The Gourds
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The Gourds

Austin, Texas, United States

Austin, Texas, United States
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"The Gourds: Luddite Juice & Tex-Mex Miles"

By: Dennis Cook

The Gourds by John Carrico
Things get wild at a Gourds show. Fiddle sawing, accordion flailin' and dust rising, one dodges elbows and wild, stompin' feet as one of Austin's finest shows you what real broadminded American musicians can do. I've never walked away from one of their gigs without a good-sized bruise somewhere on my body – and I've seen 'em about 15 times since they began in the mid-'90s. The music has to be pretty damn good to merit this sort of black 'n' blue loyalty, and without question, The Gourds are some of the finest roots music going, thickening their sound and sharpening their songwriting with each passing year.

Haymaker! (released January 20 on Yep Roc Records) is possibly the most succinct distillation of their charms yet, touching upon all the Tex-Mex, early rock, '70s country, Guthrie-like folk and other strains in their appealing blend. Comfortable in both high lonesome and down-and-dirty spaces, The Gourds are the ultimate house party band – except instead of "Wooly Bully" they're armed with an ever-growing mountain of great tunes. They've long struck me as the band Lowell George would have jumped ship from Little Feat to join. They write dance floor killers and dandy love songs, and the people wandering around their stories always feel so flesh and blood real that you want to buy them a round or two. They're also picker's pickers, the sort that can seem sloppy on casual inspection but listen closer and you realize they're REALLY good musicians, and every hiccup and stutter-step is there on purpose.

The lineup of Kevin "Shinyribs" Russell (vocals, mandolin, guitars, harmonica), Claude Bernard (accordion, keys, backing vocals), Jimmy Smith (vocals, bass, percussion, guitars, sound effects), Max Johnston (fiddle, lap steel, banjo, acoustic guitar, resonator slide, mandolin, vocals) and Keith Langford (drums, harmonica, vocals) has been together over a decade, growing as smooth and purely beautiful as a river stone. There's a terrifically unforced feel to The Gourds, as if they just poke a hole in themselves and the sound pours out. Obviously, there's huge skill in every aspect of their music but they make it look easy, which in turn makes the listener better able to do what comes naturally. Interpret that as you will.

JamBase had the distinct pleasure of picking Kevin Russell's brain about their new album, their inspirations and how they feel about covering "Gin And Juice" many years and drunkenly hooted frat boy requests later.

JamBase: "Haymaker" is a marvelous word. It has such energy and movement, even if you don't know its boxing origins. How'd you settle on it for the title of your latest album?

The Gourds by Steve Hopson
Kevin Russell: I think you captured the whole of it there. It is about energy and movement. That is what The Gourds are about musically. Our sound has such a big swirling flow to it. We are a great "combo" in the classic sense. We make a sound, all of us together, and a feel that is kinetic and vibrant. We seek to resonate like the skin on a drum or the reeds in the weeds along a river raging down hill. We are in motion and seeking the ocean.

JamBase: The Gourds have been described as Americana, country rock, roots music, and your Wikipedia entry says you play "American alternative country." I don't think any of these really nails it. I'd put you guys closer on the spectrum to Los Lobos or the Grateful Dead's wide embrace of all the cool strains of American popular music – blues, folk, jazz, country, rock. How do you describe what you do?

Kevin Russell: I agree with your assessment there. I am always making up strange, poetical strains to foster contemplation and understanding of what we are and what we do - Rag and Bone Pawn Shop Jalopy, Well Read Neck Rock, Surreal Stomp and Soul, Texas Song Ghetto Tonk. Alas, it is a fool's gambit. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal comes into play here, where reality changes as we observe it closer. If one focuses on one aspect of what we do that aspect begins to turn into another layer that may or may not fit neatly next to it. We are full of contradictions and superstitions and conflicts of culture and time. We love to mix all of the music, literature, pop culture and history we love into this bedlam's junk drawer. Maybe that is a term we could use right now for us - "Junk Drawer Sound."

The new album is full of crazy hooks and sophisticated playing, and it's a touch less rough 'n' tumble than some of your early albums. How do you think the band has evolved over the years? What are some of the milestones along your evolution that stick out for you as the band approaches their 15th anniversary?

The Gourds by John Carrico
Wow. Big question. I think the first milestone, if we want to start with that, is the 1994 Acoustic Music Festival in Austin TX, electric lounge. Once we learned how to play a stage with this band we were destined for something great, I think. That is where I first felt like we found ourselves on a stage and in front of an audience. It translated to the people there and they understood maybe what we were doing. The drawer was still not so full at that point. The first recording, Dem's Good Beeble [1997], was surely a milestone for us. It was the recording of the document of our early period. We practiced twice a week in the Steamybowl, Jimmy's mystical, gnome-like dwelling in the entropy of the forgotten flight path of the old Austin airport. For two years maybe we worked up songs and shared stories and poems and thoughts and prayers, eh? This is what Dem's Good Beeble is about - this young man's life we shared. That cover is a painting by Jimmy that hung in that little shack by the track. The title was a phrase scrawled on the wall by Claude's brother John Bernard one night. We are from a bigger tribe of people that spreads out now all over the country, but one that coalesced at that time there in Austin in the early '90s. A lot of us came there then to make music, art, drugs, sex, poetry, trouble, whatever it was. It was a time of great creativity and little money.

