmas of 1976 he got a video game instead of the guitar he was hoping
for, because his parents thought he wouldn't play it. That night Kevin was
so upset he cried himself to sleep. A couple weeks later they traded the
video game for his first guitar and amp - a Silvertone hollow body with a
bigsby tremolo and a small tempo amplifier. Kevin was instantly hooked and his
days were spent sitting on the edge of his bed practicing until he couldn't
concentrate from sleepiness. He had a one-track mind and with the
exception of school and other family activities there were no other distractions.
Eight weeks after Kevin's eighteenth birthday he boarded a Greyhound bus
bound for California. He landed in the Bay Area where he joined One, a pop
rock combo that open for such acts as Night Ranger and the sixties band Blue
Cheer. Times were tough on the west coast and Kevin took to a streak of
bohemia, sleeping on couches, in barns, basements and cars, but as long as
he had his guitar he was happy. Kevin began writing songs and after One
disbanded, he packed his beat-up Izuzu and headed back to Tennessee.
Via a country rock outfit in Chattanooga and hair metal favorites Shag
Nasty in Knoxville, Kevin finally arrived in the Music City in 1993. There he
honed his songwriting skills and began performing his songs at The Bluebird
Café and other Nashville staples. Longing to be back in a rock band Kevin
answered a guitar player wanted ad and helped form the critically acclaimed
Shapeshifters with former Brian And The Nightmares front man Brian
Relleva. With the release of their debut 'Alienated', the Shapeshifters wowed
crowds all over the south east, opening for such acts as Southern Culture On
The Skids, Billy Joe Shaver, Web Wilder and Junior Brown. Kevin, who was
often coveted for his flashy guitar playing, co-wrote many of the Americana
fueled songs for the Shapeshifters including the southern satire romp "Rock
City."
After the Shapeshifters disbanded, Kevin decided to move back to the
mountains of east Tennessee where he sat on the porch of his south Knoxville
home for two years, penning songs of his own brand of music he describes as "Arena-cana." These sittings yielded songs heard on Kevin's second CD "Rock -n- Roll Fiasco" featuring the first release of the Kevin Abernathy Band with Jeff "Geezer" Simms on bass and Jeffery "Free J" Warren on drums. Aptly named, 'Fiasco' is classic Kevin Abernathy, wrought with parables of downtrodden characters backed by stinging guitar riffs which sets in motion the mood of his subjects.
In 2009 Abernathy and company abandoned the Americana-ish edge of “Fiasco” and ably capture the feel of a late 70’s/early 80’s rock record with “A Beautiful Thing.” This exciting new release runs from gentle to fierce, and may be an even better collection of songs. Kevin is a story teller who throws a lot of classic rock punches. He can send a chill with sophisticated guitar riffs while sketching well crafted parables.
In the song "Last I Heard," Kevin sings about that old buddy who just couldn't keep out of trouble, concluding that he doesn't care what the guy has done, "I'm just looking for a long lost friend." Take a listen to Kevin Abernathy's music and you may feel like you've found one.