Kevin Guthridge is a man of many talents. Besides his leadership skills as a MarketSource Senior Manager, he is a practicing—and performing—musician. When Kevin was about five years old, his parents checked on him in the middle of the night and found him listening to The Beatles on their record player. “I was also big into jazz when I was young, and often listened to my grandparents’ old Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald albums,” he remembers. “That was the beginning of my love of music. I started playing saxophone at the age of nine and then went on to learn guitar, harmonica, piano, and organ. In my teenage years, I began singing and writing songs.”
Today, Kevin is the lead singer, songwriter, and guitar player in Midwest Rhythm Exchange, an all-acoustic band he founded in 2006. The band—comprised of bass, mandolin, violin, guitar, and dobro—has been busy. In the span of 15 years, they’ve played 1,300 shows and released five albums and, along the way, enjoyed quite a few memorable experiences.
In 2017, Midwest Rhythm Exchange competed for the chance to open for The Travelin’ McCourys, a Grammy award-winning, Nashville-based, bluegrass group. The competition was held in Kevin’s hometown – Indianapolis. “We tied for first place,” he states. “Unfortunately, The Travelin’ McCourys had to bow out at the last minute due to health issues with one of its band members, but luckily, the venue still allowed us play.”
In addition to bluegrass, Midwest Rhythm Exchange plays jazz, folk, rock, reggae, and gypsy swing…the latter of which is Kevin’s favorite, if he had to choose. “It’s a unique style of music that is very difficult to play proficiently and requires a lot of practice and dedication.”
Due to his band’s eclectic mix of music, they play at a wide range of venues, from private parties and local bars to festivals and outdoor amphitheaters. One venue closest to his heart is Key West’s iconic Blue Heaven—where, for six years, they played two, three-hour shows every day for a week and stayed at a property once owned by Ernest Hemingway.
Kevin underscores the fact that he has learned something from everyone he’s met—famous or not. “It doesn’t matter the level of musician or what they’ve accomplished in their lives—they will always have something to teach you if you just listen.”
In addition to famous venues, Kevin has met some pretty iconic musicians, as well. In 2018, the band was asked to open for The SteelDrivers, country star Chris Stapleton’s band, before going solo. There, Kevin hung out with Bonnie Raitt’s former fiddle player and one of Bill Monroe’s former banjo players, both of whom he remains friends with today.
Another fond memory was when he participated in an impromptu picking circle—where several players get in a circle and play songs together—with a renowned superstar, Billy Strings, who is a Grammy-award-winning bluegrass guitar virtuoso and filling stadiums around the world.
Kevin underscores the fact that he has learned something from everyone he’s met—famous or not. “It doesn’t matter the level of musician or what they’ve accomplished in their lives—they will always have something to teach you if you just listen.”
#Music #MarketSourceProud