Keith Langford joining us as our drummer in 1997 was a creative force that altered our trajectory forever in a way that can never be overestimated. As much as he would downplay it, he was our Robert Goddard, if you will. Until then we were a slow moving, small hairy creature feeding on bugs. After Keith, we grew wings and evolved into a dynamic funky, rootsy monster capable of creating and destroying. Max showing up later in 1998 was an equally liberating force that gave us new powers of interpretation and new springs of inspiration to explore the deeper places in the American sonic landscape. Maybe that language is too heavy for this interview, but I feel it that way.

It is hard to describe the way it feels in this band without digging into such language. We have always explored the English language and taken chances with it. Why play it safe? We did not dream of being Hallmark card writers or journalists or copy editors for owner's manuals. We are not interested in sophomoric confessionals. We avoid Sylvia Plath like the plague. Understand? We are ashamed of Nashville, embarrassed for Billboard Top 40 - so much crap churned out by the money creeps. A wall of mediocrity and emotional shallowness is washed down on the heads of people who just want a song to listen or dance to. But, it could be done so much better, more thoughtful and intelligent. Of course we indulge in the hedonistic pulse on occasion. We are not tea sippers or prudish tight asses. That is not what I am saying here; I am saying very much the opposite. Beyoncé may seem provocative in her image. Musically and lyrically though she is highly conservative and safe. She takes no chances; she does not look even once for a second into her shadow. She is all well lit, sparkly, pretty, sex without the animal instincts, music with no place for the new brain, eh? She is fake and we all know it, but damn, she is so beautiful and shaking that ass, who cares, right? That is where the mainstream has gone. We work to present some alternative to that for some who appreciate it, and as much for ourselves as anyone, really.

I think maybe the next milestone was bringing out electric keyboards, electric guitar and lap steel at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in 2004. From that point on we have continued to weave the electric sound into our thang.

"Gin and Juice" – a blessing or a curse at this point? It's an undeniably brilliant cover - as well handled as a cover can be - but it's funny how many people don't know it's The Gourds due to Internet mislabeling. Ever thought of revisiting it as a duet with Snoop himself? He seems game to stray outside accepted lines with his music from time to time.

It is what it is. We have no desire to re-brand it. We consciously made it a nebulous release into the world. It has its own life. We think of ourselves as a collective Mary Shelly in regards to that ugly beast roaming the digital networks in search of love.

Live, The Gourds are a force of nature. I mean that sincerely. What's the mindset going in each night? You always seem to leave it all up there on the stage, and that's freakin' hard to maintain over a long tour. What keeps you going, keeps you sane, while grinding out dates?

Kevin Russell
I think the stage show is usually a release of pent-up emotion and energy from the day of travel, sound check, hurry up and wait situations, whatever personal stuff crops up between people in our group. None of us are into drugs like cocaine or heroin or pills, so we have to get up and down as best we can. Lots of musicians use drugs to do this for them. But, that is a slippery slope obviously and is temporary at best. For me anyway, performance is a place where I can let it all out through singing and dancing and stomping and connecting with the audience. There is a great release that can take place up there, cathartic moments. I think sobriety though is crucial to my experience - to be in the moment totally. We are not always sober, but usually.

Maintaining is the hard part, of course. My voice is the most important thing for me to take care of. So, I don't smoke or drink much alcohol. I try to eat a vegetarian diet and get as much rest as I can. I am not as disciplined as I could be, you see? I am pretty good though. The one thing I cannot control is shitty production. Loud rooms with crappy monitors will eventually wear even the strongest voice down. When that happens I have to choose songs based on my ability to sing. I hate when I lose range in my voice. I get depressed, really. I live to sing, I do. If I can't sing I want to just cry or destroy a chair. Reading and writing keep me sane. Sometimes praying/meditating. I like listening to late night AM radio and shortwave when I am going to sleep. There is something about hearing distant radio signals that comforts me. I especially like listening to Coast To Coast AM.

There is very little private time in our world. There is always someone with you, next to you, talking to you and making you laugh. We laugh a lot, this group of guys. Chemistry of humans is important to us. We have a good mix of crew right now. They are all sweet, happy people with thick skin and senses of humor.

Growin' A Beard is a such a sweet, strange documentary. How'd you get involved with the soundtrack?

The Gourds
Pretty simple, Mike Woolf, a longtime friend and fan in Austin told me about this project he had been working on about this beard growing contest. He described what a "donegal" beard [a beard that goes from one sideburn along the jawline to the other sideburn without a mustache] is. As I envisioned his description I remembered a morning I woke up with the fellows around me in Portland, Oregon. I looked at them and they all had donegal beards. I think Max always used to wear one. Then suddenly Jimmy had one and Claude had one. It was creepy funny. When Mike mentioned this I knew we were the only band that could handle the soundtrack for this beard movie. It came out great. I only wish we would have recorded the whole "Get Yer Kicks On Route 66" song. That recording has such a spooky, cool, groovy quality to it, but we only did that one little part of it.

