Tucson troubadour John Coinman is getting the band back together for a stroll down memory lane.
Coinman and his longtime bandmates, bassist Blair Forward and drummer Larry Cobb, will perform a concert that includes tracks from Coinman's 2005 album "Songs from the Modern West."
From left, John Coinman, Larry Cobb and Blair Forward will play a Listening Room concert Sunday, Feb. 22.
"That's my favorite record," Coinman said last Friday during a break in rehearsing for their Listening Room series show Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Four Walls Community Center, 2585 N. First Ave.
Coinman made "Songs from the Modern West" with Teddy Morgan, a Tucson singer-songwriter who has been producing and writing in Nashville, Tennessee, since 2004. The album was a bit of a love letter to Tucson and Southern Arizona, where Coinman has lived since the 1990s after leaving L.A.
John Coinman is performing songs off his album "Modern West" with longtime bandmates Larry Cobb and Blair Forward in the Listening Room series at Four Walls Community Center.
It was during his time in Los Angeles that Coinman became friends with Kevin Costner.
Yes, that Kevin Costner, but back then, Costner didn't have such a big presence, as he quietly nurtured musical ambitions while getting his feet wet in films. Within a few years, he was a bona fide Hollywood star and put music on the back burner.
In 2006, Costner reached out to Coinman and Forward — both had been part of Costner's long-forgotten indie rock record that was distributed only in Japan — to put together a country rock band.
Five years ago, Kevin Costner, center, brought his Modern West Band to Tucson with John Coinman, Blair Forward and Larry Cobb in the lineup.
Coinman's album inspired the band's name, Kevin Costner & Modern West. The new band also borrowed three songs from that record to be included on Costner's 2008 debut album, "Untold Truths."
Since its debut, Kevin Costner & Modern West has recorded four other albums, including 2020's "Tales from Yellowstone," inspired by the Paramount network neo-Western series Costner starred in from 2018-24.
Coinman said the band is still "kicking." They performed a pair of benefit concerts last October in Minnesota, including opening for Elton John in a concert for Starkey Hearing Foundation, and they have four April shows in Australia, where Costner will be filming a new movie.
In September, they return to Santa Barbara, California, for the "One805Live" concert benefitting first responders.
"The last time we played two years ago it was with Pink and a whole bunch of really great people," Coinman said.
Coinman has been performing with fellow Tucsonans Forward and Cobb for more than 25 years.
"We love playing together. We love each other," he said, and in the background, you could hear both men chuckle. "It's sort of like being an eternal teenager."
Sunday's concert begins at 3 p.m. with Sophia Rankin. Tickets are $22 through fourwallscommunity.com/listening-room.
John Coinman and Orkesta Mendoza were among the big names on Saturday, the second day of the 40th annual Tucson Folk Festival. But a pet goat cruising the food court almost stole the show.
