About
There was a moment on Chicago Transit Authority where the horns, drums, vocals, everything, stopped. What followed was an unbelievable wave of sound that came pouring out of the speakers. It rumbled, then rose up again into a squealing rage, turned back in on itself and twisted into a room full of guys cracking up at what they’d just experienced.
It was just a guitar and an amp. Wrenched into something overwhelming, beautiful, painful and hilarious. Terry Kath was the guy that coaxed that hardware into the track they called “Freeform Guitar”. I had to know how the hell he’d done it.
I had a Sears AM radio and a Sears turntable. A Silvertone guitar and amp combo, with a Silvertone multi-pedal (wah, fuzz, surf, siren and hurricane). Did I mention my dad worked for Sears? Chicago got bumped off the turntable by Free, Free by the Faces, then the Stones, then came Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Queen, Yes, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, The Crusaders, Van Halen and on it went with Herbie Hancock, Weather Report and Jeff Beck thrown in the mix.
The Silvertone gear turned into a Gibson SG and a Fender Super Six. The bedroom gig hit the bars and the frat party scene, continued on to sheds and arenas around the world and into the studios of Los Angeles. Along the way a parade of Fenders, Gibsons, Music Mans, Marshalls, Dumbles and Boogies would live to fight another day after unmentionable abuse, both physical and technical, all in the pursuit of that magical congruence of clanging strings, fluxing magnets and steaming vacuum tubes pushing and pulling on cones of paper struggling to hang on to the edges of their framing.
As the drummer joke of the 80s went: “Now we have a computer that can do that”. And that’s cool too. Like the percussive version of our story turned out, we now have the best of both the analog and digital and as a result, the best of all worlds. Now if I could just download a model of 4 or 5 guys to crack up at my cynical brilliance while I cut this next track...
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Courtesy Robert Bernstein
Kevin Dukes is a multi-talented musician, songwriter, arranger and producer. As a renowned guitarist he has recorded and performed with a virtual “who’s who” of popular music including Shania Twain, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, John Fogerty, Don Henley, Boz Scaggs, Meredith Brooks and Chicago. As a session musician he has performed on hundreds of television and film soundtracks and themes, and literally thousands of commercial advertising soundtracks. Employing his skills as a songwriter Kevin has composed music and lyrics for Gold & Platinum status recording artists Chicago and Meredith Brooks, Integrity Records Praise and Worship artists Don Moen and The Tommy Coomes Praise Band.
Discography
Jackson Browne: Lives In The Balance
Jackson Browne: World In Motion
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers: A Very Special Christmas 2
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: Playback
Billy Joel: Koncert/ Live from Leningrad
Chicago: Days Of Thunder
Don Henley: The “Michael” Soundtrack
Michael Bolton: All That Matters
Michael Bolton: Everybody’s Crazy
Joe Walsh: You Bought It , You Name It
Dolly Parton: Rainbow
Sarah Evans: Three Chords and The Truth
Jennifer Paige: Always You
Jennifer Paige: Positively Somewhere
Deana Carter: Did I Shave My Legs For This? (Single)
Donny Osmond: Christmas At Home
The Muppets: (with Vince Gill, Sting, Don Henley, Linda Rondstat, etc)
The Simpsons Sing The Blues: (with Joe Walsh and BB King, etc)
Juice Newton: Can’t Wait All Night
David Mullen: Faded Blues
First Call: Sacred Journey
First Call: Beyond December
First Call: Razon de Cantar
Bill Champlin: No Wasted Moments
Kiki Ebsen: Love Loud
Tamara Champlin: You Won’t Get To Heaven Alive
The Whispers: Love Is Where You Find It
As a Songwriter
Chicago: Days Of Thunder Soundtrack
Chicago: 21
Uncommon Valor: Brothers In The Night
Meredith Brooks: Blurring The Edges
Don Moen: Like Eagles
Tommy Coomes Praise Band
Tours
Boz Scaggs: Japan -1985
Don Henley: Boys of Summer - 1985
