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Kevin Lawson
It takes a certain courage to sing about Jesus in The Viper Room; almost as much as it takes to sing about your unyielding love for a beguiling woman in front of a conservative Southern Baptist Church. But Kevin Lawson has done both, to great acclaim. It’s one of many seeming contradictions that Lawson embodies: a man equally influenced by Paul of Tarsus and Paul of Liverpool, John the Baptist and Johnny Cash, The Clash and The Cross.
But this is no tactical marketing scheme, designed to win over both secular and faith-based audiences. Lawson connects with the seekers and the streets because he speaks to both, from the heart, the gut, and the soul. He is, at his core, a soul singer: a man who knows only one way to make music – with unflinching honesty.
From his days in Atlanta fronting bands like 3 Lost Souls, and Supermatic, to his ongoing solo career, Kevin Lawson has retrieved melodic missives from the mountaintop and lifted up death knells from desperate souls. He’s not a preacher or a prophet, but a struggling sinner sharing glimpses of the divine as he finds them, and earnestly sharing the struggle of living in this fractured world. Grace, mercy, and love – divine and human – set against the soundscape of music that marries the best of rock, folk, and Americana. Bob Marley called ‘em ‘Redemption Songs’, designed to emancipate you from today’s machinated music.
Lawson is a purveyor of stirring sonic architecture, creating songs that trace the footsteps of his heroes, Elvis Presley ,Hank Williams ,Paul McCartney , John Lennon, Brian Wilson ,Burt Bacharach and Tony Bennett – while confidently charting his own territory as well: a lyrical balladeer, unrepentant rocker, and the heart-quenching poet laureate for those who thirst for something more from love and life.
Onstage, Kevin Lawson enthralls audiences with shrewd stories, disarming wit and humility, and a charisma and swagger that would make Springsteen blush. To see him perform live is to be reminded of the earnest connection that can occur when an artist sings for the people, not to the people.
In his final years, John Coltrane claimed he was trying to achieve sainthood through his music, to find new ways to unravel The Great Mystery with each impassioned note. Lawson is on that same journey, creating music so immediate, so resonant, that you can’t help but get swept up in his passion and purpose. Luckily, thanks to CDs like his current “Nashville to Jesus”, we get to join him along his path, and experience how similar our treks truly are. More than anything, Kevin Lawson reminds his listeners how important our detour-filled journeys are, and what unfettered joy awaits us when we finally reach our Destination.
Bono once said, “The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot…that God is at the center of the jaunt.” Given that, there’s a good chance Bono has Kevin in heavy rotation on his Ipod. You should too…
Tommy Housworth
2006 |
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