After spending a few years in northern California fronting his indie rock band Camper Van Beethoven, David Lowery moved to Richmond. With the move came a different band – one that left indie rock behind in favor of a roots rock sound. In 1991, Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman recorded demos in Richmond, then toured Virginia with a band they named Cracker.
Their first album also came in ’91 and featured a radio hit. “Teen Angst” went to number 1 on the Modern Rock charts. While the song appears to mock folk music, Lowery says it employs an old country music songwriting trick: the old “third verse switchero.”
“Where you realize the song is about something else,” says Lowery . “And that’s actually what I’m borrowing from with that song, cause I’m not giving it away until the third verse.”
Cracker’s second album Kerosene Hat was its biggest seller. By 1999, Lowery’s earlier band Camper Van Beethoven had reformed, and both bands would play the same show, and over time, the same band members would actually play as the two different bands.
They still tour that way today, and Cracker has now released nine albums. David Lowery has also been instrumental in the successful execution of a $43 million class action lawsuit against Spotify, claiming that the streaming service did not secure copyrights for much of the material they stream – winning a victory for musicians who were losing revenue from the service.
