Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they split up their punk band the Dils

The Dils

The Dils were an American punk rock band of the late 1970s, originally from Carlsbad, California, and fronted by brothers Chip Kinman and Tony Kinman...

, Rank and File were a roots rock

Roots rock

Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...

 post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band. The Kinmans' singing was distinctive; they weren't traditional harmony singers à la the Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

, but rather sang synchronized upper and lower octaves. The songwriting was wry, heartfelt, and cliché-free. They were so into cowpunk

Cowpunk

Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...

 and so far from their hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 beginnings that they even landed a spot on PBS's revered country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 showcase Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...

. The band also included former Nuns

The Nuns

The Nuns were a punk rock/new wave band in San Francisco in the late 1970s. The band has periodically reformed and played to the present day. The band formed in 1975, and were the among the first punk bands in California. In January 1978, together with The Avengers they opened for the Sex Pistols...

 guitarist Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:The son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, Escovedo is from a family that boasts several professional musicians, including brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, and Sheila E...

.

Post-breakup

The Kinmans' next project was the synthpop

Synthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

, guitar and drum-machine based, Blackbird

Blackbird (band)

Formed by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman after they dissolved their cowpunk band Rank and File, Blackbird were an electronic post-punk band. The Kinman's harmony-enhanced singing was as mellifluous as the vocal sound they had established in Rank and File, while the songwriting structure was pop...

. Alejandro Escovedo formed the True Believers with his brother Javier, before launching a solo songwriting and recording career.

Discography

• Sundown (1982) US #165
• Long Gone Dead (1984)
• Rank and File (1987)