I don't think you cats have ever made a bad record - a rare thing for any band around more than a decade - but I've argued for years that Ghosts of Hallelujah is one of the unsung classics of the '90s. It seemed like a lot of things clicked into place on that album, and in many ways help set the stage for the music that followed. What do you think of it now? What do you recall of its creation?

I remember there was a huge storm that hit Central Texas during the recording of this. A friend of ours got in a car wreck driving through East Texas on the way to the ranch where we were recording. We were stranded for a short time as well as some of the roads were washed out by swelling creeks from the rainfall. Keith and I arrived first and did a few of my songs early on. One of those was the title track. It was originally a slow, sad waltz, but we did that more up-tempo version and went with that. I got sick near the end of this and had to go home from feeling so bad. Keith actually had to take me to the hospital because I thought something was seriously wrong. Then, he had to take our friend to the hospital because we were concerned he might have a concussion from his wreck. Keith was very busy during [these sessions]. We were both fine. Amid all that, we had a good time.

It was the last of the first three records that we recorded at The Laurels Ranch in the Hill Country. It is very close to Luckenbach and Fredericksburg, Texas-German country, obviously; lots of goats and cows around. We had great times out there just making weird records. They weren't the best sounding records, but they were cool, we thought. And it kept us in a certain frame of mind that maybe being in a real recording studio could have dampened. I think this is where the final lineup of The Gourds begins with Max having joined us there. And it being Keith's first recording with us, you have a good case for this being a forgotten classic of the decade. There are many Gourds faithful who appreciate this one that way. One reason it may have been overlooked is the fact that it was the third release in as many as two years. It really seemed that we released it too soon. If we had waited another six months maybe it would have made more of a splash. Lots of music biz folks seemed to have a "oh another record already" reaction to it. And it was released on a very small label. Essentially, this had little marketing behind it. Great record though.

Haymaker, particularly on cuts like "New Dues," reminds me of another Texas great, Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quintet. Are those guys any kind of touchstone for The Gourds?

The Gourds
Doug, of course, became a big inspiration to us. Hearing what he had done years before we ever thought of it was really mind blowing. Before moving to Austin and forming The Gourds we had never heard of him. He was someone we started hearing about once we were playing around. Other folks heard the similarity and would ask if we knew of him. There was also somewhat of a Sir Doug renaissance after he sang with Uncle Tupelo on their cover of his song "Give Back The Key To My Heart." Lots of dudes around South Austin got hip to him after this, myself included. I went out and bought as many records as I could by him. Some years later, we actually got to play with him and hang out with him, which was a highpoint for all of us - great man with a unique vision of his world. He loved my voice and told me to take care of it, value it. He told Jimmy that he had never seen anyone play bass like him other than Rick Danko [The Band], which is basically the greatest thing anyone could say about Jimmy's bass playing. He always called Claude, Flaco, so much so that we were never sure if he knew Claude's name.

Your band's handling of faith and spirituality as it's lived on the ground, in real day-to-day terms, has always impressed me. "All The Way To Jericho" is a philosophical rambler in this vein. What appeals to you about this subject matter? How do you deal with God and faith and belief in ways that don't tip into schmaltz and saccharine sentiment?

I have a faith rooted in Christianity that incorporates what I have gleaned from other religions and myths - Buddhism, Zen, Sufi, Islam, Hindu, Biology, Psychology, Art, Poetry, Music. I have distilled this all into a personal belief system that seems to serve my needs pretty well. I struggle like everyone with the problem of living in the bourgeois state, where we have grown soft and lazy. Man is the most aggressive, self-aware and creative creature on the planet. We have basically created an unexpected problem: Our fabulous civilization makes us less human. Bourgeois society reduces us to a pitiful sloth. There is no sense of the heroic life to speak of. Through the ages, the church and militarism have been used by many to attain the discipline needed for heroic transcendence, but the problem still exists. And I believe this is the biggest spiritual problem we face today, both personally and collectively as a society.

The Gourds
I have a personal system that serves me well, but this is probably not going to help the greater gathering of increasingly lost and corrupt humanity wading through the murk of capitalism engulfing the globe. The obvious march toward one world, one currency, one government is disheartening to me. My instinct is towards myth and art to make some sense of it all, and this is reflected often in my songs. There is still much to learn from our Western Christian myth. I try to use it in a way that disarms the listener. Jung said religion is a way of avoiding a religious experience. I think if we can forget all the hang ups and prejudice we might have against our myths, we can maybe make it more likely that we will have deeper spiritual experiences. "Jericho" specifically is really about being alienated from something or someplace, but finding one's own spiritual happiness regardless. Jericho was destroyed by the Jews in their march towards a promised land. I am on my way there, but in the end I miss it. I do not take part in the great sacking of the city. Then, I decide to go to Bethlehem or the New Testament - the re-birth. It remains to be seen if I get there either, but in the chorus I drive all night and sleep all day. This is a way of describing the dark parts of the personality or the psyche, yes? Lots of stuff going on in that song, in the end though, it is just a nice tune.

"Country Gal" is the kind of tune Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show would have had a hit with in '70s on AM radio. If today's country radio had any sense they'd long ago taken a big ol' shine to The Gourds. Have you guys ever really courted modern Nashville or contemporary country radio?

