New Bluegrass: John Cowan's New Tattoo

I remember watching Clint Back or some such pop country guys on TV in concert. The songs seemed cheesy and his image seemed borrowed—like the guy was an actor in a film about a country singer. However, he was surrounded by some incredible musicians. When they were allowed to play above the pop soup background, you could tell that they had the chops. Yet, soup background is what you want if they show is all about the pop country idol frontman.

There’s no pop sound on John Cowan’s New Tattoo. Cowan is the frontman, but the whole band get to shine. Cowan’s voice comes out of pure Nashville country, but the treatment here by his band reaches back to his New Grass Revival days. The boys lend a Ricky Skaggs bluegrass warmth with Bela Fleck-like banjo leads like what Ryan Shupe & the Rubber Band are doing.

Elsewhere, it’s no surprise to find Darrell Scott lending his songwriting talents here, because Cowan and band have that Scott-like groove which blends a blues-funk-rock into country-influenced rock. You can’t hear the funk anymore, but it’s left an indelible stamp on the country.

While the songs on New Tattoo are mostly covers, Cowan truly sounds as if he’s made the songs his own (much in the way this month’s feature artist, John Hammond, has done with the blues). Yet, the talking point of the album is an original song buried as the last track, “Drown.”

Cowritten with Darrell Scott, the song tells the story of Cowan’s own experience of being sexually molested as a child. The song is a stylistic departure, which is a disappointment, in that the melodramatic piano-led tune feels forced.

However, there’s nothing false about the story; it’s not a conjured-up tension heard in the painful lyric. The piano is ornamented later in the song by a toy piano, emphasizing the innocence lost.

Cowan gives voice to the pain of child abuse, and the difficulty a survivor feels in the aftermath for years to come. Plus, rarely do we hear males talking about their molestation experience; Cowan may give other men and boy courage to speak about what was done to them.

Thank you to John Cowan and Pinecastle Records for the review copy.