{"id":24108,"date":"2023-01-13T05:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T10:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24108"},"modified":"2022-12-06T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T20:57:00","slug":"the-cowsills-all-in-the-family-part-4-of-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/the-cowsills-all-in-the-family-part-4-of-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cowsills: All in the Family (Part 4 of 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three<\/a>\u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"During the Playboy<\/i> appearance, Barbara Cowsill mentioned that the group was in negotiation with a new record label. And by 1971 The Cowsills had signed with London Records. Making what would be the final LP of their initial run, the group recorded On My Side<\/i>. Featuring nine Cowsill originals out of 12 tracks, the record also marked the debut of a new production team, Bob and Barry Cowsill. Longtime friend and musical associate Waddy Wachtel penned the album\u2019s title track. For the first time ever, Barbara Cowsill didn\u2019t appear on the album\u2019s cover (she\u2019s included in a shot on the back).<\/p>\n

On My Side<\/i> arguably represents the Cowsills\u2019 crowning creative achievement. Featuring thoughtful and sophisticated songwriting and crystalline production, the album is filled with inspired choices. The instrumental work showcases fuzztone, backward and Leslie\u2019d guitar leads and subtle Mellotron. The group\u2019s vocal harmonies bridge the gap between pop-era Cowsills and the sort of thing one could find on a Crosby Stills Nash (and importantly, Young) album. \u201cCheatin\u2019 on Me\u201d is a wholly authentic slab of crying-in-your-beer country. And Barbara takes a lovely (if slightly out of place) solo turn on \u201cThere is a Child.\u201d But almost no one heard any of it.<\/p>\n

And just as the Cowsills were inching away from their bubblegum image, the ABC television network was launching a fictional sitcom inspired by the family band. Starring popular actor and singer Shirley Jones, The Partridge Family<\/i> was a lighthearted take on the cheery side of the Cowsills\u2019 image. According to many reports, the family themselves weren\u2019t considered for the program because they weren\u2019t actors, and because star Jones was attached to the project from its inception.<\/p>\n

\"\"In what may have been a not-so-subtle dig at the troublesome Bud Cowsill, in the fictional rethink of the Cowsills, Shirley Partridge’s husband isn\u2019t managing the band; he\u2019s dead. \u201cThey said that they wrote Dad out of the story because he was such a pain in the ass,\u201d Susan says with a chuckle. \u201cThey made Shirley a widow and put the manager in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cowsills went quiet after On My Side<\/i>. The family endured many ups and down in those years, a period chronicled (along with the many highlights that would come before and after) in a 2011 documentary, Family Band: The Cowsills Story<\/i>. An unflinching and sometimes difficult-to-watch film made with the full cooperation of the Cowsills, Family Band<\/i> connects the dots between Bud Cowsill\u2019s abuse (of most every variety, it should be noted) of his children, their subsequent struggles, and the highs and lows of the family band\u2019s musical saga.<\/p>\n

The film pulls back the curtain on the sad and often shocking truth behind the family and band. And that truth stands in sharp contrast to the Cowsills\u2019 public image. Back in the \u201860s, Bob Cowsill explains, \u201cyou could control what you wanted the public to see, so a lot of it was the control around us to project that image.\u201d Susan agrees, but notes that the public image was genuine, too. \u201cAll that horror you see is real,\u201d she admits. \u201cBut all of that fun you’re seeing is real, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a family, the Cowsills have always stuck together, bonded by love. And as Susan notes, Cowsills-the-group never really broke up; its members simply engaged in other pursuits, sometimes for long stretches. Susan was for many years part of Americana collective The Continental Drifters. While he struggled with addiction, Bill Cowsill made a name for himself in Canada, most notably with the Blue Shadows. John Cowsill joined the Beach Boys\u2019 touring band in 2000; he has been that group\u2019s drummer since 2008.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Cowsills reconvened in the late 1970s, cutting an album\u2019s worth of material eventually released digitally as Cocaine Drain<\/i>. And most notably, in the early 1990s Bob, Paul, Susan and John recorded a superb collection of gently rocking tunes with soaring harmonies. One track, \u201cIs it Any Wonder\u201d appeared on Jordan Oakes\u2019 1993 power pop collection Yellow Pills<\/i>. But the album went unreleased for many years.<\/p>\n

