Donovan Keith’s concert is part of Light UpArlington!, the city’s annual Independence Day celebration with food and activities starting at 6 p.m. all around the pavilion and Downtown Arlington. Fireworks are at 9:45 p.m. For Light Up Arlington! information and a schedule, please click here.

A soul-singing dynamo with infectious moves

The man who never stops moving. First known as the founder and frontman of Soul Track Mind, Donovan Keith embodies the ideals of both stunning vocal ability and infectiously frenetic showmanship. The mystery has yet to be solved: How can a mild-mannered ginger sing and dance like that? A native Midwesterner, Donovan chose Austin to cultivate his music dreams and moved across the country with no job, friends or family and no experience leading the band he was about to form. Soul Track Mind grew into an outlet for Donovan’s love of soul and R&B music and gave him the perfect vehicle for his first years of development as a songwriter and performer. For eight years, Soul Track Mind was eagerly embraced by the Austin music scene and blasted throughout Texas and the South, out to both coasts, and all the way back to the northern states of his youth. Donovan’s one-of-a-kind, dance-infused stage show became beloved by fans and acknowledged by reviewers across the country. Successes for Donovan with Soul Track Mind included winning the Music Prize in 2014, performing at the 2015 Texas Governor’s Inaugural Ball and the Wakarusa Festival, sharing bills with Enrique Iglesias, David Crosby, Charles Bradley and Erykah Badu; and five years closing out the Viva Big Bend Festival. Now this red-haired, soul-singing dynamo has a brand-new project all his own. Combining his signature voice and moves with fresh new songs and piano skills you never knew he had, Donovan is embarking on his next (r)evolution. In 2017, he released an EP, Carry Me On, which gave fans their first taste of Donovan’s latest songwriting direction. Last year brought Donovan a massive infusion of attention, launched with an incendiary performance at Black Fret, a music patronage organization whose members seek out the best Austin-based talent and support those artists with a wildly enthusiastic fan community, professional mentoring and financial support to elevate them to the next level. Black Fret members recognized Donovan with a $20,000 grant, opening more options and opportunities for a 2019 that is sure to be astonishing.

Sample song

Artist’s website