Kevin Costner is bringing his band Kevin Costner & Modern West to the AVA at Casino del Sol on Friday, Nov. 5, and Tucson singer-songwriter John Coinman couldn't be more delighted.
For Coinman and two other members of Costner's band — Larry Cobb and Blair Forward — Friday's show is a hometown gig.
“All of us, Larry and Blair and I particularly, are excited about playing in Tucson because we have a lot of friends and family who have supported us in our various manifestations of our musical careers. And Tucson, from my perspective, has really supported me and encouraged me," said Coinman, who has lived in Tucson for decades and is a regular on local stages including at Monterey Court and Hotel Congress. "Tucson I felt like was my first musical home when I made that first solo CD, 'The Man Called Someone.' ... Tucson was a fit for me. ... Tucson is my home and I am really glad to be able to come back and share my music with them in the band.”
Costner is also excited about bringing the Americana/country rock band to the AVA at Casino del Sol. It's the first time the band, which has been together for 16 years, will play a Tucson show. The closest they came was opening for Keith Urban at Country Thunder in Florence in 2010.
Tucson wasn't initially on Modern West's "Tales From Yellowstone" tour, but when the opportunity came up, "I said I can't let that pass for John Coinman," said Costner, who has been friends with Coinman since the pair was in their 20s and had a short-lived Los Angeles band, Roving Boy, that also included Forward.
"He’s just too great and I’m sure a lot of people will come see him and Blair Forward and Larry Cobb," said Costner, the star of the popular Paramount Network series "Yellowstone," which was the inspiration for the Modern West's latest album. “I didn’t care how tired I was, we’re going to Tucson because these guys have people who love them and want to hear them play. We play loud and we play long, and I think for people who love John, the longer the better.”
"Tales From Yellowstone" is Modern West's second concept album based on a TV show starring Costner. It follows the band's 2012 album "Famous For Killing Each Other: Music From and Inspired By Hatfields & McCoys," that peaked at No. 14 on Billboard's Country Album chart. It was inspired by the 2012 Showtime miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys" that earned Costner a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a movie or miniseries.
Costner said Friday's concert will draw from the band's five studio albums going back to their 2008 debut "Untold Truths." They also will play a couple songs that haven't been recorded yet.
"I think we’re the only band that will play live stuff that we have hardly even rehearsed," said Costner. "The band is confident about things and I love that."
During an interview last month, Costner also talked about his movie career — "I want to play the second half of my career out doing exactly what I want to do in film.," he said — and returning to Iowa in August for the first-ever Field Of Dreams Major League Baseball game played on the field made famous by his 1989 movie "Field of Dreams."
"It was a great reminder that the work you do can last. That little movie in the corn 30 years later, people are able to relate to it," he said. "People have really, around the country, taken ownership of that movie. It’s not my movie anymore; it’s everybody else's.”
And in case anyone was wondering if Costner, who filmed part of his 1996 movie "Tin Cup" at the Tubac Golf Club, was planning to sneak in a few holes while he was in Tucson, the answer is no.
"I'm not really a golfer," he said. “I played for about 10 years in the Pebble Beach tournament, which was on television. What people didn’t realize was I didn’t play the whole year and I would just go up there and play. It’s not a thing I ever found a lot of time for. I like it, but it’s not something that’s ever been a part of my life.”
