JOHN COWAN
John Cowan (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Enough of the year has gone by to take a chance, so I'm going to go ahead and say that this is the best damn album in the Americana category of the year 2000. It's certainly the best one I've heard so far, and if something beats it out it will have to be something so good that it transcends categories altogether.

John Cowan, of course, is the bass player and stunning tenor vocalist who first came to fame as a member of the New Grass Revival. Of course, in that context he was surrounded by pickers like Sam Bush and Bela Fleck, whose instrumental virtuosity could overwhelm most anyone, making the fact that Cowan got any attention at all a testament to his talents.

Bush is along to help out on this one, along with an impressive roster of pickers and singers including Jon Randall, Ronnie McCoury, Scott Vestal, Jerry Douglas, Darrell Scott, Karla Bonoff and Wendy Walman. Waldman not only provided background vocals, but produced the album and offered some significant songwriting assists.

It's John Cowan's album all the way though, built around terrific original tunes and his amazing voice. There is one instrumental track, "Sligo," a jazzy jam with Celtic and bluegrass undertones, that gives Cowan a chance to demonstrate his bass chops, but you gotta love that voice. He's also updated Merle Travis' classic "Dark As A Dungeon" in a way that both respects and reinvents the song.

There's blues, boogie, pure rockers and rocking country. Most of all, there's John Cowan and that proves more than enough.

Track List:

Roll Away The Stone * All I Wanna Feel * Gotta Get Go * Nothing But The Blues * Wichita Way * High Above The Powerlines * I Want You To * Mississippi Delta Time * This River * My Heart Will Follow You * Dark As A Dungeon * Sligo * Last Summer Rose

© 2000 - Shaun Dale