Kevin Costner Heads West

Kevin Costner photo courtesy of Universal Republic/Universal Records South.

Nov. 11, 2008 — The rest of the world knows Kevin Costner primarily as an actor, thanks to such films as The Bodyguard, Field Of Dreams and Dances With Wolves, but before he was making movies, he was making music.

Kevin played with a band called Roving Boy before the screen work took off, and once that began chewing up more of his time, the music got pushed to the side. But Kevin’s putting it front and center with the release Tuesday of Untold Truths, recorded with his band Modern West. Kevin knows he’ll face skepticism, and that played in his internal debate about whether he should move forward with the music.

"I had to ask myself, fundamentally, 'Are we good enough or embarrassing?'" he told The El Paso Times. "To put yourself out there, I have to ask myself that constantly."

The answer he’s gotten has repeatedly fueled his conviction that Modern West needs to be heard, and he’s making a time commitment to get in front of people. He debuted this past weekend on the Grand Ole Opry, appears Tuesday at a kick-off concert in Nashville to celebrate Wednesday’s "42nd Annual CMA Awards," and he’s planning a 12-city tour after the first of the year.

The music — including the concerts and the recordings — will hopefully give him a stronger connection to his audience.

"We didn't start out to make a record, trust me," he said. "All over the world, interactions based on movies are so dry. "[It came] out of a need to just play a club, in Italy or El Paso. It's just a great way to say thank you. That's what it is. There's so much more that can happen as a result of playing music."