Rhythm and Roots Concert Series, Live Americana Music in Downtown TucsonRhythm and Roots Concert Series, Live Americana Music in Downtown Tucson
Award-winning Americana singer-songwriter Kevin Pakulis is a master musician and storyteller. Emerging in 2004 from Tucson’s deep pool of talented musicans, his award-winning edgy, guitar-driven compositions, delivered with plenty of raw energy, earned him national and international attention with his debut release of Yeah Yeah Yeah. No Depression Magazine put it most succinctly in their review: “His music represents the best of a genre.” Kevin’s songwriting ranges from introspective and reflective to satirical and political, from rocking blues anthems to quiet acoustic pieces. Whatever the message or the sound, the constant is the soulful honesty of the art. Anyone who has ever been to Tucson in the summer cannot help but sing along when they hear the chorus of the title track to Yeah Yeah Yeah: “It’s hot here, hot as hell here, swamp cooler and a cold beer,” a bluesy haiku on the Sonoran Desert summer.
Of his second release, 2007’s Mockingbird Radio (San Jacinto Records), Chris Hansen of of the Phoenix, Arizona Tribune
Zocalo magazine’s Eric Johns says of Shadesville (2010), Kevin “reaches into and utilizes genre after genre. From a quirky and fast rocker about everything flying off the handle (Outa Hand) to a beautiful country ballad about the sacred nature of the grave of a dearly departed (Uncle Harlan), and on to a slammin’ honky-tonk number (Heavy Load )- there isn’t a weak track on the album.”
Tempered by time and experience, the latest offering, Holliday (Summer, 2018) revisits the themes of life in the Sonoran Desert, love in its many forms, and the nuances of social disparity.
Pakulis has opened for numerous major acts including Billie Joe Shaver, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Dwight Yoakam, Sonny Landreth, John Gorka, Little Feat, and Merle Haggard.