Jackson Brown: Lives In the Balance World Tour - 1986-87
Billy Joel: The Bridge World Tour - 1987
Billy Joel: Koncert World Tour- 1987
Jackson Browne: World In Motion World Tour - 1989 - 91
Boz Scaggs: Far East - 1991
Jackson Brown: Amnesty International - 1992
Boz Scaggs: Follow That Man World Tour- 1994
Peter Cetera: World Tour 1995 - 1996
Televised Appearances
In Concert: Chevy Chase and Richard Tee Band - 1982
Thicke of the Night: House Band and Various Musical Guest 1984 - 1985
Japanese National Television: Boz Scaggs, Electronics Worlds Fair, Tokyo - 1985
Soul Train: Don Henley -1985
MTV Farm Aid: Don Henley - 1985
The Young And The Restless: Michael McDonald - 1986
Solid Gold: Michael McDonald -1986
Rock Concert: (German Television, live to Europe and the U.S.S.R.): Jackson Brown - 1986
MTV Amnesty International: Live world wide from Giant Stadium: Jackson Brown - 1986
HBO: Billy Joel Live from Russia -1987
CBS: Billy Joel Russian Tour Documentary - 1987
MTV: Billy Joel Tour Documentary- 1987
The Arsenio Hall Show: Jackson Brown - 1989
Amnesty International: San Tiago, Chile, Live to South America and Spain: Jackson Brown - 1992
HBO Anniversary Show: Bette Midler - 1992
The Tonight Show: Mark Cohn - 1993
Japanese National Television: Boz Scaggs, Live In Tokyo 1993
Good Morning America: Boz Scaggs – 1994
The Tonight Show: Boz Scaggs - 1994
Crook and Chase: Peter Cetera - 1995
The Tonight Show: Shania Twain - 1996
The Country Music Awards: Shania Twain - 1996
Commercial, Soundtrack and Production Work
Aside song placements on internationally released albums and feature films Kevin’s compositions have been heard around the world via placements by BMG, Universal publishing and LA Post Music in television soundtracks and films from Canada to Australia and Sweden to Israel. Among them Terminator, Wife Swap, HBO’s The Sopranos, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Days of Thunder, Prime Time Country, The Price is Right, The Tony Danza Show, Wanda Does It, Ripleys' Believe It or Not, Barely Famous, Comedy Central, Garage Take Over, VH1 Classic, Living Better with Carrie Wiatt, Change of Heart, Cover Me, Robin Hood, etc
As a guitarist, writer and producer, Kevin has worked in the recording studios of Los Angeles on more than a thousand national and regional commercials for the most prominent music production houses in the world. Spots have included all the major automobile companies, Nike, McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, AT&T, Microsoft, Intel, Coors, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, 7UP and others too numerous to mention.
As a guitarist, bassist and multi instrumentalist he has also appeared on many film and television scores and soundtracks including Pretty in Pink, Airplane, The Man With Two Brains, Days Of Thunder, Mr. Baseball Diagnosis Murder, The Untouchables, Diamonds, Shiloh 2, Shiloh, Cry Baby, Home Alone 2, Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Touched by an Angel, Yes Dear, Star Trek: First Contact, Robin Hoods, Martial Law, Shadow of Doubt, Kull the Conqueror, Stargate, Shiloh, Thank Heaven, Witchblade, Monster!, One Good Turn, Rattled, The Outer Limits, Hawkeye, Viper, Dr. Quin Medicine Woman, Little Miss Millions, Joshua Tree, Across the Tracks, Blue Desert, Jobman, Moon 44, Watchers, Banzai Runner, Crystal Heart, with composers Joel Goldsmith, Chris Stone, Jerry Goldsmith, and Steve Tyrell.
As a result of his experience as a performing and recording guitarist Kevin has had the opportunity to work with Yamaha Guitar Design and with the Sound Design Division of Yamaha Musical Instruments. He worked as a consultant with YGD on the Pacifica and Weddington lines of guitars as well as on several lines of Yamaha guitar amplifiers and effects processors. He currently endorses Line6 making use of their extensive line of amplifier and effects modeling devices as well as the Variax line of electirc, acoustic and clasical modeling guitars.
A consummate musician, Kevin operates his own studio, where he plays all instruments, programs keyboards and drums, and engineers and mixes the tracks.