Shinyribs - Back by Popular Request - Live at Cactus Theater! | Cactus Theater
Concerts
Shinyribs - Back by Popular Request - Live at Cactus Theater!
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Doors: 6:50 • Showtime: 7:30 pm
We may never know what Shinyribs is. Sometimes, it’s a sprawling multi-piece ensemble slapping the air until it grooves; sometimes he’s a somber subtle songwriter pouring poetry on the ground from a cup half full. Either way it’s always the house-party-meets-library that is,
Kevin Russell.
Raised in Beaumont, TX, and Shreveport, LA—the cradle of swamp pop, Leadbelly, and bayou R&B—Russell distills those regional sounds into something both timeless and immediate, dripping from his fingers like honey, salt & fat. Think Texas Gulf Coast meets Muscle Shoals, songs carved and weaved by hand with a storyteller’s heart. Shinyribs evolved from a solo residency Russell began under that moniker in the mid-2000s, after an incident in a Houston club, playing a private party for a group of welders where he bought a homeless woman a plate of ribs. “Her name was Roberta,” says Russell. “She was a high priestess of transistor radios and an almost forgotten music she called ‘Chilibump.’ For that plate of Ribs that night she gave me in return a name, Shinyribs and a road map to the mysterious big thicket sounds I had only heard of from old timers and time travelers.”
With the album
Leaving Time
,
produced by
David Beck
(Texan Weekend, Blue Healer), Russell parks the party bus behind the venue and sits in a lawn chair in the street lights with the bugs and a dingy moon. Joined by extraordinary bassist, arranger and co-producer,
Mason Hankamer
, keyboardist
Jonny Keys
(Uncle Lucius), drummer
Dees Stribling
and Mr. Beck singing gourd-like harmonies while handling multiple Instrumental touches,
Leaving Time
is a departure and an arrival showcase of Russell’s long evolution as a classic Texas songwriter. The songs reconnect with Russell’s literary roots, the folk and country influences that shaped his work with
The Gourds
, and the ever-present irreverence guiding his musical journey since his early years.
Kevin Russell -
Shinyribs
- invites you into his junkyard of juke, his shack of shakin’ souls, for a Sunday evening sit down, a slow sound for a sweet night. When the time is just right for Leaving, let ya mind wander into believing. It’s Leaving Time.
Reserved Tickets:
All floor and standard balcony....$25 advance; $30 day of show;
Balcony Box* seats....$50 advance; $60 day of show
* Box includes concessions with ticket; pick up wristband at ticket booth upon arrival.
Information Source: Cactus Theater | eventbrite