If there’s an edge, a narrow space where artists push boundaries and hipsters follow, Sammy Kershaw will not be anywhere in sight.
“That’s one thing I never could do is follow the trends,” he said. “I’m a country singer — that’s what I do.”
After 25 top 40 songs, almost a dozen top 10s and a chart buster, “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” over a six year span in the ‘90s, Kershaw has no need to pander to the ever changing crowd. He still records new albums, but on the road — he appears at Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley on Jan. 24 — steadfastly plays the favorites.
Kershaw’s love of the roots country sound runs deep, twining through the Louisiana honky tonks where he honed his skills and the crackling AM radio stations that brought the likes of George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard into southern homes.
He refers to his foundation as “country-soul” — the songs of toil and truth. Kershaw admits to tears when a story wells up through the guitar and twang and salty, sweaty rhythm of the classics.
“It was the soul that I could hear,” Kershaw recalled.
Although he toured the honky tonks for 21 years before finding national success, there was clearly a pent up demand for his interpretation of country. Kershaw debuted with the album Don’t Go Near the Water in 1991, which included the top 5 single “Cadillac Style.” Over the next few years, he rolled out hits such as “Queen of My Double-Wide Trailer,” “I Can’t Reach Her Anymore,” “National Working Woman’s Holiday,” and his chart scorching “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful.” In a field crowded with young talent, Kershaw stood apart.
“I’ve been lucky, man,” he observed.
Yet some of Kershaw’s hard kicking honky tonk fans complained, as the decade wore on, that he was tipping toward contemporary. So Kershaw dialed it back and allowed the rest of the country crowd to disappear into crossover styles.
He hasn’t swayed since. On tour, he still dives into “Vidalia” and the other favorites with the same ferocity as in the 90s heyday.
“You don’t get tired of them and you don’t perfect them,” he said of his hits. “I do them as close to the record as I can — every night, lick for lick.”
And for Kershaw, it is every night. He is on the road constantly, taking breaks only for Christmas. He drops into the studio to turn out at least two albums a year, the most recent being All in the Same Boat and Do You Know Me, the latter a tribute to his hero, George Jones. Still, he found time to run unsuccessfully for public office twice and advocate for the communities affected by hurricanes and the BP oil disaster.
“I don’t take time off, I work,” Kershaw explained. “I love what I do. I’m lucky to have a job that’s not a job.”
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
