NEW ORLEANS LEGENDS COWBOY MOUTH
CELEBRATE 30 YEARS AND OVER 3,500 SHOWS
The rock and roll road life is a hard and unforgiving mistress. Onstage giving it all you’ve got night after night, eating double Baconaters way too often, riding in a van anywhere from two to sixteen hours at a stretch. Most who try this line of work barely get their feet wet before running home to mommy, and those who actually do such a life for years often come home shells of themselves. HOWEVER… there are the grand road dog exceptions, men unexplainable by science, like Fred LeBlanc, who for 30 years (you heard me) has been the drummer, lead singer, Type Triple-A frontman, evangelist, drill sergeant and designated crowd surfer for Cowboy Mouth, one of the most powerful, durable, and consistently entertaining rock and roll bands in the world. They’ve been in the saddle for thirty years, have played over 3,500 shows, and Fred, John, Brian, and Mike have not withered like saplings; they’re mighty oaks now.
It has been said that on a bad night Cowboy Mouth can do little more than blowing the roof off, and on a good night they’ll save your soul. That’s as true in 2020 as it was when they first burst out of New Orleans in 1990 and tickled the Top 40 with “Jenny Says”. With Fred’s drums front and center, he summons the breath and power to both beat the holy hell out of the skins with a totally credible swinging rock and roll groove, while simultaneously roaring full-chested barrelhouse vocals like a hybrid of Bruce Springsteen and Vince Lombardi, punctuating his delivery with bellows of “are you WITH MEEEE?!?!” It’s enough of a compliment simply to say that the rest of the band are themselves powerful enough to both back up and indeed spur on such a dynamic larger-than-life personality as Fred LeBlanc. As great as their records are, the ferocious live show must be seen to fully experience the undying appeal that is Cowboy Mouth.
Fred doesn’t mince words. When asked the secret to the band’s longevity and completely constant roadwork, “bullheaded tenacity and determination”, he says, “with a pretty healthy dose of faith in there.” Good things to have, not to mention also being able to stride onstage in front of a sold-out crowd and beat the shit out of them, 3,500 times.
Showmanship is fine but there has to be songwriting to back it up, which they have, in spades. When queried about his favorite CM chestnuts, Fred reflects and says, “Of course, ‘Jenny Says’ is good, especially the live version. I like ‘Love of My Life, “How do you Tell Someone?’, ‘Disconnected’, ‘Tell the Girls’, and this new one called ‘Broken Up’ I like a lot. But,” he adds, “I don’t really think about my songs very much.” Said the man who rattled off six tunes off the top of his head.
With the band having the drum throne occupied by a maniac, Matt Jones and John Griffith have resolutely stepped up to that energy and are guitarists with facility in rock, soul, and country, interplay, and good old out-of-control rave-ups when the show calls for it. Brian Broussard has been long acknowledged as brilliant for being a bass player who can groove with Fred to the point of telepathy.
Fred returns to talk of faith, saying, “you know, it’s the belief in what we do. A lot of people used to call me the rock and roll evangelist, that kind of thing. You know, leaving a Cowboy Mouth show means feeling 100 times better than when you first came in!”
