Kevin Salem is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He began his career as a member of Dumptruck, and subsequently played with multiple artists on tour, including

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James McNew ...

and

Freedy Johnston Freedy Johnston (born Frederic John Fatzer in 1961) is a New York City–based singer-songwriter originally from Kinsley, Kansas. Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation, and disappointm ...

, before beginning his solo career.

Biography

Salem grew up in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

, where he decided he wanted to be a successful guitarist. Most of the bands in his hometown were

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...

s, but he became interested in other types of music after traveling to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he saw

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

Tommy Keene Tommy Keene (born Thomas Clay Keene; June 30, 1958 – November 22, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for releasing critically acclaimed rock & roll/power pop songs in the 1980s. He has a longtime cult following among fans of ...

, and The Replacements. His musical career began when he joined Dumptruck in 1986, after which he performed on their 1987 album ''For the Country'' (though not on any of their other albums). During the early 1990s, he became a touring and session guitarist who played for numerous artists, including Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, and

Chris Harford Chris Harford is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter. Career ''The New Yorker'' described him as "...A singer, guitarist, and songwriter who rose through the local club scene in the nineteen-eighties, Harford operates in the free ...

. He has also done session work for

the Pooh Sticks The Pooh Sticks were a Welsh indie pop band from Swansea, Wales, primarily recording between 1988 and 1995. They were notable for their jangly melodiousness and lyrics gently mocking the indie scene of the time, such as on "On Tape", "Indiepop ...

, and produced albums by

Giant Sand Giant Sand is an American musical group from Tucson, Arizona, United States. Its most constant member is singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. The group started as Giant Sandworms in the late 1970s post-punk and paisley underground scenes. They later s ...

Chocolate Genius Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civi ...

, and

Madder Rose ''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known sp ...

Solo career

Salem released his first solo album, ''Soma City'', on

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

in 1994. It was followed two years later by ''

Glimmer In bioinformatics, GLIMMER (Gene Locator and Interpolated Markov ModelER) is used to find genes in prokaryotic DNA. "It is effective at finding genes in bacteria, archea, viruses, typically finding 98-99% of all relatively long protein coding g ...

'', which was also released on Roadrunner Records. He released his third solo album, ''Ecstatic'', in 2001. Artists who made cameos on ''Ecstatic'' included

Vicki Peterson Victoria Anne Theresa Peterson Cowsill (born January 11, 1958) is an American rock musician and songwriter. She has been the lead guitarist for the Bangles since their foundation in 1981. After their first disbandment in 1989, she has returned ...

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

, and Alice Temple.

Critical reception

Peter Margasak, of ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'', wrote that ''Soma City'' was "impressive", writing of Salem, "While he offers nothing especially new, his emotion-drenched work is pretty darn close to impeccable. Among endless waves of novelty, this kind of solidity can be a blessing." Patrick Kampert gave the album 3 out or 4 stars, describing it as "a strong outing, similar in texture to the

Sand Rubies Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

' stellar debut". The album appeared on multiple critics' year-end lists for 1994, and Salem tied for first place in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s "Best New Male Singer" poll that year.

Discography

*''Soma City'' (Roadrunner, 1994) *''

'' (Roadrunner, 1996) *''Ecstatic'' (

Future Farmer Future Farmer Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco, California. Inspired by skateboarding culture Future Farmer was founded in 1996 by San Joaquin Valley natives Jeff Klindt and Dennis Mitchell. Former label member M. War ...

, 2001) ^ Klein, Joshua (12 September 1996). "Kevin Salem Glimmer (Roadrunner)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 26 June 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salem, Kevin Living people American rock guitarists American rock singers Guitarists from Pennsylvania People from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Roadrunner Records artists Record producers from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people)