Another trip back to my days as a music editor at a college newspaper. I loved Rhino Records, which was known for novelty songs and reissues. So I was a little surprised when we got a review copy of Tales of the New West, the debut album by the Beat Farmers. It looked surprisingly serious.
Well, I claimed it and took it. And, wow...
The first song, "Bigger Stones" blew me away. Kind of country, but with a rock and roll feel. Or maybe rock and roll with a bit of a country feel. And the album just got better and better as it went on. To this day, Tales is one of my favorite records.
This was my introduction to cowpunk. I don't know who invented that label, but it's what I use. Buddy Blue, who was a Beat Farmer at the time told me in an interview that he prefers the term Americana music. But whatever you call it, it's a subgenre that I still love.
It also was the subject of an article I wrote for Pulse!, which was Tower Records' freely distributed magazine. The last page of each issue was always a one-pager under the heading "Building" (as in building a record collection -- since it was being published by a record retailer). Each "Building" article featured one type of music and included recommended albums in genre. I wrote one on cowpunk, and then another on modern folk.
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