Kenny Feidler

Kenny Feidler is a western South Dakota singer-songwriter whose music combines cowboy storytelling, alt-country and gritty rock and roll. Raised in Baltimore, Feidler was drawn early to rodeo and western culture, eventually competing as a bareback rider for roughly 15 years. He began writing songs while rodeoing and attending college in Oklahoma, recording early material himself and selling homemade CDs at rodeos before music became his full-time work.

That background still shapes much of his writing. Feidler’s songs draw from rodeo, ranch life, family, open country and the harder edges of western life, with influences ranging from Chris LeDoux, Ian Tyson and Tom Russell to Red Dirt bands such as Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jason Boland, along with the rougher rock sound of Lucero and Drive-By Truckers.

Feidler performs with The Cowboy Killers, a full-band project that pushes the songs beyond traditional country into a heavier electric sound. Recent band credits include Casey Shelden on guitar, Joey Rowland on bass, Tom Frear on drums and Matt Klein on guitar and pedal steel, with Feidler handling vocals, guitar and songwriting; other musicians have also appeared with the group as the lineup has evolved.

Now based near Rapid City, Feidler has built an independent career around original music that sits somewhere between outlaw country, Americana, Red Dirt and rock, while keeping western life at the center of the songs.