Cowboy Mouth, Dirty Dozen Brass Band
11/2/16
Southgate House Revival, 111 E 6th St, Newport, KY
7:30 doors, 8pm show, 21+, Buy Tickets
More than 25 years into a trailblazing career, Cowboy Mouth continues to fire on all cylinders- with a new album and a new cross-country tour planned for the summer of 2016.
Since “Jenny Says” turned them into radio stars during the mid-’90s, the New Orleans-based rockers — led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Fred LeBlanc — have performed for more than 9 million fans, dishing out a rowdy, raucous and redemptive sound that’s rooted in the party-friendly spirit of the Big Easy. They’ve become genuine road warriors along the way, logging more than 2,500 shows globally. With new songs in the pipeline and new tour dates on the books, the timing couldn’t be better for a greatest hits album.
Scheduled for a July 15th release, The Name of the Band Is… rounds up some of the band’s biggest songs, mixing crowd favorites like “Love of My Life,” “Tell the Girl You’re Sorry”, “Jenny Says” and “Easy” into a two decade plus spanning tracklist. Also included are new tunes — “Broken Up”, “Bad Men” and “These Days” — which match the band’s percussive, garage-rock stomp with pop hooks. As a whole, The Name of the Band Is… celebrates Cowboy Mouth’s past and future, shining a light on a band that’s enjoying its creative prime.
“We’re constantly finding new ways to do what we’ve been doing for the past 25 years,” says LeBlanc. “My thinking on the best of album was, this current lineup is so good and powerful that I wanted to have versions of these guys playing the songs. We’ve always been fortunate to have great players in the band throughout our history, but this group of guys coupled with today’s recording technology and sonics made the choice to re-record these songs (with 3 new ones) a no-brainer! There’s still a thrill in releasing new material, and it’s always been exciting to play in front of new audiences, and just blow the crowds away. We’ve toured week after week, year after year, decade after decade. We just want to celebrate that.”
Celebratory. That’s certainly the best description of Cowboy Mouth’s famed stage show, which finds LeBlanc pulling double-duty as the group’s drummer and larger-than-life frontman. It’s a loud, lively experience, full of sweat, songs, and the ageless energy of a rock group that hasn’t lost its bite. LeBlanc insists the audience plays just as important a role as the band itself.
“With every single performance, you’re building a community,” he says. “People want to be part of something bigger, and that’s what Cowboy Mouth’s audience is: a very healthy, happy community. And we like fostering that community through kickass rock & roll.”
Cowboy Mouth will continue building that community this year, thanks to an ever-growing list of tour dates that will take the band across America.
