Photo credit; Danny Clinch
The Cowsills Announce First New Music In 30 Years With New Album “Rhythm of The World” Out September 30
Featuring 11 Brand New Songs Written By The Band
The Cowsills, the hit family singing group of the 60s, have announced a new album Rhythm Of The World, their first new music in nearly 30 years, which will be released on September 30 via Omnivore Recordings. They have also shared the title track which is available to listen to now.
Starting in 1965 as a regional act from Newport, Rhode Island, The Cowsills, who were composed of six siblings, was “founded” by Joda Records owners Danny Sims and reggae/pop singer Johnny Nash (“I Can See Clearly Now”), whom they recorded a handful of singles before signing to MGM Records in 1967. At this point, the group’s mother Barbara and young sister Susan joined the act and they were awarded a Gold record for over one million copies sold of their very first single for MGM, the sublime, “The Rain, The Park & Other Things.” This began a series of chart records that dominated the Top 40 for the next three years. Among the classic Cowsills recordings are “We Can Fly,” “Indian Lake,” “Hair” (from the rock musical Hair), and “Love American Style” (the theme song from the popular ABC-TV show of the same name).
The group recorded and charted with five successful albums during this time period. They had their own comic book published in 1968, and their story was even the inspiration for the popular 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family. They remained a prosperous touring attraction up through 1972.
In 2011, SHOWTIME released Louise Palanker's documentary Family Band: The Cowsills Story, which chronicled their rise and fall from stardom. Now, nearly 30 years after their last recordings as a group, The Cowsills are returning with new music for the new world!
“When we decided to record an album, since we had written 11 songs, we opened up a donor campaign with Pledge Music and set our goal and went down the funding path,” explains Bob Cowsill of the inception of the album.
“Pledge Music went bankrupt with everyone's money and nobody got a dime. At the same time, Dr. Rock Positano , who became our Executive Producer, is standing on Gull Rock Island in Newport, Rhode Island staring across at the white church steeple we all know so well there and says to his assistant, ‘I need to get a hold of The Cowsills.’ Rock entered our lives, and he backed us, our campaign, our music, our family group, and told us ‘I'm in it to win it.’ With that we embarked upon a new and great relationship and we have not looked back since.”
“With a few exceptions we co-wrote the 11 songs for Rhythm Of The World with each other during our Happy Together summer tour. We wrote them in our hotel rooms on our tour bus and in our dressing rooms. From Howard Kaylan’s (The Turtles) exuberant plea with the audience each night of the tour giving us inspiration for ‘Ya Gotta Get Up!’ to ‘Katrina’ (the first-person account of our brother Barry's death during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans) and all the songs in between, we use melody and harmony to bring some love and the hope of peace to the world. Frank Filipetti was our mix engineer and Greg Calbi mastered it (Rock's doing) so these songs have passed through the hands and ears of two of the best. Gail Marowitz and Danny Clinch teamed up for a great cover and packaging and with the Omnivore blessing, Rhythm Of The World is now ready for prime time! We are thrilled to be here to claim our legacy and share our music!!!”
The Cowsills will wrap up the Happy Together Tour (with The Turtles, The Association, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, and the Vogues) at the end of the month, with their own headline show to look forward to on September 10 at The Cutting Room in New York City.