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Kevin Tonks (Barry) was born and grew up in Coventry in the West Midlands and started playing classical guitar at the age of seven. During his school years he began playing other instruments too, including violin and trumpet and was often taking parts in the school orchestra and shows. He was also listening to Country music, continually, due to his parents’ musical taste and eventually learned a few tunes on the banjo.
At the age of 14, he was invited to join Country Life, a local bluegrass trio, which was when he sang solo for the first time. The trio’s line-up was Keith Colven (acoustic guitar and bass), Derek Thompson (mandolin) and Kevin Tonks (banjo and acoustic guitar). The trio later became a four-piece with the addition of Jim Irvine (banjo, acoustic guitar and fiddle). It was Jim who taught Kevin to play banjo. All four were singers.
It was during his time with the four-piece band that Kevin made his first tv appearance on 5th November 1978. They recorded a song for a programme called Star Town, hosted by Terry Wogan on BBC1. It was a talent show where eight towns (one of which was Coventry) would compete against each other. It was a rehash of the 1950’s radio talent show, Top Town.
After spending many years in mainly Country bands as a bass/banjo player, Kevin was eventually asked to play with the West Midlands based Down County Boys, the UK’s longest established bluegrass band who first formed in 1964. When the band needed a new bass player Kevin was suggested by Jim Irvine who, by that time, was a member of the band. Kevin had admired the band for many years, having been taken to see them a number of times by his dad and uncle when he was a teenager. When Kevin joined them, the line-up was Jim Irvine (banjo) Ian Worthington (mandolin), Kevin Tonks (bass), Jim Hirons (acoustic guitar) and Peter Parker (fiddle). None of them were original members of the band from 1964.
Kevin enjoyed his time with this band very much. They toured all around Britain and spent a month touring the States where he met Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs and many more Country/bluegrass performers. At the same time as playing with The Down County Boys, Kevin also worked with Jim Hirons in The Harmony Duo playing the clubs around the West Midlands. Jim played acoustic guitar and Kevin played bass and banjo. The duo played mainly 50/60/70’s music with lots of Country and a little sprinkling of bluegrass if requested.
The time came to move on and in 1988 Kevin left the Down County Boys and moved to East Anglia where he promptly joined an established Country band called Stealer. The line-up was Mike Leveridge (vocals, acoustic and bass guitar), Alan Cannell (lead and pedal steel guitar), Dick Hewitt (vocals and drums) and Kevin Tonks (vocals, bass and banjo).
Whilst playing the clubs, theatres and festivals Kevin met New Dawn duo who were Julie and Linda Dawn. Julie Dawn first teamed up with her younger sister Linda in 1987. Julie played guitar and was the lead singer while Linda played bass and being siblings their beautiful harmonies quickly became their strength and they won many friends in the local pub scene. They switched to Country music and moved onto the Country club scene in 1988 and were an immediate success. Kevin joined the sisters as lead guitarist and singer in 1991 and New Dawn Trio were launched. Kevin joining the girls enabled them to get many more bookings at Country music clubs, theatres and festivals, touring extensively all over the UK. They picked up a number of Country music awards, one of which was the Country Music Round Up Award for Best Newcomers, which was presented to them by George Hamilton IV.
Kevin and Linda married in September 1991 and in December 1992 Linda decided to leave the trio to concentrate on starting a family. The trio continued with two other musicians, first came guitarist Wayne Golden who joined after a short spell with City Limits. New Dawn was Wayne’s first professional music venture; to join the band he gave up working in Curry’s. He told me recently, “Julie and Kevin were so good to learn from. They had such high standards for presentation and to sing harmony with them was a joy. Not sure you appreciate these things when you’re that young though!” After a few years Kevin and Julie decided they wanted to cut down on travelling. Thinking this might be the start of the demise of the band Wayne was worried he might soon be out of a job. “I panicked” he told me, “and joined Barry Westbrook (and Mean Business) who became a second dad to me.”
Wayne’s replacement was another experienced country musician, Mickey Bembridge. At the end of the 1970s Mickey was playing lead guitar and keyboard in a Peterborough based band Burnt Ash. After the temporary demise of Campbell’s Country, Campbell Baxter also joined Burnt Ash and stayed with them for two years. The line up was Campbell Baxter (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), John Finlay (guitar and lead vocals), Mickey Bembridge (keyboards and lead guitar), Bobby Wilkinson (drums and lead vocals) and Andy Beard (bass). When Campbell decided to re-form Campbell’s Country, Mickey Bembridge went with him and stayed for 15 years. Burnt Ash continued with new musicians. In 1994 Mickey left to join New Dawn and Campbell’s Country carried on as a trio.
In 1996 Kevin played a couple of local gigs as a solo act adopting the name Kevin Barry; Barry being his father’s middle name. The solo gigs were well received so when Julie started to cut back on the amount of work that she wanted and distance she wanted to travel Kevin started to do more as a solo act.
In 2003 Mickey Bembridge left and Julie and Kevin decided to continue as a duo retaining the name New Dawn. In 2006 Julie and her husband Chris celebrated the birth of their son Jed, which prompted Julie to want to play more locally again to spend more time with her family. At the end of 2008 New Dawn disbanded after 18½ years on the road together and Julie and Kevin both launched solo careers with neither of them travelling much beyond East Anglia and they are both very much in demand today.
During Kevin’s time with New Dawn they recorded two cassette albums as a trio; The Other Side Of The Gate and Twist & Shout and a third cassette album, Two Of Us, as a duo.  They also recorded one CD album, Mi Vida Loca.
Kevin has worked as a soloist since 2009 and is still very busy in East Anglia and Essex and although in recent years he has cut down on travelling a little but still really enjoys playing.
Click below to see Kevin Tonks (Barry) in New Dawn Trio at Congleton CMC in Cheshire on 12 March 1992.