One does not court Nashville. One is chosen, eaten, then regurgitated by that soul crushing machine that lives in the black heart of the city. I am speaking, of course, of the "Country Music" industry there. There has always been a questionable intent running through that industry. From the time Chet Atkins molded the slick Nashville sound in an attempt to "cross-over" to the urban whites, there has been tons of questionable material spewing out. It has grown worse and worse, year-by-year. This happened because it is controlled by money creeps. Greed will never create great art. Never has and it never will.

There is only the will to create that makes such works. When the will is absorbed by greed it seeks only that end, by whatever means. Now we have fashion models that sing with the accent of a rube. "Country Music" now owes more to Billy Joel than to Hank Williams, and that is a fact, Jack. They would rather piss on us than actually do business with us. They are not in the least concerned with the cultural heritage of American musical traditions. Oh, they pay lip service to it because it gives them something to base their brand and business model on. But, it is all bullshit. We are much too real for their fantasy formula, and we do not ever do what we are told to do. We are men with a vision and a belief in what we do. The Tim McGraws of the world are told what to do and what to wear and how much make-up to put on and what to say. They are coached and groomed and prodded like poodles on parade.

"The Way You Can Get" off the new album from Gruene Hall, Gruene, Texas, 1/10/09

And "Luddite Juice," also on new album from the same gig

The Gourds are on tour now; dates available here.

JamBase | Slouching Towards The Shining City
Go See Live Music!

http://www.thegourds.com/

[Published on: 2/3/09] - www.jambase.com


"15 Years of Dems Good Beebles"

Written by Marshall A. Jones, Jr.

Since the music business wrapped its tentacles around Central Texas in the last few decades, phrases like “Austin’s Best Band” don’t mean much anymore—bandied about as they are by promoters and ad-men intent on selling their product. More than 20 years of South by Southwest and seven years of the Austin City Limits Music Festival have hardened the locals against the hard-sell. We’ll smile and nod when you tell us how good your band is, but we’re steeled by experience against believing it until we see it.



In this environment, The Gourds ushered in 2009 at The Waterford House at their quasi-annual New Year’s Eve Ball. After 15 years, the band sounds like they’re just getting started. And with the new year, comes a new album, Haymaker! (Yep Roc Records), and another chance for The Gourds to show off why many people in and out of Austin really do think they’re the best band around.

The New Year’s Eve concert is a reminder that the band earned their reputation as a live band intent on having a good time. The masked crowd shimmied and shaked as drummer Keith Langford laid down the rhythms of this music, borne of old-time country and ‘70s-era rock. Accordionist and keyboardist Claude Bernard added vocals in all the right places, locking in with Langford while the other guys traded off lead vocals. Max Johnston (the band’s utility man on fiddle, mandolin and banjo) picked up a guitar to sing lead on his country crooner “Valentine,” one of two songs he wrote for the new CD. The chief Gourds songwriters and singers, Jimmy Smith (bass) and Kevin Russell (guitar/mandolin), traded off a rousing mix of rollicking numbers culled from the band’s 15-year history.

With the New Years’ masquerade ball going strong, The Gourds’ tour manager, Jeff Cook, quietly wondered if it would be the year the band captured more widespread fame. A Mississippi native, Cook started following the band and recorded their shows—something a lot of Gourds fans do, a la the fabled Deadheads—before he got a job with them.

Like many of the band’s loyal fans, Cook harbors an almost evangelism about The Gourds. Cook says that all it would take just one song to get a lot of exposure and The Gourds would have an instant legion of new fans ready to buy The Gourds’ entire back catalog (nine CDs) and discover what a great band they’ve been missing out on.

Others might say that “one song” break already happened about a decade ago, and with mixed results. As acclaim for The Gourds begin spreading far beyond Austin, the quirky band inserted their now infamous cover of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” into their live set. The unlikely hit gained them some national exposure, but in some respects as a novelty. From that point on, the band has been dogged by requested shouts for “Gin and Juice” wherever they play. (The Gourds must know how Hervé Villechaize felt when strangers shouted “zee plane! zee plane!” every time they saw him.)

But it’s the original music that sets The Gourds apart. Haymaker! is a quintessential Gourds records: a jambalaya of roots-rock influences, recombined and reshaped into the band’s “literate redneck” style. Smith calls it a “badge of honor” that their music can’t be easily classified.

The Gourds, Haymaker!“It’s the whole ‘dancing about architecture’ thing,” Russell says of the impossibility of writing about music. “Unless you’re hearing it, it’s hard to describe.”

When they’re making records, Johnston, Smith, and Russell write songs separately and bring them to the others more or less fully-formed. It’s up to the rest of the band to arrange it and make it a Gourds song.

Similar to Lennon and McCartney, Smith and Russell’s songs are usually easily identifiable from one another. Smith’s lyrics beguile and draw in the listener; Russell’s tunes are anthemic. There’s a lot of Elvis Costello and Tom Waits in Smith’s music, whereas Russell’s songs evoke distinctly Southern imagery.

In addition to obvious country and rock influences, Russell says the band always listened to “harder stuff,” and cites the ‘80s California punk band The Minutemen in particular as an influence. Some Gourds fans might also be surprised to know that Russell counts Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire” and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” among his favorite tunes, and Bing Crosby among his favorite singers.

