Americana singer/songwriter Kevin Welch left his Oklahoma home at age 17 to pursue a life in music, settling in Nashville in 1978 after years of traveling. He soon signed on as a staff writer at Sony/Tree, over the decade to follow authoring songs for artists including Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, Trisha Yearwood, Ricky Skaggs, and the Highwaymen; Welch's self-titled solo debut finally appeared on Reprise in 1990, followed two years later by the acclaimed Western Beat. Country radio remained resistant to his downbeat, acoustic style, however, and in 1995 he teamed with fellow Nashville renegades Kieran Kane, Tammy Rogers, and Harry Stinson to form his own independent label, Dead Reckoning. Welch's first album for the label, Life Down Here on Earth, followed soon after, and in 1999 he returned with Beneath My Wheels. Between 1999 and 2001, Welch recorded the Millionaire album with friends from Denmark called the Danes, and released it in the U.S. on Dead Reckoning.