Musicians ain't normal.
Maybe it's the years spent locked alone in a room dialoguing with an instrument. Maybe it's the strange motivation that drives someone to take a stage and risk making a huge mistake in front of hundreds or thousands of strangers.
Whatever it is that sets them apart, musicians often make decisions that are as creative as their music (i.e., weird). A case in point: Pinkard & Bowden. After years of racking up credits that most musicians only dream about, Sandy Pinkard and Richard Bowden took the next illogical step: they went into comedy.
And while it's not quite as strange as the lead story in last weeks edition of the National Enquirer, the Pinkard & Bowden tale has a surprising outcome. They've now been signed to the Nashville division of Warner Bros. over fifteen years -- longer than any other act.
"We have that distinction, dubious as it is, "says Pinkard. Bowden deadpans, "You can call us The Dubious Brothers."
Actually, you can call them x-rated in their latest Warner offering, Cousins Cattle & Other Love Stories.. A mere glance at titles like "C_L_i_T. (Cajuns Living in Tennessee)," "Sexual Harrasser" and "Since My Baby Turned Gay" provides quick insight into the album's direction. A blend of studio tracks and a live Pinkard & Bowden set (recorded at the Comedy Zone in Memphis), Cousins... might be marketed from Music City, but it's hardly aimed at the standard country crowd.
"We're playing for people that specifically go to venues to laugh," explains Pinkard. "The parking lots of our shows are filled with 'Beamers' and 4 wheel drive vehicles, and we're still doin' jokes about dogs and hogs and cows -- a lot of bestiality in our shows. But at the same time, we're puttin' some new age shit on 'em, too. We got some depth to our show. Its not just cornholin' and stuff like that."
And it ain't just country, either. In fact, contrary to three previous albums, Cousins contains not a single satire on country songs. Instead, the duo parodies Eric Clapton, as "Cocaine" becomes "Propane"; and Tom Petty, as "Free Fallin"' becomes "Freeloadin'." and P & B just outright attack the Beach Boys in "It's Redundant." These are mixed with some very side-splitting originals.
The progression from country to rock is a natural one for Pinkard & Bowden, a sort of return to roots. Bowden, a native of Linden, Texas, grew up with Don Henley. The two of them formed a group called Shiloh, produced in Los Angeles by Kenny Rogers in the early '70s. When the group disbanded, Bowden and Henley became a part of Linda Ronstadt's backup band, where Henley met Glenn Frey, leading to the formation of The Eagles.
In the meantime, Bowden and fellow Ronstadt sideman Sneaky Pete (formerly with The Flying Burrito Brothers) created their own band, Cold Steel, for a short period of time, releasing a European album on Ariola records. After the death of legendary guitarist Clarence White, Richard moved into the camp of ex- Byrd Roger McGuinn for one CBS album (Roger McGuinn & Band) and two years touring. As McGuinn joined Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, Richard moved on to tour with Johnny Rivers and Dan Fogelberg, then formed another group, Blue Steel, that recorded two albums (Infinity Rec. & Electra/Asylum Rec.) and opened for the Eagles' "Long Run Tour" in 1980. Bowdens' L.A. and Nashville recording session contributions can be found on albums by Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Commander Cody, Doug Kershaw & Johnny Rodriguez.
Pinkard, on the other hand, started out in Gueydan, Louisiana. After a stint with the Air Force, he traveled to California, where he worked with Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and with Cat Mother and The All Night News Boys (a band that had previously recorded with some unknown producer named Jimi Hendrix).
Pinkard's personal odyssey returned him to the South, and led to a retirement from the music business in 1973. But after meeting John Anderson at a Fort Worth rodeo in 1975, Pinkard got back into music, this time putting all the pieces together as a songwriter. He secured cuts by John, Cher, Ray Charles, Andy Williams, Tanya Tucker, Glen Campbell and Brenda Lee, among others, plus four #1 country records: "Coca Cola Cowboy," by Mel 'Tillis; "You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma," by David Frizell & Shelly West; "Blessed are the Believers," by Anne Murray; and "I Can Tell By The Way You Dance," by Vern Gosdin.
Record producer Jim Ed Norman introduced Pinkard to Bowden when both ended up in Nashville in the early '80s. They met at the Rock & Roll Hotel with every intention of writing serious material. Instead, they discovered they had a common knack for writing "stupid" songs, and decided to work up a 30 minute act. It went over so well that they ended up with a recording contract, and dates at comedy clubs like the Punch Line, in San Francisco; and Catch A Rising Star, in New York. Since then, with numerous cable and a few network TV appearances, coupled with intense morning radio activity, they have become one of the biggest draws on the nations comedy club circuit.
P & B carved out their niche initially with unique country satires; "Blue Hairs Drivin' In My Lane" (originally "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain), "Mama She's Lazy" (originally Mama He's Crazy) and "Somebody Done Somebody's Song Wrong" (originally "Hey, Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"). "Help Me Make It Through The Yard", from the first album, has become a radio classic.
Those kinds of songs are still a part of the Pinkard & Bowden set. Some of their latest country send-ups include "Wind Beneath My Sheets", a breezy re-write of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Friends In Crawl Spaces", a Jeffrey Dahmer version of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places."
But P & B have also progressed as comedians. By making regular appearances on the morning shows (such as Mark & Brian - L. A., Bob & Tom - Indianapolis, and John Boy & Billy - Charlotte) and many other album oriented rock stations to promote their dates, they've widened their audience, leading to more rock & roll satires in their show. With the addition of a drummer, and a trove of material from their three previous Warner albums (Writers In Disguise '83, PG-13 '85, and Live In Front Of A Bunch Of Dickheads '89), Pinkard & Bowden can get laughs for their lyrical parodies while staying true to the music.
Cousins, Cattle and Other Love Stories combines P & B's raunchy live show with a softened-but-still-risque series of studio cuts. "We gave radio something they can play," explains Bowden, "as well as something that they can't."
Cousins runs the topical gamut from dyslexia to the furniture at Graceland, with a touch of irony thrown in. The lead track, "Censor Us" makes a reference to record-labeling leader Tipper Gore, whose husband, incidentally, became vice president just weeks after the album reached the marketplace.
Cousins was followed in '93 by the compilation album, "Gettin' Stupid", marketed only on television by Cornerstone Promotions in Libertyville, IL. Unlike most TV ad campaigns that are aired for a short time and then gone, "Gettin' Stupid" commercials continue to run due to the steady sales they produce, and has lately been said to be "the one that won't go away" by Cornerstone Exec. Fred Kier. Of course, the material on "Gettin' Stupid" is "TV friendly" and draws most of it's material from the first two albums. However, there are a few "singles" on it that were never on disc before. So far, Pinkard and Bowden have been unable to convince Cornerstone to put out a "Gettin' Filthy" compilation.
And if listeners get offended by P & B's on-stage references to genitals, or their liberal use of colorful slang, that's just fine with these two musicians. "We want people to be able to laugh at the things that are unmentionable" says Pinkard. "We're like psychologists, in a way, for the American people. We're an outlet for 'em -- that's what this comedy is all about, gallows humor particularly. The one thing we can't afford to be is forgettable..."
Pinkard & Bowden aren't forgettable, by any stretch of the imagination. Probably because they ain't normal.
PINKARD & BOWDEN
THE LITTLE BOW-PINK CO.
WORLD
HEADQUARTERS
P. O. BOX 1101
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Copyright© 1998 The Little Bow-Pink Company