ONLINE: Cowboy Mouth

press release: The rock and roll road life is a hard and unforgiving mistress. Onstage giving it all you’ve got night after night, eating double Baconaters way too often, riding in a van anywhere from two to sixteen hours at a stretch. Most who try this line of work barely get their feet wet before running home to mommy, and those who actually do such a life for years often come home shells of themselves. HOWEVER… there are the grand road dog exceptions, men unexplainable by science, like Fred LeBlanc, who for 30 years (you heard me) has been the drummer, lead singer, front man, evangelist, drill sergeant and designated crowd surfer for Cowboy Mouth- one of the most powerful, durable, and consistently entertaining rock and roll bands out there. They’ve been in the saddle for thirty years, have played over 3,500 shows, and Fred, John, Brian and Matt have not withered like saplings; they’re mighty oaks now. 

It has been said that on a bad night Cowboy Mouth can do little more than blow the roof off, and on a good night they’ll save your soul. That’s as true in 2020 as it was when they first burst out of New Orleans in 1990 and tickled the Top 40 with “Jenny Says”. With Fred’s drums front and center, he summons the breath and power to both beat the holy hell out of the skins with a totally credible swinging rock and roll groove, while simultaneously roaring full-chested barrelhouse vocals like a hybrid of Bruce Springsteen and Vince Lombardi, punctuating his delivery with bellows of “are you WITH MEEEE?!?!” It’s enough of a compliment simply to say that the rest of the band are themselves powerful enough to both back up and indeed spur on such a dynamic larger-than-life personality as Fred LeBlanc. As great as their records are, the ferocious live show must be seen to fully experience the undying appeal that is Cowboy Mouth.

Fred doesn’t mince words. When asked the secret to the band’s longevity and completely constant roadwork, “bullheaded tenacity and determination”, he says, “with a pretty healthy dose of faith in there.”  Good things to have, not to mention also being able to stride onstage in front of a sold-out crowd and beat the tar out of them, 3,500 times.

Showmanship is fine but there has to be songwriting to back it up, which they have, in spades. When queried about his favorite CM chestnuts, Fred reflects and says, “Of course, ‘Jenny Says’ is good, especially the live version. I like ‘Love of My Life, “How do you Tell Someone?’, ‘Disconnected’, ‘Tell the Girls’, and this new one called ‘Broken Up’ I like a lot. But,” he adds, “I don’t really think about my songs very much.” Said the man who rattled off six tunes off the top of his head.

With the band having the drum throne occupied by a maniac, Matt Jones and John Griffith have resolutely stepped up to that energy and are guitarists with facility in rock, soul and country, interplay, and good old out-of-control rave-ups when the show calls for it. Brian Broussard has been long acknowledged as brilliant for being a bass player who can groove with Fred to the point of telepathy.

Fred returns to talk of faith, saying, “you know, it’s the belief in what we do. A lot of people used to call me the rock and roll evangelist, that kind of thing. You know, leaving a Cowboy Mouth show means feeling 100 times better than when you first came in!”

Springtime will see new Cowboy Mouth music for your dining and dancing pleasure: an EP titled Open Wide is set for release March 27th.  Five songs ranging from head-knocking rock and roll, funky riffage and a good old-time sad country song. On said opus, they’ve taken John Denver’s ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy’, extracted all of Denver’s obvious punk tendencies and brought them to the fore like the madmen they are. (Jason & the Scorchers would be proud.)  “Oh Toulouse!” is the story of a relationship through the eyes of the major painter with little in the way of legs. Fred LeBlanc says “I was in France and saw his name on a street sign – it’s a singable name – and it blossomed with a really good rock-funk riff.” (What other rock band gives you a celebration of a 19th Century post-impressionist? You don’t get that from Nickelback.) And then you have the surf-beat of “Kiss the Baby”, followed by “King of the World” which Fred calls “a punk rock sermon.” The sad cry in your beer country of “The Last Sad Song” winds up the collection like turning out the lights and pulling down the curtains on a fantastic and wide-ranging collection of new Cowboy Mouth. With thousands of shows under their belt and at least a million to go, Open Wide will be in the vast catalogue that Cowboy Mouth plays every night like their lives depended on it. Give it a listen.