Even “Long After The Fire”, Peterson and Cowsill are finding sparks in the Americana embers.
Husband and wife duo Vicki Peterson, of The Bangles fame, and John Cowsill, drummer for The Beach Boys and member of The Cowsills, have teamed up to bring a country-tinged twelve-track debut album, as they find their way into the world of Americana on “Long After The Fire”.
With a wealth of musical experience between them from a career of pop hits spanning from the 60s and into the 90s, “Long After The Fire” has decades of musical moments dotted across it. With tracks written by Cowsill’s late brothers, and lead single “Is Anybody Here” originally recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, “Long After The Fire” feels like a communal effort – one with musical history, family ties, and a deep love for Americana tying it all together.
Kicking off with “The Fool Is The Last One To Know”, Cowsill’s vocals are as strong as ever, with Peterson adding a country-style harmony on the rock n’ roll leaning track. The rollicking melody evolves into an electric guitar solo that sends the collection off to a very good start and immediately into the world of Americana. Moving into ‘Vagabond’, we’re sent way out west as pedal steel across the track bends the melody to reflect the lyrics of someone “drifting like a rumbling stone” – it’s classic country.
Peterson finds her vocal debut on “Come To Me”, a sweet, longing love song with rolling percussion that feels very ‘60s. Switching up from the preceding tracks, the pair’s vocals lift with an authoritative power that evolves into a slightly heavier rock style, an almost unexpectedly striking guitar solo closes out the track and demonstrates that Peterson and Cowsill are prepared to explore more than one corner of the Americana genre.
With a couple of the other songs on “Long After The Fire” following this ’60s-inspired formula, a nostalgic edge is brought to the record, calling back to the days of the worldwide sensation family band, The Cowsills. It’s proof that the duo knows what works well, as we move into “You In My Mind”, it leaves the impression of a song that’s been around for a few decades and already developed that comforting sonic familiarity.
If one track was to be a step too far, the heaviness of “Sound on Sound” feels a little out of place. It’s a confident rock-leaning track but one that sits a bit out of place in the middle of the album, perhaps a good indicator of the versatility we could see in the future from the duo. In contrast, “A Thousand Times” feels decorated with Bakersfield rhinestones and rough-edged guitar, a sound that allows the pair’s harmonies to really shine – Cowsill sounds uncannily Californian as he sings lines like “I told you no a thousand times” and “when it comes to love, I learnt my lesson well”. This is a track laced with sunshine and sewn together with pedal steel – an album favourite, for sure.
Closing the twelve-track collection with the western style “Ol’ Timeless”, Peterson and Cowsill have shown that even with a few years’ break, and even “Long After The Fire”, all it can take is finding the right person with the right to get some sparks flying again.