Like most Austin bands, The Gourds didn’t get a lot of attention in its early days. A 1994 show at Another Cup of Coffee near the University of Texas got the ball rolling. Russell was an employee of the bookstore BookPeople, and he convinced his coworkers to have their regular staff meeting at the coffeehouse, where, it just so happened, his band would be playing afterwards.

“After that it was just word of mouth,” he says.

KUT (90.5 FM) Music Director Jeff McCord first saw the band at Flipnotics Coffeespace in 1995.

“Even though they were playing an acoustic set for maybe 25 people, I have rarely been so impressed by a new band—and I’ve seen a lot of them over the years,” McCord says. “Their songs were assured, arranged, and most of all, highly original.”

McCord says the band’s work ethic has been key to the band’s longevity. “But first and foremost, they are, and always have been, a tremendous live band,” he emphasizes.

McCord asked the boys to appear on KUT’s LiveSet program for a one-hour, on-air performance. “It was one of their first, if not the first recording the band had made,” McCord says. “It got them a lot of attention. They sold the LiveSet tape at their gigs for a long time after that, until their debut album was done.”

“For a while just about every coffee shop I’d go into would be playing it,” Russell says of the LiveSet recording.

After releasing four CDs in four years beginning with Dems Good Beebles in 1996, The Gourds became darlings of the alt-country media, and word of their great live show was spreading.

In Austin, the best-known name in booking might be David Cotton. Cotton booked The Gourds for a series of shows at The Saxon Pub in South Austin. A few were broadcast live on KGSR (107.1-FM).

Cotton doesn’t remember when he first heard about the band, but says they came to the Saxon “fully-formed” and ready to play big shows in front of an adoring audience.

“Their draw was really bigger than the Saxon, even then,” he says, adding: “I think they helped me more than I helped them.”

The Gourds
Photo: Andy Goodwin
After 15 years, the band continues to tour frequently, though they have to balance it with obligations at home. They don’t do much touring abroad anymore—they don’t feel they have to. “America is a very big place, and we’ve mastered the two-week tour,” Russell says, explaining that two weeks on the road, followed by two weeks at home, allows them to maximize family time.

Haymaker! was recorded at Bruce Robison’s Premium Record Service in Hyde Park and engineered by Stuart Sullivan, who the band has credited with making the records sound like a cohesive whole.

Cotton is one of many who’ve known the band through the years to call Haymaker! their best effort to date. As for the band’s influence, he adds that he currently books about 20 bands that “aspire to be The Gourds.”

Not a bad legacy for a group Cotton calls “the best musical minds to come out of Texas since Buddy Holly.” - austin.com


"Gourd ol' boys with some serious wit"

Jim Farber

The Gourds, from Austin, Texas, are back with a witty new album.

It’s not every country band that would write a song about being a Luddite, or one that finds its narrator relating, all too deeply, to a rotting fossil on the beach. But the Gourds, who wrote both odes, clearly aren’t just any country band. The Austin-based act first made waves 10 years ago by performing twangy covers of Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice.” It’s their own songs, though, that have showed the wit and depth that lay beyond their titters.

The Gourds’ new CD, “Haymaker,” finds them matching firmly grounded country-rock (à la the Band) to self-deprecating, if not self-satirizing, lyrics.

In “Bridget,” the song’s middle-aged narrator picks up a hitchhiking wanna-be revolutionary girl, decked out in a Che Guevara T-shirt, who’s on her way to cast her first vote. The driver condescends to the kid; she thinks he’s an old fool, but the Gourds make the relationship poignant in its mismatched brevity. In “Shreveport,” the guys name-check Geddy Lee of Rush in a song about a shmo who hates the very bar scene he can’t keep away from.

In sensibility, these songs don’t fall far from the work of the Bottle Rockets, Southern Culture on the Skids or the Drive-By Truckers, rural hipsters all. Some of the vocals can recall another rootsy humorist, John Hiatt. All this adds to the husky sound the Gourds make, one rooted in old soil but goosed by a warped-enough sensibility to keep it spry.

jfarber@nydailynews.com - New York Daily News


"Even curmudgeons dig the Gourds"

by rick cornell

Over a dozen years down the road, it's hard to remember the exact wording of the message that Mark Rubin of the Bad Livers sent to the Postcard music listserv. The post was about Austin, Texas, band the Gourds, specifically the band's debut album Dem's Good Beeble, and it went something like this: "You need to check out this record. And you know it's out of character for me to say that because I don't like anything."

The Gourds have gone on to make a whole bunch more records for people who don't like anything. And conversely – thanks to a no-filters blend of country of both the cosmic and classic varieties, folk, gospel, ribs of both the spare and shiny varieties, zydeco, punk, cover songs, weed, rock, and soul – for people who like everything.

Kevin Russell, who plays guitar and mandolin for the Gourds and writes the songs that his bandmates Jimmy Smith and Max Johnston don't write, laughs when this fuzzy recollection is shared. "Yes, the curmudgeon's curmudgeon," he says of Rubin. The two go back a ways, back to when Russell's country-punking pre-Gourds outfit the Picket Line Coyotes shared a scene in late-'80s/early-'90s Dallas with Killbilly, a rock/bluegrass experiment in which Rubin did time. Russell describes that era as "the heyday, or dark days, of the white funk movement." The Picket Line Coyotes had started in Shreveport with a lineup that included Robert Bernard, future Damnations guitarist and older brother of Gourd-in-waiting Claude Bernard, and then moved on to Big D. Shortly after, the Coyotes added a young, green, naive kid from the suburbs of Plano named Jimmy Smith. That's how Russell puts it, anyway.

