_This started as a comment replying to a comment on my last post, which mentioned that the *Jason & the Scorchers* sample i'd posted sounded rather rockabilly._There tends to be a strong rockabilly element in cowpunk, both because of a certain affinity of attitude, and because part of cowpunk is shucking the Nashville slickness and getting back to the roots of country, where it was difficult to tell who was country and who was rockabilly - consider that Carl Perkins, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash (the "million dollar qiuntet") all started out at Sun studios at the same time. Conway Twitty had rockabilly tendencies in his early days. Waylon Jennings played bass for Buddy Hollie and was supposed to be on that plane._Bill Davis_, of New Orleans' *Dash Rip Rock*, the first cowpunk act i encountered, once said he hoped nobody was getting hurt in the mosh pit one particularly rowdy night, then paused, and said "...'course, we're one of the very few country bands that *has* a mosh pit..."Mojo Nixon's album *Otis* features what he referred to at the time as a "cowpunk supergroup" - Mojo, John Doe, (the late) Country Dick Montana from the Beat Farmers, Bill from DRR and Jason. (I remember hearing some dumb song about racing bigfoot trucks one day and suddenly realising that that was Bill on lead guitar, Jason on backing vocals and Mojo singing lead...)Herewith some clips from DRR songs (taken from their live album, *Boiled Alive* - OP "*but available used*":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000004AUG/mikewebersweberw)..."":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000004AUG/mikewebersweberwFirst a "*gen-you-wine classic of ole-timey country music*":http://electronictiger.com/avail/jam.mp3, given a cowpunk twist. (Another from the same time and school of music that they always had fun with was *I Saw the Light*)As i said, a number of country stars started out as fairly rockabilly, and Bill and Hokey have a fondness for that period; herewith "*an early George Jones tune*":http://electronictiger.com/avail/lightning.mp3.Now a DRR original. Back in December '53 - Christmas Eve, as a matter of fact, "The Late Great Johnny Ace", as _Paul Simon_ referred to him once, backstage at a concert, either (depending on what story you find most plausible or choose to believe) [1] shot himself in the head playing Russian roulette, [2] got caught cheating in a poker game, or [3] was murdered by a hit man sent by the record label to warn R&B stars about getting uppity. (I find [2} most plausible, but i love the sheer bizarro factor of [3].)So there's a Dash "*song about Johnny Ace*":http://electronictiger.com/avail/ace.mp3, and about another Louisiana icon, Blaze Starr, he stripper who was the Governor's girlfriend.

You may be aware of *Fred leBlanc* and the band *Cowboy Mouth* - the band's name comes from the quote from a Sam Shepard play in this song "...a rock'n'roll Jesus with a cowby mouth..."; Fred was DRR's drummer for several years, and he and/or Bill wrote a lot of songs. (The drummer on this album is Chris "Lucky Dog" Luckette, who was Fred's emntor when he was starting out as a drummer - when Lucky Dog quit, his replacement "Baby Insane" [whose real name i've forgotten] in turn had been Fred's protege/student.

And, finally, the aort of thing that DRR were famous for live and sometimes got letters from lawyers about. (Once they got letters from lawyers for *REM* and *Mr Rogers* on the same day...)Not telling you in advance "*what song this is*":http://electronictiger.com/avail/dawn.mp3, but (A) i just about guarantee you'll recognise it, and (B) a piss take on this one was overlong in coming, in my opinion. (There is no fade-in on this clip, BTW - it starts out at max volume.)(Guitar/lead vocal - *Bill Davis* Bass/backing vocals - Ned "Hokey" Hickel Drums/backing vocals - Chris "Lucky Dog" Luckette Recorded direct to R-DAT at shows in Dallas, Houston and Baton Rouge)