Decade of Difference

Happy birthday to twin sisters Kim and Kelley Deal who are also bandmates in The Breeders. The band dates to 1989 when Kim and Tonya Donnelly formed the group as a side project. Kim was a member of the Pixies and Tonya was in Throwing Muses.

In 1993 the Pixies broke up and Kim took on the Breeders as her full-time project. Timed perfectly to cash in on the growing interest in alt rock, the band’s 1993 album Last Splash was their biggest commercial success. Cannonball, a single from the album, rose to number 2 on the modern rock charts and the album reached platinum sales status.

It was the peak for the band. Soon both sisters were in rehab after Kelly was involved in a drug bust and the band was on indefinite hiatus.

In 1996 Kim Deal revived the Breeders using personnel from her interim band the Amps. Kelly Deal rejoined in 1997 and the band reconfigured once again in preparation for recording their comeback album Title Tk. Around the same time Kim Deal was involved in a Pixies reunion, touring North America and Europe.

In 2012 the Breeders reunited their lineup from Last Splash to coincide with a twentieth anniversary re-release of the hit album and since then the group has occasionally released new music.

Kim Deal was the subject of two tribute songs recorded in the 90s by the D

Indiana born Tim Showalter, who performs as Strand of Oaks had initially hoped for a career in athletics. His interest in playing basketball ended when he developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Athletics was replaced by interests in music and teaching, leading him to the Philadelphia area. After returning to Indiana to propose marriage to his girlfriend, Showalter was devastated by rejection after initially her saying ‘Yes’. This fueled a period of songwriting and recording that would not appear until years later on his first record Leave Ruin.

Two more records quickly followed, and Strand of Oaks went on tour supporting acts like Tallest Man on Earth and Joe Pug.  After a couple of years of touring, Showalter returned home and began to write, producing about 30 demos in three weeks. This was the basis of his next record Heal which was completed after another devastating personal tragedy. Showalter and his wife were involved in a head-on collision with two semi-trucks, leaving Showalter with a concussion and many broken ribs.

Showalter says that he had so much to say on 2014’s Heal that it took him two more records to get it out. It was not until last year’s In Heaven that he could focus on more recent experiences but by this time he had more difficult life experiences to process, including the loss of his mother-in-law to cancer. This time he says that he wanted to handle the tragedy more like a New Orleans funeral – accept that a great loss has occurred but move on through a celebration.

Showalter’s latest new adventure is a recurring role on a TV show. He is in the cast for the fourth season of the FX show Mayans M.C. as a member of the biker gang Sons of Anarchy, appropriately named Hoosier.

John Cowan has followed a meandering path on his musical journey, including sixteen years in the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, a soul focused solo record followed by several roots albums and most recently a place in the latest version of the Doobie Brothers.

In 1974 Cowan auditioned as bassist for the New Grass Revival, a band that bucked the traditions of bluegrass in both style and substance. Cowan began a sixteen year run with the band establishing himself as ‘the voice of newgrass’, a genre that followed the bands lead into fusing contemporary music with traditional bluegrass style. New Grass Revival was a forerunner of today’s string instrument based jam bands like Leftover Salmon and Yonder Mountain String Band.

When New Grass Revival ended their run in 1990, Cowan started his solo career, first releasing a blues record before returning to a more familiar Americana style.

Throughout his career John Cowan has been known for his versatility, ollaborating  with a broad range of musicians in the studio and on stage. His most recent solo record Sixty illustrates his connections by the extensive list of featured artists. Cowan performs with his old New Grass Revival bandmate Sam Bush, Rodney Crowell, Bonnie Bramblett and a host of others.

Since 2010 Cowan has performed as the bassist in the Doobie Brothers and is currently touring with the band on their 50th Anniversary Tour.

In 2020 Cowan and his bandmates in New Grass Revival finally received acceptance by the bluegrass community when they were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

Guster’s career began in 1991 as an acoustic trio called Gus when the three co-founders met as freshmen at Tufts University. For most of the 90s they toured the college circuit and released independent albums. Among the quirky characteristics of the band – they used hand percussion in place of drums.

In 1999 the band, now called Guster, had a breakthrough with their first hit single Fa Fa and for the following album introduced a drum set. 2003’s Keep It Together pushed the band further towards a more lush sound by adding an additional multi-instrument band member. The record also broke into the top 40 and the band also released a parody version of the album. The Meowstro Sings: Guster’s Keep It Together replaced the vocals on the original with simulated cat meows.

Humor plays a big part in Guster’s live show. Sometimes they will open shows themselves, masquerading as another  band. Other traditions from their live shows include the audience throwing ping pong balls at the stage, a reference to the audio from a ping pong game which can be heard at the end of the song Airport Song.

Guster’s latest hit single Overexcited added a new twist for the band – a fake accent. Vocalist Ryan Miller says that “It wasn’t this methodical thing. To be totally honest, I kind of got bored of singing in my own voice,” Miller continues “It almost ended up being like a novelty, but we listen to the Madness song ‘Our House’ a ton and that’s like one of the greatest pop songs ever.”

With the legendary U.K. group’s 1982 smash as a guide, Guster figured, “why not do everything Madness would’ve done and put horns and strings on the end?” The result “comes across as free spirited and inspired. It was fun to do.”

