Anybody who thinks of the Cowsills solely because the eternally sunny harmonists behind ’60s hits equivalent to “The Rain, The Park & Different Issues” and “Indian Lake” (their 1969 model of “Hair” is a fried psychedelic masterpiece) or the brother/sister/mom band whose exploits impressed tv’s The Partridge Household isn’t paying consideration. Although Bob, Paul and Susan Cowsill are an annual a part of the Blissful Collectively Tour of fellow ’60s/’70s pop sensations, the trio has continued recording its personal new materials with albums equivalent to 2022’s Rhythm Of The World and the newly launched, 1998-recorded International.
Susan Cowsill, too, has been as an avatar of Americana, protecting a Sixto Rodriguez tune for her first solo single in 1976, enjoying as a part of the famed Continental Drifters within the ’80s and ’90s and releasing two country-rocking solo albums (Simply Imagine It and Lighthouse), to this point, within the 2000s.
MAGNET caught up with Cowsill whereas she was getting ready for dinner in her New Orleans residence shared with husband/drummer Russ Broussard.
I’ve witnessed the marvel of the Cowsills many instances on the Blissful Collectively tour. Which of your two brothers is a cooler tourmate?
That’s hilarious. You both come from a small household or a big one and prefer to stir the pot. You by no means disclose a favourite. Each of my brothers are equally superior—we’re a three-headed monster, or at the very least a three-headed creature of some kind … And Blissful Collectively is the most effective day job a woman can ever have, so we all the time have enjoyable doing that.
Regardless of your first fame as a Cowsill, I initially found you as a part of the Continental Drifters, the countrified power-pop outfit you shared with (ex-hubsand) Peter Holsapple (dB’s), (sister-in-law) Vicki Peterson (Bangles) and Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate). Poke into your credit earlier than that, and also you sang with Dwight Twilley and Carlene Carter. All this makes you partially accountable for Americana. How did you come to nation pop within the first place?
That’s fairly an summary. The music rang true to me. My preliminary work with the Cowsills and the pop music of our era was what I used to be listening to whereas rising up in Ohio. However I all the time listened to nation. My mother beloved it: Porter Waggoner, Glen Campbell. I really didn’t begin writing any of my very own music till I joined the Continental Drifters once I was 34 years outdated, so I had time to soak up all of it. I’m pondering that the mix of all the musical meals that I ate and drank contributed to the sound I created then and now. So be it. Humorous trivia truth: The Cowsills—and me, particularly—gave Glen Campbell his Grammy for “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” The entire household was on the podium, and my brother Paul was holding me up whereas I learn, “And the winner is … Glen Campbell.” Plus, the Continental Drifters have reunions on a regular basis, and there’s a new compilation album of ours with new songs, White Noise & Lightning, which can also be the identify of a e book popping out on us. And there’s a tribute album (We’re All Drifters: A Tribute To The Continental Drifters options Marshall Crenshaw, Caitlin Cary, Steve Wynn, Kim Richey, the Minus 5, Rosie Flores, Don Dixon, Garrison Starr and extra) to us from a few of our pals
Let’s return even additional: You signal your first solo take care of Warners within the mid-’70s, and your debut single is you protecting Sixto Rodriguez’s “I Assume Of You.” That is 40 years earlier than his revival due to the Ready For Sugarman documentary, and it locations you much more squarely, and presciently, on the tip of nation pop.
[Laughs] You give me extra credit score than I’m due. Right here’s how that occurred: I had made a take care of my mother that I might turn into an emancipated minor if I might get a job. So, I did. And Warner Bros. was bringing me materials, like Carole King’s “It Would possibly As Nicely Rain Till September.” Apart from that, the bounty of the music they had been bringing me was fairly horrible. However one tune caught out from the gang, and it was “I Assume Of You.” I didn’t know who Sixto was. I didn’t notice that I used to be a part of that Sugarman historical past till I noticed the documentary. In order that was a cheerful accident. Years later when he performed the Barclays Middle in New York, he requested my husband and I to open for him as a duo. I felt like Cinderella.
The historical past of International is fascinating, as Doug Morris and his then-executive at Atlantic who tried to signal you (Marc Nathan) beloved the album, however they wound up not signing the band after they realized it was “The Cowsills”—that healthful household band from the ’60s. Which is a disgrace, because the music—very Los Angeles energy pop with a Fleetwood Mac-ish rock really feel—was excellent for that point.
After I hear International now, I’m amazed. I imply, we had been all so younger. Bob Cowsill is aware of all the main points, as he shopped it again then. All I keep in mind is that everybody stated no. So lots of the execs who tried to buy our information again then obtained doorways slammed of their face. We had been in Los Angeles, simply being a rock band, which is how we rolled. Bob Cowsill is a good pop songwriter, however we needed to play underneath nameless names so that folks wouldn’t know who we really had been. I do not forget that the Secrets and techniques was one among our made-up names for present, the key being we had been the Cowsills. We had been absorbing every little thing round us then, as a result of we had been up to date folks, a part of a era that saved transferring. So, Bob and his spouse, Mary Jo, wrote the bounty of the songs on International, as did our brother Paul. Bob writes tales about different issues and different folks—that’s not me. I all the time write from my expertise, and these songs had been observational as to what was happening then. Each time I hearken to “She Mentioned To Me,” I take into consideration the blessing that’s L.A. and driving the journey, from the ’60s to the ’70s on the Whisky A Go Go to the ‘80s with the Go-Go’s, the Bangles and X—new wave, punk rock and holy smokes, you already know? We frolicked. We had been an L.A. band. I could have simply been Susan Cowsill, however I used to be paying consideration. After I sang “She Mentioned To Me,” I used to be being as cool as Blondie. “Falling For You”? That’s me being my Susan Cowsill new-wave self. It tickles me to listen to it now, as a result of I’m 65 years outdated.
International was recorded in 1998, however simply launched. Cocaine Drain was recorded in 1978, however your label, Omnivore, is releasing that soon-ish. How and why is it that you simply guys maintain recording these albums, and so they get misplaced till they’re discovered once more?
With out making an attempt, nothing with the Cowsills is ever intentional. I’ll use that phrase “glad accident” once more for every little thing that’s ever occurred with us. Via Paul Revere and Invoice Medley to Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, the Cowsills’ profession obtained resurrected as a result of latest curiosity within the baby-boomer motion. We by no means say die, so we’re again working—touring and recording—and it’s all so surprising and actually beautiful. So, we obtained a chance to launch new music we had been doing (Rhythm Of The World), and Omnivore was all in favour of outdated product as effectively. I imply, Cocaine Drain was one thing we did with Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen’s producer and engineer. International is its personal journey, what with mendacity dormant for thus lengthy, getting it out of hock and nonetheless sounding up to date. So, now could be the time of the Cowsills. That’s superb, and we’re eternally grateful.
—A.D. Amorosi
