Dewey Kincade

Dewey Kincade began writing songs at the age of 12, and by writing, I mean writing them down. He had always sung songs to himself since he was a child, and made up his own melodies. Many of his first attempts at writing were collected on Dewey Kincade: Vol 1, To Be Free. He began playing in bands in high school and performing in front of audiences. While Dewey was originally interested only in classic rock and folk music, the Louisville hardcore scene was the only game in town for young musicians.  As a result, Dewey’s first single with his band Downpour on Slamdek records, “Defense,” was a Fugazi-inspired hardcore song. 

After that band collapsed, Dewey formed Satori, and began playing what he calls psycho-transcendental rock. It was a lot less hardcore, but still very indie. The band lasted for five years. He was 21 when they released their only record, Belief. He took a year off from college to see what he could do with it, and not much happened. 

Throughout all this time, Dewey had never stopped writing folks songs. He still considered Bob Dylan his greatest influence. He wrote and he wrote, and about five years later he began recording Who Are The Navigators. The album was a hodge-podge of musical styles from different eras of Dewey’s life. He was one of the first local artists played on WFPK as they switched from jazz programming to a AAA format. He got some airplay on other stations in Louisville, played a few morning shows on the local stations and played at SXSW. Then he got cancer. 

By the time he recovered from cancer, he had no band and no career. Again. He began recording the album Lost and Found. He then moved to New York City, and started playing with a new version of The Navigators. This band released Meet the Navigators and Glory, Glory and began touring up the East Coast. They were signed to Velour records and began performing from Maine all the way to California. Unfortunately, within a year Dewey was the only original member left touring, and the label did not have the money to record another album. 

Dewey began recording what would become Love and War, Vol. 1. The album featured Brian Griffin (The Black Crowes, Lana Del Rey, Brandi Carlile), Naren Rauch (composer for film, television and NPR) and Cuzin D (a recording artist in his own right).  This sounded like the band that would put Dewey over the top, but before anyone could hear the results, the band was dropped from Velour, the booking agent pulled out, and Dewey had no career. Again. 

Dewey worked for a while with Grammy winning engineer, Bob Brockman with the same line up, and some of these songs along with unreleased recordings from the Love and War, Vol. 1 sessions would eventually become Standing on a Rock. Still nothing happened at that time, and the band parted ways on friendly terms. 

Dewey thought he might have a career putting his music in film and television. He had some success getting “I Can’t Breathe” in The Unit, and placing a number of songs in the independent film Dream Riders, and the film I’ll Come Running. He followed up this initial burst with a dry spell, and ultimately decided to move back to Louisville with his wife and newborn baby. 

In Louisville, he produced such acts as Alex Wright, Morgan Brooks and George Stearman. He began performing in Louisville with his new band The Fellow Travelers, a folk band, when he noticed that he was getting checks for his streaming. He began rereleasing old albums for streaming, and putting out new recordings from his home studio.  For Standing on a Rock he teamed up with Grammy-nominated mixer/producer Andrew McKenna Lee who gave the performances by Dewey, Brian, Naren and Cuzin D what they deserved. 

Dewey has a lot more albums waiting in the wings, and a new version of The Navigators to perform them, so who says it’s never too late?