The Texan five-piece band The Gourds has a luxury problem: they have three excellent songwriters. Max Johnston writes the most traditional (roots) songs, Jimmy Smith is the 'rocker' of the bunch and the philosophically minded Kev Russell is a bit in between. A consequence of this is that on the albums of The Gourds you invariably encounter a lot of variation (and many tracks). The sixth album, with
… the strange title Cow Fish Fowl Or Pig, contains no less than seventeen. The Gourds are often mentioned as the founders of the 'americana' (also called alt.country). This means that the band plays a fresh, modern mix of traditional styles such as folk, bluegrass and country. However, they always do this with great reverence and respect, so that eventually a new, younger audience becomes interested in this traditional music. Cow Fish Fowl Or Pig is probably their most accessible and 'poppy' CD to date. This makes them sound more than ever like a cross between The Band and The Beatles. There are actually no weak songs on this CD, but one of the absolute highlights is Smoke Bend, in which Gourds string wonder Max Johnston enters into a duet with his father, the bluegrass veteran Dollar Bill Johnston. (MvP)more
