BIO
Based in San Antonio, Texas, Kin Faux is a nationally touring, high-energy Texas/Red Dirt Country band whose more obvious influences, such as Charlie Daniels, Alabama, and Restless Heart, are clearly evident through virtuosic fiddle and strong vocal harmonies. Their more eclectic influences come through via poignant, blistering guitar work and a thundering, solid rhythm section.
Some band members grew up in the shadows of Michigan's crumbling auto plants. Kin Faux's music echoes the authenticity and desperation of places like Kentucky coal mines and other pockets of traditional American folklore, where the livelihoods of entire communities were swept out from underneath them, leaving people to fend for themselves and eke out a living for their families.
Native Texan Rico Gonzalez moved to Michigan in 2015 and found fiddle work with a Country band, playing the popular cover songs of the time, where he met Dan Currier. The two of them hit it off well on long drives to and from gigs around the region. At the same time, Jakey Black IX and Ross Barkey comprised half of a prolific Outlaw Country band that also made its way around the state. The two projects overlapped occasionally, and as the pair of duos overlapped more often, they discovered a mutual appreciation for Texas/Red Dirt music. Contacts were made, and an experimental side project called Kin Faux was born. The band was inspired by the Texas/Red Dirt artists they all enjoyed, such as Randy Rogers, Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager, Turnpike Troubadours, and others. Unsure of how this brand of music would be received in Michigan, the band played sporadic off-nights as more of a creative outlet. Still, it quickly became apparent that an unexpected and thriving Texas/Red Dirt scene in Michigan was hungering for exactly the kind of music the boys were bringing to the table. Kin Faux shows rapidly made a name for themselves as high-energy, vastly entertaining events, and the band was regarded as “the band to see” in the area. It was time to bring this group out of “side project” status and into the forefront.
Within a few months, the boys were regularly booked all over the Midwest. They honed themselves into a juggernaut of raw live energy and musical performance that became ubiquitous throughout the state. Within six months of being formed, they garnered wins as Review Magazine's Best Country Band and Rico as Best Country Musician in 2018. They forged relationships with influential artists like Bobby Randall (Sawyer Brown, Confederate Railroad) and renowned songwriters like Bernie Nelson (Chris LeDoux, John Anderson, Confederate Railroad, Conway Twitty).
In the ensuing year, the boys traveled to Mainframe Studios in Nashville to record their self-titled debut EP (produced by Bobby Randall). They began to expand their touring to include several tours of Texas to see how their brand of Texas music would be received. Each tour built on the successes of the previous tour, and Kin Faux started to become regular fixtures at such iconic venues as Luckenbach, John T Floore's, and Gruene Hall, working with such acts as Kevin Fowler, Roger Creager, Rick Trevino, and Trace Adkins, among others. Kin Faux's EP was released in the fall of 2018 to rave reviews, garnering five more wins from Review Magazine's Music Awards, including Best Country Band, Best CD Release for the band and Best Multi-Instrumentalist, Best Country Songwriter and Best Country Instrumentalist for Rico.
Their four successful tours of Texas found them cultivating relationships with more legendary songwriters, such as David Lee (Cody Johnson, Montgomery Gentry, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, George Strait), Brett Beavers (Lee Ann Womack, Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley) and Jim Beavers (Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley, Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton). It began to be evident that Texas offered opportunities that couldn't be found anywhere else, so, in true Kin Faux fashion, they once again piled into the van as a unit and hit the road, this time with permanence on their collective minds and relocated to San Antonio to pursue success full-time.
They released their first single, Teardrops on the Rocks (from their debut EP), in the summer of 2019, which peaked at #20 on the Texas Charts. While working this single, mid-tour and between dates, the boys returned to Nashville to record again, this time at Sony Tree Studios with Jim Beavers at the helm. This session produced their second single, Locked Up in Lubbock, released in March of 2020. Even with the COVID lockdown stymieing their touring and promotion efforts, Locked Up topped out at a respectable #26 on the Texas Charts. The boys released their third single, Honky Tonk in Heaven in October of 2020, and this song would become the band's breakout single, steadily working its way up the charts and finally delivering their first #1 hit on Texas Radio in March 2021. Locked Up and Honky Tonk would appear on the band's second album, with the latter serving as the title track, released in April of 2021.
Honky Tonk in Heaven would prove to be the album that would establish Kin Faux as a mainstay on the Texas music charts. The title track reached #1 for two consecutive weeks, followed by Plainview, which reached #3, and Wild Horses (a duet with Terry McBride), which also hit #1 for two weeks on the Texas Charts. The success of this album would garner the boys a couple of Texas Country Music Association Awards as well, taking home trophies for Country Band of the Year in 2021 and Single of the Year (for Wild Horses) in 2022, as well as a Texas Regional Radio Award for New Band or Duo of the Year in 2022. This period also found the band dabbling into music videos, creating videos for Plainview, Wild Horses, and Mas Tequila Por Favor.
In 2022, Kin Faux returned to Nashville to partner up with Jim Beavers, this time producing Kin Faux's most recent album, Cheaper Than the Truth, released in February of 2023. This album features the singles Grain of Salt, which topped out at #2 on the Texas charts and a #1 hit for the boys with Sunny and 72. The 3rd single, “Honky Tonk Honey,” is also the first Kin Faux single that the boys co-wrote, teaming up with Jim and Brett Beavers. It reached #1 at the end of 2023 and stayed there for four weeks.
In November 2023, the Texas Country Music Awards were held at Billy Bob’s Texas. The band was nominated for 6 awards and took home the top prize of Entertainer of the Year and Drummer of the Year.
2024 has been a big year for Kin Faux. The band is seeing a level of growth that is intriguing. The addition of Avery Castro on drums and Adam Carrillo on bass has rounded out this band with superior musicianship and professionalism that is turning heads.
With their headlining debut at the legendary Billy Bob’s, the bar is set for some exciting shows and opportunities. Born and Raised was a huge success, and Mile O is eagerly awaiting their performances in early 2025.. Kin Faux has also returned to the studio, this time keeping closer to home with award-winning producer Stormy Cooper of Stormy Cooper Media in Houston. The boys are working on new music and are excited to get it out.
The first single from these sessions, “My Kind of Weathered,” sets the stage for a bigger sound for the band. Written by Kensie Coppin, Barber Barrett, and Thompson Garrett, “Weathered” is about appreciation for the kind of character that things and people acquire with time. In the Summer of 2024, “My Kind of Weathered” hit #1 on Texas Red Dirt radio, holding the position for a record-breaking 4 weeks on all 3 monitored Texas Red Dirt radio charts.