The next relocation was to Austin, coaxed there by John Croslin after the Coyotes opened a few shows for Croslin's band the Reivers. Once there, they kept their cool-connections streak alive by opening shows for Alejandro Escovedo at Waterloo Ice House during Escovedo's days working at the similarly named record store next door. When the Coyotes faded, Russell and Smith continued to play together, and with Claude Bernard they formed the initial incarnation of the Gourds in 1994. Those three, along with drummer Charlie Llewellin, released Dem's Good Beeble in 1996, and followed it the next year with Stadium Blitzer, a big ol' slice of Texas impressionism. The current lineup was established in '98 when Keith Langford left the Damnations to take over drumming duties, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston signed on after stints with Uncle Tupelo and Wilco.

The rest is history – nine more albums' worth, in fact, if you count both the odds & ends collection Gogitchyershinebox and the expanded, even-more-covers-heavy edition Shinebox as well as the brand new Haymaker! At the very least, in terms of longevity, it's an historic surprise. "It's shocking," says Russell of the Gourds' staying power. "I mean, I know I'm going to be playing music my whole life. I knew I was a lifer from the time I was a little boy; that's all I ever wanted to do. But the Gourds, I just didn't think we'd take it that far. It was just really for fun. We were nowhere near as serious about the Gourds as we were about the Coyotes. You know, we really tried in the Coyotes. It's still a mystery to me how these things work out."

One possible key to the mystery is a certain consistency to the way the Gourds approach the recording process. "We make guerrilla records," Russell says; by that he means they've always done everything in two weeks – recording and mixing – and done so on shoestring budgets. "We've never had a concept or an idea before we went in to make a record. It's really just going in and flying by the seat of our pants," he explains. "Well, we always have songs written, and most of the songs are fairly arranged. But often there are songs that aren't fully realized until we're in the studio."

The goal might seem obvious – get the best performances of the basic tracks in the studio – but the results have a truly live feel. "That's it, really," offers Russell. "From there, we just sort of make it up, be playful with it, be as spontaneous as we can." Even with those unconventional methods, the Gourds have gone over budget only once, on 2002's Cow Fish Fowl Or Pig. Stuart Sullivan of Wire Recording studio was the engineer; the Gourds played his wedding, and Sullivan called it even. The rock 'n' roll barter system.

The records that emerge are all clearly Gourds records, all clearly descendents of Dem's Good Beeble. Yet it's not like the Gourds keep making the same record. There's enough different about each one, a shifting of emphasis on ingredients from that long list perhaps, to dodge such charges and give each release its own personality. On Haymaker!, gospel rhythms and country comfort play a bigger role than on the last couple of albums. The more ornate chord progressions that decorated several numbers on 2007's Noble Creatures are set aside in favor of more basic settings, a couple even plucked from Russell's side-project, Shinyribs.



Russell's Haymaker! contributions include kissing cousins "Country Love", a jolly ode to getting a way from it all, and "Country Gal". The latter, which sounds like a tune that got booted off the The Basement Tapes for having too much country funk, sports the line, "She's like a ruby rolling round in a bucket of dimes." ("There was this guy in Missoula, this African-American guy, who used to run a club we played at there," says Russell. "I remember one time he referred to himself as a raisin in a sugar bowl. So it's really a variation on that. I'm always thinking of variations of that line.") There's also "The Way You Can Get", a rowdy gospel number that presents a spiritual problem without ever providing a solution, and "All The Way To Jericho", which just might describe a journey to that missing answer.

Russell is most proud of "Shreveport", which he calls the true story of his late-teenage years in Shreveport, Lousiana. In an economical three verses, he nails the whole experience. Verse one is a kid soaking in the freedom, and potential loneliness, that comes with a night license: "Roaches in the ashes, truck jamming "Limelight"/Looks like it's gonna be just me and Geddy Lee tonight." The harsh second verse takes a look around and concludes, "Fuck a bunch of hairdo boys and their spandex britches/And their big titty, fancy drunk ass bitches." In sharp contrast, the concluding verse gets tender, as the night ends with two friends singing by the grave of one's mother. It's American Graffiti, Shreveport '86 style.

Among bassist/guitarist Smith's songs are two standouts. Lyrically, "Luddite Juice", like many of Smith's creations, requires a decoder ring and/or a hell of a buzz. Musically, it's Booker T. & the M.G.'s, with Claude Bernard playing the part of Booker T., by way of Elvis Costello. In other words, it could be a great, lost Get Happy!! track (and, risking charges of blasphemy, I'll nominate it as potentially the fourth best song on that record). In a similar vein, Smith's "Fossil Contender" is all soul chord progressions and Warren Zevon-style chugging rhythms. On an album where almost every song is elbowing for space in your head, it's the one that will claim the biggest and best spot. But the wildest card is the album-closing "Tighter", written and sung by Johnston. It's as close to a pure pop song – we're talking La's territory here – as the Gourds have ever done, and perhaps will ever do.

