Saturday, July 26th at 9:00 pm on the Biltmore Ave. Stage
“...on a bad night they’ll tear the roof off the joint and on a good night, they’ll save your soul.”
— Cake Magazine
Cowboy Mouth is pure New Orleans rock n’ roll. Performing over 150 shows a year, releasing nearly a dozen records, and featured on TV shows and radio stations everywhere, Cowboy Mouth has been seen and heard by millions of fans worldwide. For more than 15 years, the members of Cowboy Mouth have embraced, embodied, preached and shouted at the top of their lungs the joys of being alive, as well as of their hometown, sharing a slice of Mardi Gras heaven with fans around the world.
As frontman Fred LeBlanc has said,"If The Neville Brothers and The Clash had a baby, it would be Cowboy Mouth.” Taking their name from a Sam Shephard play, the band’s 11 album releases include two records on MCA, one on Atlantic and several on their own Cowboy Mouth Records label. So far, the band has enjoyed domestic sales of over 450,000 units, according to Soundscan.
But the album figures pale in comparison to the number of tickets the band sells to their live events. Cowboy Mouth shows are legendary, and have been witnessed by more than 8 million fans to date. Always on the road, they’ve toured several times with their friends in Hootie and the Blowfish, Bare Naked Ladies, Sister Hazel and Better Then Ezra.
Crowd participation is a must at a Cowboy Mouth show. Led by Fred’s larger-than-life presence, the band’s performances are super high-energy and extraordinarily intense, usually leaving audiences as drenched and spent as the band. Cowboy Mouth fans range from ages five to age eighty-five, but they have one thing in common - as Fred confides to the audience, “Cowboy Mouth is about pretending that you’re five years old, naked as a jaybird and about to turn the hose on your parents, and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”
A Cowboy Mouth show is always full of surprises, and have included guest appearances from Steve Van Zandt (Bruce Springsteen), Rob Thomas (MB20), John Popper (Blues Travelers), Art Neville, Johnnie Johnson (Chuck Berry’s piano player), Kyle Turley, and Tom Arnold (Best Damn Sports Show), to name a few. Their audience stretches from the festivals and colleges to the clubs and theaters they headline around the country.
The band has also made several film and television appearances, including the Steven Soderburgh film “The Underneath,” MTV and VH1, Regis and Kelly, Ellen, and The Late Show with Craig Kilborn.
The band is led by Fred LeBlanc, Cowboy Mouth’s maniacal frontman/drummer/lead singer (think the Tasmanian Devil playing drums like Keith Moon with a voice like Bo Diddley). In the early ‘90s, Fred helped rewrite the definition of southern rock ‘n’ roll bad boys while raising hell and making indie records with Dash Rip Rock. After four years with Dash Rip Rock, Fred formed Cowboy Mouth with lead guitarist and vocalist John Thomas Griffith. Also an accomplished producer, Fred mixed the band’s first two studio recordings and also earned a gold record for producing Deadeye Dick hit song from the movie ‘Dumb And Dumber’, ‘New Age Girl.’
John Thomas Griffith, (the Griff), on lead guitar/vocals, had been friends with Fred for years before the two talked about forming Cowboy Mouth together. As the lead singer of ‘80s band The Red Rockers, Griff had a top-selling album on Columbia Records. Their hit song “China” was played in heavy rotation on MTV, and is still played on the radio today. Griff has opened on tour with bands like The Go-Gos and U2, and was recently inducted into the Texas Guitar Players’ Hall of Fame.
The band’s rhythm guitarist Jonathan “JP” Pretus....
Bassist Regina Zernay, the former bass player for Dreamworks/Megatronic band Halfcocked, was fronting her own band, Méchant, when she met Cowboy Mouth. Based on Los Angeles, she’s played and recorded with over a half dozen local Southern California bands, including Big Violin (whose music was featured on The Real World), Red Delicious, and Jam Balaya (musical guests on two episodes of the TV show Half & Half).
Cowboy Mouth has just released a brand new live DVD, called “The Name of the Band is Cowboy Mouth.” Shot at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, it’s one of Cowboy Mouth’s finest performances, capturing the excitement, energy, and top-notch musicianship of their live show in front of a thousand screaming fans. The band has also started recording material for their next CD, due out early next year.