About

Kevin Vickery

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com

The Cousin Brothers

Middletown’s own, Kevin Vickery, along with Indiana residents, Ben Long, T.R. Yelton and Dave Bagdade make up The Cousin Brothers. They bring their unique blend of rocked-up bluegrass and grassed-up rock and country to local audiences everywhere. The readers of Nuvo magazine voted them Indianapolis’ number one band and number two folk band. Since beginning in the fall of 2004, The Cousin Brothers have established themselves as a force in the central Indiana music scene with dedicated listeners and followers everywhere. Audiences love their unique blend of bluegrass, rock, country and comedy, which makes their live shows an ever changing and must-see experience. This, along with the bands personality, keeps audiences coming back for more time and time again.

The Cousin Brothers performing Bob Seger’s Turn the Page live at The Melody Inn in Indianapolis, IN

In 2005, founding members Kevin Vickery and Ben Long, joined forces with percussionist T.R. Yelton, who’s train beats augmented their sound and helped to take the group to a new level. Later that same year, the band added Dave Bagdade, a veteran bluegrass guitarist, mandolin player and vocalist, rounding out The Cousin Brothers with a total of three solid lead voices and two, multi-instrumental soloists.

Their collaborative vocals incorporate several influences ranging from Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Lester Flatt to Jerry Garcia, Tom Petty and James Hetfield.

Kevin Vickery live on stage with The Cousin Brothers in Indianapolis, IN

The Cousin Brothers first studio project, titled “$200 Demo” is an eleven-song look into the group’s influences in rock and roll and country with their own remakes of songs like Nine Inch Nails “Closer”, Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and Skid Row’s “I Remember You” alongside some more traditional bluegrass material.

In 2006 the group released their second recording entitled “What a Rack” with all proceeds going to raise money for breast cancer related charities. The Cousin Brothers then went on to make weekly appearances on the Stuck and Gunner Show on X103, WRZX-FM, performing their original material as well as a weekly Colts rally song during the 2006 through 2011 football seasons.

The Cousin Brothers performing Split Lip Rayfield’s, “Truth and Lies” at the Melody Inn in Indianapolis IN.

The band has since released threeadditional albums, “The Stuck and Gunner Sessions”, Live at the Melody Inn”, and “Friday Morning Radio Club”. You can find their music on YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music and iTunes.

The Cousin Brothers perform on the second Friday of every month at The Melody Inn, located downtown Indianapolis at 3826 N Illinois Street, for “Hillbilly Happy Hour”.

Kevin Vickery on bass live at Birdy’s in Indianapolis, IN

A man of many talents, Kevin Vickery has also extended his roots and talents into playing bass and drums at Mt. Summit Christian Church every Sunday where his daughter Alice Vickery is one of the lead vocalists. Alice also plays the flute in her school band and is learning piano. Her younger sister, Delia is following in both of their footsteps by also being a vocalist in her own right, and learning piano, bass and the drums.

Kevin, who spent a bulk of the 1990’s in Nashville, wearing the hats of many jobs including, tour manager, senior project manager, co-producer of concerts for television, concert promoter, etc. understands the music industry as both a performer and from the music business side.

“I got my first guitar for my thirteenth birthday and began taking lessons.” Kevin Vickery said. “Soon after, I switched to bass so that I could start a band with my friends. My Grandpa, Gerald Coon, had already introduced me to artists like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard but the influence of my friends also allowed me to discover rock and roll, like Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and KISS.”

Kevin went on to play in many other bands before finally landing it in with The Cousin Brothers. “My first band was Vice Versa. We played a lot of school dances, local fairs and parties. During the years I lived and worked in the music business in Nashville, I also played in a number of bands like Gravel and The Holland Nix Band. For a short while after there was a rebirth of Vice Versa called The Dumpster Hogs that played a lot of bar gigs in New Castle and Anderson. Around that same time I was also in an Indianapolis based band called Lesmore. The drummer from Lesmore gave me an upright bass that had been left at his house. I called an old friend, Ben Long from Anderson, who played banjo and was well versed in bluegrass music. The two of us wanted to create a band that was bluegrass styled but with a heavy metal attitude. And so The Cousin Brothers was born. Then we added T.R. Yelton on drums and Dave Bagdade on mandolin and guitar. We then started playing our electrified bluegrass rock around Indiana.”

When Kevin was asked about his advice for up and coming musicians and people wanting to start their own bands, he said, “In the modern era of computer and AI generated music, a true instrumentalist of any sort is a dying breed. So focus on your craft and master it because hopefully there will always be a market for skill.”

Looking ahead to the future, Kevin says that he knows he will play music in some capacity for the rest of his life as long as he can and as long as there is still an audience for it. Kevin continues, “My dream would be to still be able to play music with my young daughters as they grow up and find their own path in their musical journey. When asked if there was any advice he would give his younger self, he said, “Yes, I would tell my younger self to practice more and learn to read sheet music”.

The Cousin Brothers can be found online at thecousinbrothers.com and Facebook.