So yeah, as always, there's that aforementioned country/gospel/rock/pop/soul/et al. blend. And also as always, going all the way back to Dem's Good Beeble, the two most obvious reference points remain The Band and Doug Sahm. The interesting thing is that the influence and inspiration of that iconic pair has been more gradual than most listeners would think. Russell acknowledges that he'd heard The Band's big hits and seen The Last Waltz and probably heard some of Sahm's more popular songs, but he didn't own a Band record until fairly late in the game, and didn't know who Sahm was until moving to Austin.


(The Gourds covering Doug Sahm's "Nitty Gritty")

"By playing this music and then talking to writers and other musicologists, they'd ask us, 'Do you know Doug Sahm or do you know these people?' And we were like, 'No, I don't think so,'" Russell says with a laugh. "And they'd say, 'Well, you should listen to them because you sound a lot like them.' Which is kind of a neat thing. It felt like we came across it pretty honestly." He adds, "We then started listening to a lot of their music because we found a kinship with it and learned a lot from it. And Doug Sahm definitely became a big hero of ours." (The Gourds' cover of Sahm's "Nuevo Laredo" will be included on a Sahm tribute album due on Vanguard this spring.)

In a roundabout way, maybe this starts to get at why the Gourds were put on earth and continue to flourish. In a world where Sahm and Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, and Johnny Cash, Ronnie Lane, and D. Boon, are all gone and not coming back no matter how hard we wish, the Gourds provide a kind of comfort by, knowingly or otherwise, echoing their sounds and honoring their restless spirits. And the results feel downright curmudgeon-proof.
- No Depression


"The Gourds - Haymaker!"

The Gourds new LP,Haymaker (Yep Roc) should’ve come out a few weeks ago, that way, it could’ve landed on my Top 10 for 2008. I guess it will just have to wait. Pretty gutsy statement for such an early offering of 2009, huh? In an era where most “Country Rock” consists of Rock that is mysteriously and dubiously packaged as Country, it is an absolute joy to hear a Country record that rocks, but can never be mistaken for anything but a sincere and forthright, down-home effort.

Kevin Russell, Keith Langford and gang bust out of the gate with an ode to the Country, with the track “Country Love”. The accordion lends the track a distinct rootsy, cajun hue as the vocals yelp with the fervor of a Zydeco band-leader hitting his stride. The sense of melody throughout the disc is more effective than on even some of their previous high-quality albums. After the opening track, the album continues to showcase tight, upbeat tunes that, thanks to the vocals and general good-time feel, seem to only be able to be songs from The Gourds. The writing on this album is defined by lyrics that never take themselves too seriously, yet avoid the kookiness of much of their earlier work. In “All the Way to Jericho”, the scene is set for us as we hear, “And when you see that starry night/ or a cross up on a hill/ then you wait for early light / to take yer hands off the wheel”. Looking for answers or direction never sounded so good. When discussing the simple, and perhaps more dangerous features of the fairer sex in “Country Gal”, we find out that the gal in question has “skin like chocolate milk - make a married man feel no guilt” .

haymakerpromosmall

Haymaker! is a well-rounded disc that doesn’t have one skip-worthy song. The Gourds have made their name with their live shows through Texas and the rest of the nation, for that matter. Solid writing, sharp wit, and crack musicianship, as heard here, will always be the key elements of a great collection of songs. This latest offering proves that the best bands can translate their gift from stage to studio and produce sterling results. - Twangville


"Named Best Bet on MSNBC!"

Best bets: ‘Bachelor,’ ‘Biggest Losers’ return
Our picks for this week's top TV, movies, DVDs, CDs and more
Image: Jason Mesnick
ABC
Seattle-area "Bachelor" Jason Mesnick is the first Bachelor who's also a single dad.

msnbc.com
updated 1:06 p.m. CT, Sun., Jan. 4, 2009

TV
It's a new year, and with it, a slew of new reality shows. First, "The Bachelor" is back, and with a twist — this year's single guy looking for love is a Seattle single dad. Jason Mesnick was rejected by "Bachelorette" DeAnna Pappas in July, but he won the hearts of many viewers, so now he'll be the one handing out the roses. Some viewers are uncomfortable with Mesnick in this role since he has a three-year-old son, Ty, from his first marriage. But Mesnick claims he found the woman of his dreams on the show, so now you can watch it all unfold. (Premieres Jan. 5, ABC, 8 p.m.)

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to lose weight? You might draw inspiration from "Biggest Loser: Couples," which features the series' oldest-ever contestants (63-year-old grandparents), its youngest male contestant (he's 18), and both the heaviest woman (379 pounds) and heaviest man (454 pounds) ever to compete. (Premieres Jan. 6, NBC, 8 p.m.)

Halloween's been over for months, but apparently the folks at the CW don't know that. Their new show, "13 — Fear is Real" pits contestants against their deepest fears in situations "straight from horror movies." The winner gets $66,666, but since two people get buried alive on the premiere, that doesn't seem like nearly enough money. (Premieres Jan. 7, CW, 8 p.m.)

