Kevin Costner and Modern West   -  Biography

Prior to achieving major success as a film actor, director and producer, Kevin Costner met John Coinman some 20 years ago in a dirty warehouse in downtown Los Angeles during an acting workshop. Coinman was a musician with an intense interest in acting, and Costner was an actor with an intense interest in music. They became friends and began to play and write music together along with another friend, Blair Forward. The collaboration evolved into Roving Boy, a rock band with an edgy Western style and a small record deal in Japan where they scored a No. 1 single, "Simple Truth."

Even as Costner's star began to rise in the film industry, the band continued to play music, write songs and record any time they could get together. Coinman and Forward both ended up in Tucson, Ariz., where they met guitarist-producer Teddy Morgan and drummer Larry Cobb. Modern West began after Costner's wife, Christine, encouraged him to reconnect with his love of music. In 2005, he, Coinman and Forward decided to build a new band together. With the addition of Morgan and Cobb, they named the band Modern West.

Kevin Costner and Modern West's debut album, Untold Truths, will be released Nov. 11, 2008, by Universal Republic/Universal Records South.