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Chocolate;
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So what's your story? |
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KM:
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I'm Kevin McKinney. I was born in Plano, Texas. I play the guitar. I've been with Soulhat for about 12 years. |
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Chocolate;
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Why did you start playing the guitar? |
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KM;
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Because I love rock-n-roll. When I was 12, I wanted to play drums and wanted to get a drumset, but they said, why don't you get a guitar instead. And I took to it immediately. As a kid, when I was sick, I would stay home from school and play guitar to the radio. Billy Squire and all that. The first rock concert I ever went to was Striper--a Christian Heavy Metal Band. Yeah, they threw Bibles at us. |
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Chocolate;
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Your new CD, Kevin McKinney's 12 Holiday Hits, features you on acoustic guitar and a four-track. Your interpretation of these standard holiday songs is very fresh and natural, very intimate. It's really quite different from the work you do with Soulhat. How did this come about? |
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KM:
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I know all these songs from being forced to go to church as a kid, to sing in the church choir. But there's a twist in all of them. Away in a Manger - it's always a sad song, but I make it happy. And Jingle Bells is a happy song, I make it sad." |
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Chocolate;
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You must be dyslexic? |
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KM;
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Oh, I don't know. I didn't really study up on it. But the CD is just me on my guitar. I guess I could have had some elves to play along. That would be the shit. |
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Chocolate;
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When did you record it? |
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KM:
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I sat down on the couch with this guitar I bought for my birthday and recorded these songs to give as gifts to family. While this was going on, my wife was cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. It was right after we first got married. The first time we decided to not go to our parents. |
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Chocolate;
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You've always been such a rocker! What is the influence for this record? |
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KM;
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Twang. It's obvious. Born in Texas. |
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Chocolate;
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Do you like Willie? |
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KM;
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Oh, yeah! My parents drug me to a Willie Nelson concert at the Sportatorium in Dallas, and I fell asleep. I must have absorbed it in my sleep. I didn't like country, I liked heavy metal. |
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Chocolate;
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What would you like to say to people about this CD? |
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KM;
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You don't have to love Jesus to love this music! |
holiday hits song list |