Igor & the Red Elvises guitarist Yuri Krivoshein’s journey to American stages began long before he ever boarded a plane. It started years ago in his Moscow apartment, filled with Western records by bands that influenced most musicians: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Eagles, and, surprisingly, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. “My father was a true music lover,” Yuri says. “From a very early age, I was listening to all this Western music. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was one of his favorites.” Their 1977 tour of the USSR made them unlikely stars behind the Iron Curtain, and for Yuri, they became part of the soundtrack of his childhood.
Growing up in a musical neighborhood, Yuri and his friends formed their first bands while still in middle school. By the time he was 16 years old, he was performing American folk and country music in English, an unusual path in Russia at the time. “We were one of the few bands in Russia doing that kind of music,” he noted during a recent email interview. “But it felt natural to us.”
That early passion eventually led him to Igor Yuzov, founder of the cult‑favorite Red Elvises. More than a decade ago, Yuzov invited Yuri to record on the album She Works for KGB. “After that, I became part of the Russian lineup,” Yuri recalls. “We played many shows together.” In 2023, Yuzov asked him to join the American lineup, a move that changed the trajectory of his career. Since then, Yuri has completed five U.S. tours, each stretching two months or more. That has included multiple stops in and around Western New York.
Touring itself wasn’t new; he had already played across Russia, Europe, and even at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but the length and logistics of American tours brought a new challenge. “Being away from my beloved wife for such a long time is the biggest difficulty for me,” he says.
Yuri and his wife, Natalia, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this April. She doesn’t join him on tour, but she meets him afterward, and together they explore the American West. “We rent a car and go on road trips,” Yuri says. “We really love American nature, especially the mountains.” They’ve visited Sequoia, Yosemite, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon, places Yuri once only saw in movies or album covers. Death Valley holds special meaning: it’s where “Six‑String Samurai” was filmed, the cult movie that introduced him to the Red Elvises back in 1998. “I could never have imagined that one day I’d actually be playing with them,” he says.
Getting from Denmark, where Yuri now lives, to the U.S. for tours is simpler than it sounds. He holds an O‑1 visa, the classification for individuals with extraordinary ability. “A number of well‑known U.S. musicians supported my visa application by writing recommendation letters,” he explains. Many of those musicians appeared on his 2022 album “Frogman and Friends – Surf Corps,” a 19‑track project featuring a different guest on each song. The lineup includes Hershel Yatovitz, longtime guitarist for Chris Isaak; LA rockabilly icon Deke Dickerson; Danny B. Harvey, who has played with Nancy Sinatra, Lemmy Kilmister, and Wanda Jackson; Chuck Hughes of Hillbilly Hellcats; and, of course, Igor Yuzov. “When it came time to apply for the visa, I asked them to recommend me, and it worked,” Yuri says.
Ask him about influences, and he’ll give you a list that includes: Chuck Berry, Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, Albert Collins, Robben Ford, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Steve Vai, Dick Dale, and Brian Setzer. “I try to find something interesting in every genre,” he says. And while he has loved many bands, one album stands above the rest. “If I had to choose just one favorite album, it would be The Dark Side of the Moon,” he says. “It still remains my absolute favorite.”
Yuri hasn’t lived in Russia since 2022, and notes, “What I miss most are my relatives and friends,” he says. But he stays hopeful. “I hope there will come a time when everything settles down and improves, and we can all meet again and play some good old rock and roll.”