Kimberly M'Carver

Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Mesquite, Kimberly (Sowell) M'Carver has been singing and dancing since childhood. A music voice major in Dallas and UT Austin, (while dancing professionally in fashion shows), she also received degrees in anthropology and veterinary science.

After moving to Houston from Austin, she fronted cover bands and started writing songs in 1987, performing them at open mics. A homemade tape of her songs was sent to Rounder Records, and they came to Houston to see her perform them, offering her a recording contract on the spot.

M'Carver's two Rounder releases (1990 & 1994), Breathe the Moonlight and Inherited Road, drew rave reviews, nominations (Best Independent Record, CA) & charted on the Americana chart. She's been nominated by the Houston Press Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year & Best Acoustic/Folk numerous times for over a decade, as well as critic's pick for Best Female Vocalist. Also, a compilation of her first two Rounder cds was released as Kimberly M'Carver by Mesa Music International in Taiwan.

M'Carver co-produced her third cd of original songs (2001), Cross the Danger Line, with Scott Neubert, which included musicians Aubrey Haynie (Faith Hill), Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett), Scott (Hal Ketchum, Trace Adkins), & grammy-winning singer-songwriters Jim Lauderdale and Claire Lynch on harmonies, and stellar reviews followed.

M'Carver's fourth cd (co-produced with Scott Neubert, 2013), Hard Waltz, released on her Kocker Records label. She was joined again by Scott & Claire, along with John Thomasson (Little Big Town), Eamon McLoughlin (Emmylou Harris), Jeff Taylor (Elvis Costello, Robert Plant), Matthew Wingate (Claire Lynch Band), as well as Steve Holland and longtime bandmate (& co-writer on two of the songs), Eric Korb. The album charted #23 on the Roots Music Report Texas Roots Airplay list, made the Top 50 Folk Nationally Roots Music Report list, charted on Radio Free Americana, and charted in the Top 20 on Freeform American Roots Chart (FAR).

A sampling of where M'Carver's songs have appeared include: Serious Doubt, recorded by grammy-winner Jeannie Kendall (The Kendalls) w/Allison Moorer (charted #26 on BillBoard); Texas Home, featured in Texas Monthly's Guidebook to Texas cd, in Texas Highways Magazine's cd Under the Texas Sky, and in Texas Songwriters compilation cd from the Kerrville Folk Festival; My Way Back Home to You on Introspective Journey, compilation of female artists on Rounder; Silver-Wheeled Pony on Kerrville End of the Century; Alimentar Mi Alma on Rounder Records 30th anniversary cd, The Singer-Songwriter Collection, and more.

M'Carver's bandmates include Wayne Wilkerson (guitar, since 1993), Eric Korb (co-songwriter, guitar, mandolin, harmony vocals, since 2000), Willy T. Golden (dobro, since 2017) and James Gilmer (drums, congas, since 1990).

TV appearances include Texas Music Café, Houston's Weeknight Edition, and other (PBS) documentaries. She's toured the US, UK & Europe, and played festivals including Lincoln Center's Outdoor Concert, Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival, Houston's International Festival, Glasgow Scotland's Big Country Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and venues including the BlueBird Cafe (Nashville), Anderson Fair, McGonigel's Mucky Duck (Houston), Passim's (Boston), Cactus Cafe (Austin), The Ark (Ann Arbor), Birchmere (D.C.), Iron Horse (Northampton), and many more. M'Carver has toured with Jim Lauderdale, opened for Guy Clark, Radney Foster, Junior Brown, Karla Bonoff, John Gorka, Johnny Paycheck, Gary P. Nunn, David Allen Coe, Jimmy LaFave, Leo Kottke, Loudon Wainwright, Robert Earl Keen, Riders in the Sky, Tom Russell, etc.