Alternative country-rock singer/songwriter Kevin Gordon was born and raised in West Monroe, Lousiana, and grew up on a steady diet of the area's indigenous swamp blues, honky tonk and rockabilly. A published poet and graduate of the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, he teamed with producer and E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent to record his debut Illinois 5 a.m., issued in 1997 on the Nashville-based Motherlode label; Down to the Wall followed in mid-2000. Gordon's songs have also been recorded by rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess and All the King's Men, an ad hoc band formed by onetime Elvis Presley sidemen Scotty Moore and D.J. Montana.