IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 2: LUCINDA WILLIAMS, PSYCHO SISTERS, & HOBART BROTHERS!

IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 2

On this installment, our hero is joined by fellow Crescent City music legend LUCINDA WILLIAMS on the first song.  How do you follow that?  With some PSYCHO SISTERS tracks; Heather Says, & Never Never Boys.  Susan’s partner in that group, VICKI PETERSON was also her bandmate in CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS, who were captured live on NYC’s WFUV, and at NJ’s Court Tavern.

SUSAN’s solo tracks this time around are limited to her cover of Glen Campbell’s Galveston, & the absolutely adorable Itty Bitty.  Of course there are more tracks with her siblings including Hello, Hello--the song from their 1969 live album that introduced me to Susan when I was a kid.

There are more recent live tracks by THE COWSILLS taken from The New Orleans Jazz Festival, Huckabee’s, and the benefit concert for their brother Billy.  There are also studio tracks, an a cappella track, and a Non-LP cut by the band; You (In My Mind)--a song that brother JOHN COWSILL recorded with his wife VICKI PETERSON on their Long After The Fire Album.  

Jon threatened to smash my dinner plate, & saw off my corner of the table, if I didn’t include Ballad of Sis (Didn't I Love You), so it’s here.  It’s actually one of my favorite tracks, as things turn out.  It’s credited to Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston, & Susan Cowsill—better known as THE HOBART BROTHERS & LIL’ SIS HOBART.  Anyone who’s washed dishes in a restaurant knows exactly where their name comes from.

Finally, there’s a song from a live performance with DWIGHT TWILLEY at Rockabilly's in Houston—a show that’s well-represented on Volume 3!

 

IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 1 - Psycho Sisters, Redd Kross, Cowsills, Continental Drifters & Solo!

IN THE MIX Susan Cowsill Edition Vol. 1

SUSAN COWSILL has had a long and incredible career, and despite the tough childhood outlined in the documentary about her family's band THE COWSILLS, she seems to have turned out to be a wonderful person—and is definitely an amazing singer.

She makes no secret of her love of Linda Ronstadt and possibly the best compliment I can pay her is that she’s every bit as good a singer/harmonizer.  Aside from covering Warren Zevon’s Mohammed's Radio, there aren’t many similarities between them, other than singing ability—and an unerring ability to choose material that’s perfect for them.  

Mohammed's Radio was on a digital single that also contains the lead off track It Might As Well Rain Until September—a GOFFIN/KING song that was written for Bobby Vee, & instead released as a Carole King single because Don Kirshner loved her demo of it.  King is an intensely personal & emotional singer, & COWSILL easily matches the original on both counts.

SUSAN’s versions are as dear to me as the originals of songs a vocalist has to be fearless (or foolish) to cover like Sandy Denny’s Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Brian Wilson’s Don’t Worry Baby, & John Lennon’s Julia.  Julia is a live recording with another artist I’ve given the IN THE MIX treatment; The Bangles’ VICKI PETERSON.  

PETERSON is Susan’s partner in PSYCHO SISTERS—and they both seem to love to collaborate.  They were both also in CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS, who are represented here by two live-in-studio tracks from an appearance on NYC’s WFUV, and two album cuts.  VICKI PETERSON is married to Susan’s brother, JOHN COWSILL and the couple recorded an album of songs by his brothers Bill & Barry.  SUSAN gets to the heart of Barry’s River Of Love—a song that they left alone--& one Susan started performing with her own band during the four months after Katrina that Barry was missing.

Naturally there are plenty of tracks with THE COWSILLS.  Readers who haven’t dug into their catalogue (which is packed with power pop) would be forgiven for mistaking Is It Any Wonder for The Plimsouls.  The hit versions of Indian Lake, & Hair, are included, as well as an incredible live version of The Rain, The Park & Other Things (on Huckabee's Jukebox). Recorded 52 years after she was added to the line-up, it proves that Susan and her brothers are the vocal counterparts of Dick Clark.

Jonder will be happy to see her duet on REDD KROSS’ Love Is Not Love—which could be a lost track by THE COWSILLS—and has become one of my favorite songs on this edition—but it has a LOT of competition.

Because of the high quality of her work, the songs on this collection could be randomly shuffled & it would still flow, but I spent much more time than usual on the track order.

 

IN THE MIX Vicki Peterson Edition Vol. 1 Bangles PSYCHO SISTERS Continental Drifters

IN THE MIX Vicki Peterson Edition Vol. 1

I’ve loved THE BANGLES since day one.  They perfected a mixture of jangle pop, folk, psychedelic garage rock, and Beatlesque harmonies that I never get tired of, and when I saw them live on their reunion tour, they really delivered.

Guitarist VICKI PETERSON sang lead on maybe a third of the band’s songs, and she wrote, or co-wrote, a lot of them.  I was surprised to discover (in my researching this post) that one of my favorites by The Bangles; Hero Takes A Fall was one of the first songs she wrote with Susannah Hoffs.

IN THE MIX Vicki Peterson Edition Vol. 1 starts off with an early collaboration between Australia’s HOODOO GURUS & THE BANGLES.  They also backed TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS.  

Aside from her Banglemates, Peterson’s voice blends best with SUSAN COWSILL’s (her sister-in-law) with whom she formed THE PSYCHO SISTERS.  The two originally supplied guest vocals for THE CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS, and were asked to join the group which also included Peter Holsapple of The dBs, & Mark Walton of The Dream Syndicate.

PETERSON is a born collaborator—and a fantastic harmony singer.  She’s also sang background vocals on recordings by REDD KROSS, GIANT SAND, & JOHN DOE, & I’ve included a track from her newest & highly recommended release Long After The Fire (with her husband, JOHN COWSILL) on bandcamp as a download, a CD, or on vinyl:  Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill After The Fire

I’ve mixed in some live performances.  Three tracks by THE CONTINENTAL DRIFTERS were recorded in New Jersey bars, two by THE PSYCHO SISTERS recorded live on L.A.’s KCSN FM.