Bob Cowsill recalls how the project ground to a halt. \u201cIt ended with us in a hotel room in Marina Del Rey, sitting across from two FBI agents,\u201d he says. Though the Cowsills themselves were wholly innocent and unaware of any malfeasance, the Bureau\u2019s investigation followed a money trail that led to the album\u2019s financier. \u201cIt just died right there,\u201d he says. That album, Global<\/i>, eventually saw limited release in 1998, earning rave critical reviews.<\/p>\n

Matriarch Barbara Cowsill passed away in 1985; Bud died in 1992. Losses struck the family band again in the 21st<\/sup> century. After suffering years of ill health, Bill Cowsill died in 2006. His passing came on the heels of the death of Barry Cowsill, who had gone missing in New Orleans in late September 2005, subsequently drowning during the flooding aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Non-performing brother Richard Cowsill passed away in 2014.<\/p>\n

For several years now, the Cowsills (Bob, Paul and Susan) have been performing as part of the Happy Together package concert tour. In between shows, the three continued to write new songs for a long-planned followup to Global<\/i>. The group enlisted its dedicated fan base to help finance a recording project, using the PledgeMusic funding campaign platform.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cSomewhere down the road, PledgeMusic went belly up\u2026 with all of our donors\u2019 money,\u201d Susan explains. About $40,000 disappeared. But Rock Positano \u2013 an individual Susan refers to as \u201can angel\u201d \u2013 provided the funding to complete the album. \u201cHe\u2019s a philanthropist,\u201d says Susan. \u201cHe wants to put his hard-earned money towards something, and he chooses music.\u201d Moreover, Bob says that Positano is committed to making sure that the Cowsills are able to honor all of the promised premiums for those who donated: signed CDs, posters, whatever they [signed up for].\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhythm of the World<\/i> features 11 new Cowsills songs, all written by the group. And in line with the indefatigable optimism that has seen the family (and family band) through difficult times, there\u2019s a message at the core of the music. \u201cWe\u2019re just\u2026 suggesting<\/i>,\u201d says Bob Cowsill. \u201cWe\u2019re making suggestions. You can blow up the world, or you can take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob \u2013 who\u2019s 73 now \u2013 believes that there are advantages in growing older. \u201cWe’re more aware than we were as younger artists,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we write about things that apply more today. And it’s all coming with love.\u201d<\/p>\n

And,\u201d says Paul, \u201cwe want to bring harmony back.\u201d \u201cLiterally,\u201d says Susan.<\/p>\n

Some 57 years after that first single on JoDa, the Cowsills remain what they\u2019ve always been: a family band. \u201cOur sons are with us,\u201d says Bob. \u201cPaul\u2019s son Brandon plays guitar.\u201d Bob\u2019s son Ryan is on keyboards. Susan\u2019s husband (and former Continental Drifters band mate) Russ Brousard plays the drums. And while the group enjoys playing \u201860s classics, today\u2019s Cowsills look forward to focusing on the new Rhythm of the World<\/i> material. Meanwhile, now in its 62nd<\/sup> episode, the Cowsills podcast \u2013 an opportunity to chat with fellow pop legends \u2013 continues with a new episode every Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As fascinating as it is, that Family Band<\/i> documentary from a decade ago doesn\u2019t have a satisfying ending. In a sense, the film\u2019s takeaway is that the family \u2013 some of them, at least \u2013 survived. But the story continues. \u201cThey\u2019re going to need to do another documentary,\u201d Paul quips. Bob and Susan chime in, in that always-perfect trademark Cowsills harmony: \u201cWe\u2019re working on a new ending!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhythm of the World<\/i> was released September 30 on Omnivore Recordings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three\u2026 During the Playboy appearance, Barbara Cowsill mentioned that the group was in negotiation with a new record label. And by 1971 The Cowsills had signed with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,51,62],"tags":[4986],"class_list":["post-24108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","tag-the-cowsills","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24108"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24135,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24108\/revisions\/24135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}