Kevin Carducci is a honky-tonk singer-songwriter who has written the perfect introduction to his talents; Open Up the Honky Tonks is a well-crafted, timeless number that showcases Carducci’s richly sonorous, pure-sounding classic country voice. Carducci describes the single as a “…tongue-in-cheek counterpoint and homage to Buck Owens’ Close Up The Honky Tonks.” There may be some humour, but Open Up the Honky Tonks is a seriously good country song with timeless twang, a rhythmic sway, rich bass, and an outstanding pedal steel performance, while Carducci’s vocal follows an easy, immediately likeable tune.
The accompanying video, created by Francesco Echo, finds Carducci in a closed-up roadhouse where he turns on the lights and neon, before helping himself to a beer and stepping up onto the stage. Suddenly, the place bursts into honky tonk life with Carducci performing and the punters dancing. The well-shot video mirrors the words and feel of the song.
For almost a decade, Carducci led California honky-tonk band The Easy Leaves. A popular touring and festival band, The Easy Leaves shared stages with the likes of Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson. By 2020, Carducci had begun to develop more of his own songs, touring with Pokey LaFarge as a solo artist. He had just moved to Nashville and was planning to release a record and embark on a solo tour. We all know what happened next. Alongside the pandemic, a tornado of historical proportions tore through Carducci’s new neighbourhood, leaving his new home uninhabitable. The music business paused indefinitely, and the band split up. With no home and no band, Carducci headed back to his native California and found a job on a farm out West.
The end of everything else spelt a new beginning for Carducci as a solo artist. On 24th April 2026, his album, Easy Does It, will finally be released on Fossil Records, the label recently founded by Carducci’s friend and fellow singer-songwriter Margo Cilker. The songs celebrate small victories, piecing a dream back together and starting over. Check it out.
