Kevin Allred is an independent singer/songwriter based in Brooklyn NY (where he lives with his boyfriend and a demonic senior chihuahua). With an unlikely combination of influences spanning the women's singer/songwriter explosion of the 1990s and Lilith Fair, punk rock, outlaw country, Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, and Odetta, his songs peel back artifice—whether social, interpersonal, individual, political—and cut to the core of our shared experience with an earnest charm and authenticity. His live performances, chock-full of humor and heart, receive rave reviews from audience members and critics alike.
Originally from Logan UT, Kevin started writing songs after first hearing Tori Amos in high school; he taught himself to play guitar after finding an Ani Difranco album at a local record store. He pushed against the conformity of his religious upbringing, coming out as gay and getting excommunicated from the Mormon church (at his own request) at the age of 18. In music, he found the courage to proudly tell his own story in the hopes that it would matter to someone else, somewhere.
Kevin founded gutter folk records in 2000 to release his debut album Sick Today and has stuck to those DIY roots, releasing three additional albums and one stand-alone single on the label. Over the years, he has also worked as a telephone survey operator, fast food cook, barista, reproductive rights program assistant at the national level, adjunct professor at multiple universities, and freelance writer.
Trained in Songwriting and Performance at Berklee College of Music, Kevin also holds graduate degrees in American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. He created and popularized a “Politicizing Beyoncé” curriculum in 2010 which transformed into the 2019 book Ain’t I A Diva? (published by the Feminist Press at CUNY). Both analyze superstar Beyoncé’s work alongside a host of other Black women thinkers, writers, activists, and artists throughout U.S. history.
He continues to tour the U.S. and internationally, playing his own original music and lecturing, offering his unique perspective on what connects us all as human beings trying to survive hard times. He is currently at work on a brand new album.