Photo by Alex Koffler

Music is a family affair for Cedric Burnside who is the son of blues drummer Calvin Jackson and grandson of bluesman R.L. Burnside. At thirteen, Cedric went on the road in his granfathers’ band, and he and father Calvin overlapped in the group. Eventually Cedric replaced his father Calvin as drummer in R.L.s’ band.

After a few years touring with his grandfather, he expanded his scope by playing drums on several albums recorded by other family members, before starting to record on his own in various duos and other configurations in 2006. He also began playing guitar, and says that he never really felt comfortable with the instrument until he started writing songs.

Despite the touring, Burnside says that his family experienced poverty during his childhood. He recalls going hungry and reflects on that difficult time on a song on his Grammy winning album.

Cedric Burnside won his first Grammy this year for I Be Trying, an album of mostly original material done in the traditional style called Hill Country blues. U2 and the Rolling Stones both showed interest in this style, but recently it has not been so prominent. Burnsides’ approach on the Grammy winner was to honor the style but bring it forward in new original songs.

He says that he draws from his personal experience for the songs on the new record. Step In looks back at the hardship he and his family faced during his youth. The two covers on the record are tributes to his grandfather R.L and to his mentor Junior Kimbrough. It is his way of honoring those who have passed by keeping the Hill Country style alive.

Fifteen time Grammy winner Bela Fleck took this years Best bluegrass album award for his album My Bluegrass Heart. As a child he developed an interest in the banjo through Earl Scruggs – on the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies.

While failing in school to master the French horn, Fleck was simultaneously studying the banjo with more success. Moving to Boston from New York, Fleck busked and recorded his first record in 1979. When Sam Bush heard Fleck, he invited him to join New Grass Revival, and he stayed with the group for nine years.

In 1988, Fleck and bassist Victor Wooten formed Bela Fleck and the Flecktones which has won six Grammys.

Bela Fleck weaves the banjo into his personal life too. He met his wife, banjoist Abigail Washburn at a square dance in Nashville, where he was playing and she was dancing. Fleck produced Washburns’ first album.

Last year’s My Bluegrass Heart has Bela Fleck returning to his roots of bluegrass. With the Flecktones the artist fused bluegrass with funk and jazz but over the decades of the bands existence Fleck has repeatedly returned to a purer bluegrass style for about one record per decade.

He described his approach to this years’ Grammy winner this way: ““Typically, when I do a Bluegrass record, I kind of work within a certain idiomatic way of playing. Even though I play around the edges of it, I don’t go that far. But this album, I decided to include it all — some really traditional stuff, some fairly straightforward stuff, but just be myself the whole way. And then put some of the creativity that I would typically put into a project with Chick Corea or orchestra or Zakir Hussain, but put it into a bluegrass context.”

Photo by Scott Newton

Jon Batiste is another successful musical talent educated at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, he graduated (along with classmate Trombone Shorty) in 2004. Only a year later Batiste released his first album, Times in New Orleans as a seventeen year old..

Moving to New York, Batiste studied at the Juilliard School and began performing in the city. He released a second live album in 2005 based on those early shows. Diversifying his sound, Batiste formed Jon Batiste & Stay Human, playing impromptu outdoor concerts mixing jazz, R&B, gospel and pop. The group released their first full length album in 2013 which topped the jazz charts.

Jon Batiste & Stay Human was selected as the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert a position they have filled since the show’s debut in 2015, Displaying his versatility, Batiste has performed in the Check Berry and Fats Domino tribute on the Grammy awards show, toured with the Dap-Kings and won a Grammy nomination.

Batiste was the biggest winner at this year’s Grammys, taking five awards with most in categories considered to be major. He is the first black artist to win Album of the Year since Herbie Hancock did it in 2008. He also won awards for Best American roots performance, Best American roots song, best score for visual media and best music video. Batiste had received the most nominations with eleven in a wide range of categories.

Musician, actor and politician are just some of the activities of Panama’s Ruben Blades, winner of this year’s Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.

Blades was born and raised in Panama City and began his musical career as a singer and songwriter in a variety of Latin combos, applying the influences he acquired from listening to 50’s doo-wop groups. This was happening while he studied law, and when the University of Panama was closed by the government, Blades made his first trip to the US. Although he graduated after the school was reopened and he received his degree, Blades chose to move to Florida, joining his parents who were exiled there.

He moved on to New York, taking a job in the mailroom at Latin record label Fania. A year later he was in Ray Barretto’s band as featured vocalist and was also playing with Willie Colon. The six year association with Colon was productive. 1978’s Siembra became the largest selling salsa record of its day and most of the tracks became hits in one Latin country or another.

Ruben Blades continued his musical career while also adding acting to his career choices. He appeared in Paul Simon’s first Broadway musical The Capeman and many movies including Once Upon A Time In Mexico. In 1994 he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the presidency of Panama but in a show of his popularity, received 17% of the vote. He has expressed a desire to run again.

Blades recent run in the  AMC series Fear the Walking Dead has come to an end which he describes as a choice to better manage his time “There’s a moment when you realize that you have more past than future. So you have to organize your time,” he says, reflecting on his character and the issue of getting older. “Once you realize you’re a certain age, you have to understand your mortality and deal with the fact that you don’t have the time that you had when you were 20.”

This year’s Grammy is Blades tenth, stretching back to 1987.