Bill Cowsill & The Blue Shadows: “Deliver Me”

Bill Cowsill’s career in music began at a young age as a member of the family band The Cowsills and took him on a crooked journey that included some great alt-country music in the short-lived 1990’s band The Blue Shadows.

One of the wonderful alt-country bands from the 1990s that never achieved the success they deserved is The Blue Shadows. Unlike many bands starting out, though, The Blue Shadows was not just a group of young musicians. The Canadian band featured lead harmonies by Jeffrey Hatcher and Bill Cowsill, a former member of the 1960s family group The Cowsills.

Bill Cowsill, born in Rhode Island on January 9, 1948, made a lot of people happy with the music he created throughout his life, but his own life and career involved a lot of bouncing around and difficult roads. As lead singer and guitarist for The Cowsills, he recorded a number of popular songs. The band became the foundation for the TV series The Partridge Family, with Bill and his brother Bob being the inspiration for the character Keith Partridge, played by David Cassidy. But during his youth with the band, Bill and other family members struggled under the abuse of their father, who was also the band’s manager.

After leaving The Cowsills after a fight with his father, Cowsill moved around between a solo career, playing bars, reunions with The Cowsills, and various short-lived bands in Canada. One of those bands was The Blue Shadows, formed in 1992 before ending in 1996, largely due to Cowsill’s struggles with his long-term addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The Blue Shadows featured Cowsill, Jeffrey Hatcher, J.B. “Jay” Johnson, Barry Muir, and band co-founder Elmer Spanier (who left while the band was making its first album). Their first album On the Floor of Heaven, released in 1993, was certified gold in Canada but failed to make a big splash in the U.S. due to Sony’s decision not to release it there at the time. The band followed that album with Lucky to Me in 1995. And that was it for the band.

One of my favorite tracks by The Blue Shadows is “Deliver Me” from On the Floor of Heaven. In the song, written by Hatcher, the singer pleads with a lost love. On the road, the singer faces loneliness and regret. He recalls leaving his love and asks her to deliver the singer “from this night.”

The song features Everly Brothers type harmonies and jangling guitars that makes it sound like a lost song from The Jayhawks, another 90’s era alt-country band (albeit one that found more success and longevity). Check it out.

The Blue Shadows were both ahead of its time and behind the times. It preceded the success of alt-country bands like Whiskeytown (whose major label debut would be in 1997) while also featuring Byrds-like harmonies (and Hatcher’s Rickenbacker guitar) that echoed sounds from the 1960s. On the Floor of Heaven was eventually released in a Deluxe version in the U.S. in 2010.

Following the demise of The Blue Shadows, Cowsill continued to work in the music industry and make music, including forming another band, The Co-Dependents. Cowsill also kicked his addictions not long after The Blue Shadows had ended.

Despite failing health starting in 2004, Cowsill continued making music as he did all his life. He passed away on February 18, 2006 at the age of 58 at his home in Calgary. On that date, his former family band members of The Cowsills were attending a memorial for Cowsill’s brother Barry, who had died in New Orleans from drowning after Hurricane Katrina.

But back in the 1990s, before failing to get the international record deal with The Blue Shadows, Cowsill could have believed in the possibility of impeding success. Maybe he would get struck by lightening a second time since recording with his family.

Below, The Blue Shadows perform “Deliver Me” on a truck bed on the streets of Vancouver outside A&B Sound on August 7, 1993. As Cowsill and Hatcher sing the lines “How much longer / Could it be ’til it comes tumbling down,” you can still hear the hope in their beautiful voices, and Cowsill’s dedication to his art that remained until he died.

What is your favorite song feature Bill Cowsill? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    How Can a Poor Man On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana. The hurricane and its after effects devastated the city and surrounding areas along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

    The following year, Bruce Springsteen visited New Orleans and performed his version of the song “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live.” He used the first verse from the original by Blind Alfred Reed. But then he added three new verses that focused on the situation in New Orleans.

    Springsteen’s lyrics criticize the federal response to the emergency, invoking President George W. Bush‘s trip to the area: “He took a look around, gave a little pep talk, said ‘I’m with you’ then he took a little walk.” At his performance in New Orleans, he introduced the song with a reference to the “Bystander-in-Chief.”

    Springsteen released his version of “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” on We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (American Land Edition) (2006). Below is the original version of the song by Blind Alfred Reed, who wrote “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” in response to the Great Depression: “When we pay our grocery bill,/ We just feel like making our will.”

    Reed, who lived from 1880 to 1956, recorded his version in New York City on December 4, 1929, less than two months after the stock market crash. Check it out.

    Ry Cooder also recorded a variation on Reed’s original version, releasing it on his self-titled album in 1970. Musically, one can hear how Cooder’s version apparently influenced Springsteen’s version.

    Check out this video of Cooder’s 1987 performance of “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” at The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California.

    Unfortunately, it seems like we will always need songs like these. Fortunately, we have artists like Reed, Cooder, and Springsteen to keep challenging us.

    Photo of Hurricane Katrina via NASA (Public Domain). Leave your two cents in the comments.

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