DVD
Yes, it's a comedy about stoners. But this isn't your father's Cheech and Chong, "Pineapple Express" actually earned raves for its humor. The Onion's A.V. Club called it "as loose and playful as major studio movies get." Seth Rogen plays the poor stoner who witnesses a murder and must go into hiding with his dealer Saul (James Franco). Get out the munchies and invite your college pals over for a viewing. (Out on DVD Jan. 6)

There's a bit of a pot theme in this week's DVDs. Also worth checking out: "The Wackness," in which a teenage dealer (Josh Peck) barters weed for therapy with a shrink (played by Ben Kingsley) and sets up an unlikely friendship. Msnbc.com's movie critic, Alonso Duralde, says "I’m more than willing to forgive Kingsley for ‘The Love Guru’ after his compelling work in 'The Wackness.' " (Out on DVD Jan. 6)
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Movies
How do you tell the story of a legendary revolutionary who's considered a hero by some and a murderer by others? Well, if you’re Steven Soderbergh, you make two full-length films. In “Che – Part I,” Che Guevara (Benicio del Toro), a doctor from Argentina, helps Fidel Castro and an army of men to topple Batista’s regime in Cuba. Look for the second part of Che's story to be released soon. (Opens Jan. 9 limited, wider as the month rolls on)

“Waltz With Bashir” is an animated documentary that tells the story of a former Israeli soldier (Ari Folman, who wrote and directed the film) who doesn’t remember participating in a massacre during the Lebanon war in 1982. He begins interviewing his former fellow soldiers trying to piece together the events. It may take a while for this film to get to your town, but this film may give “WALL-E” some competition for the best animated film Oscar. (Opened in limited release Dec. 25, rolling out wide)

Music
Austin, Texas, alt-country, honky-tonk band The Gourds are back with a new CD, the Cajun-influenced “Haymaker!,” which Paste magazine’s Andy Whitman calls “their best album in a long career of good and very good albums… They do what they've always done, only better.” (On sale Jan. 6)

The title track to Erin McCarley’s new album, “Love Save the Empty” will appear on the soundtrack of the ultimate chick flick, “He’s Just Not That Into You.” But don’t hold that against this pop singer, who sounds a bit like Fiona Apple’s happier younger sister. (On sale Jan. 6)
© 2009 msnbc.com Reprints - MSNBC


Discography

KUT (EP) - 1995
Dem's Good Beeble - 1997
Go Get Your Shinebox(EP) - 1998
Stadium Blitzer - 1998
Shinebox - 2001
Ghosts of Hallelujah - 1999
Bolsa de Agua - 2000
Cow Fish Fowl Or Pig - 2002
Grownin A Beard - 2003
Blood of the Ram - 2004
Heavy Ornamentals - 2006
Noble Creatures - 2007
Haymaker - January 6th, 2009

Photos

Bio

BIO,YO!
This is the great American band, This is The Gourds.

These 5 "well read neck's" traverse roots music styles in the same way they barrel cross country, season after season, hell bent for the sake of the song. Their shows are the stuff of legend. All kinds gather 'round when they come to town, from academia to bohemia, Suburbia to schizophrenia, old dead heads, red necks, red head's and sugar shaker's and everyone in between all love their infectious sound. familiar without being derivative, intelligent without being pretentious, visceral without being violent, spiritual without being judgmental, traditional without being anachronistic. This is a high energy show equal parts poetry reading and tent revival. Great country ballads will walk shoulder to shoulder with full tilt Stones' style rock n roll. In the same way Bill Monroe created Blue Grass and Chuck Berry created rock n' roll, The Gourds have created a unique sound and style of music from the same ingredients found in the American soil and soul. Once you hear them you will understand why so many travel so far just to witness each show as a unique event unto itself. This is the great American band. This is The Gourds. A quintet combo that is truly the sum of all its parts. The music they create is all inclusive to the audiences they play for. And, all are encouraged to participate in the moment.
Formed in the summer '94 in the heart of Austin,TX.
The Gourds have become everything good about that famous city's reputed musical tradition. It is safe to say that this band, once considered irreverent outsiders in that town, have become an institution in the ATX. The mayor of Austin recently hit the guys up for some free t-shirts for his daughters. The Gourds gladly handed the cotton over to his highness. Texas' Governor's Music Office regularly sends visitors to see The Gourds as they are said to encompass the variety of Texas music in a single show; Rock, Country, Blues, Zydeco, Tejano and Swing presented with originality and a fierce independence. But ask them and they still have an underdog mentality. This leads to raging, dynamic shows. The fellows want to keep their reputation in tact, you see?
When gazing upon a Gourds' stage one might liken it to the showroom of a Pawnshop. They employ 10 different instruments and duplicates of some of those. K. Langford plays a vintage Gretsch drum kit, J. Smith plays electric bass and acoustic guitar, C. Bumps Bernard plays accordion and keyboards and guitars, Shinyribs Russell plays acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin and dances like a hillbilly Bobby Brown and the great Max Johnston plays fiddle, banjo, lap steel, mandolin, guitars and anything else with strings on it that might be laying around during a show.
The Gourds are the real deal… with few peers in the realm of great live performance. After one has been disappointed by the flavor of the month, month after month, one must see The Gourds. This is the great American band, This is The Gourds.