Check out what others have to say about Interstate Cowboy!
 

MIDWEST RECORD – CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 18, 2008

INTERSTATE COWBOY/There’s a Road:  As much as we wish the gal on the cover was part of the band, this crew has enough chops that you’re willing to let them slide.  This is one of those records that comes out of nowhere, like Chris Thomas’s Louis Prima tribute, and just stops you in your tracks.  Original Americana/western swing with a flair and flavor that makes you wonder how and why this is flying so low under the radar, it’s music from the heart with heart that defies and defines the new directions for the genre.  A tasty set of real music, it’s a hard to resist charmer that will be an iPod staple in no time no matter how small your internal memory is.  Hot stuff. (Ranch Ruckus) – Chris Spector 

 WQNR Radio - 3/17/08 

"In the tradition of Bob Wills, this Colorado Western Swing band does great justice to Duke Ellington’s classic."

Rambles.NET
Review by Jerome Clark
26 April 2008

Interstate Cowboy, There's a Road
(Ranch Ruckus, 2007)

Though the second of Interstate Cowboy's releases, There's a Road is the first to pass my way. I hadn't heard of the band until a review copy showed up in my mail not long ago. As I scrutinized the cover, I expected either a straight-ahead Western swing outfit or -- in the fashion of some Texas groups -- a guitar-rock band showcasing gimmicky Western imagery. As I learned soon enough, not exactly.

It turns out the five-man Interstate Cowboy's sound synthesizes popular and vernacular styles, incorporating or integrating rock, reggae, folk, jazz, swing and classic pop at various points. Ordinarily, when I hear somebody speak of "country-western music," I deduce he or she isn't much attuned to country music and thus knows no better than to tag it with a name long discarded by fans and musicians. This, however, might properly be called country-western since Western imagery is integral to many of the songs, the nine originals composed by presumptive band-leader Tim Champlin. On the other hand, the problem in this instance might be the "country" part of the equation. Much of this album doesn't sound country at all, though mainstream country radio would surely be a whole lot more endurable if it elected to air Interstate Cowboy music. Fat chance, sadly.

Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, the band boasts an impressive lineup that consists of guitarist/mandolinist Grant Gordy (sometime David Grisman stagemate), upright-bassist Gene Libbea (formerly of the Nashville Bluegrass Band) and steel guitarist Dick Meis (who's played in the bands of Roger Miller, Loretta Lynn and other Nashville notables). Drummer Oscar Dezoto brings an assured light touch to the job.

Champlin, a guitar player who sings in an easy-on-the-ears tenor, carries with him an assortment of tuneful, instantly charming originals. They're so good that it's hard to pick out favorites. It's not just those wonderful poppy melodies, either. Champlin tells interesting stories, nearly always from an unexpected point of view, and peppers them with quirky insights. If a Nashville hack could only produce dreck under the title "The American Way," Champlin compresses a whole short story into a wry few verses (sung with guest vocalist Mary Buirgy) about a young couple who contemplate marriage while entertaining conflicting romantic -- almost certainly irreconcilable -- illusions about each other. The tune sprints along so cheerfully, though, you'll have to listen to the words to figure out that disaster and heartache may be impending.

Curiously, as There's a Road progresses, it moves inexorably into jazz, with splendidly arranged covers of standards such as "Frankie & Johnny," "Old Cowhand," "Lady Be Good" and "Take the A Train." Here we enter small-band Western-swing territory and leave this particular listener wanting more. Not, let us be clear, that anything that's preceded it has been less than blissful. Whatever these guys are doing -- ultimately, putting together found music in a way that's idiosyncratically their own and making it almost ridiculously accessible -- I will be a happy listener indeed if they keep doing it.—

Dan Willging (Denver, CO)
Dirty Linen The Magazine of Folk and World Music http://www.dirtylinen.com

From a bit north of Austin is Northern Colorado’s Interstate Cowboy, which also takes an original approach to its music, though not quite as quirky as the Sapphires’. Instrumentally, the band is stocked to the gills with two-time Grammy winner/Nashville Bluegrass Band alum Gene Libbea (bass, piano), ex-Nashville session vet Dick Meis (pedal steel guitar), and the talented, young Grant Gordy (guitar, mandolin). Frontman/guitarist Tim Champlin wrote nine of these baker’s dozen tunes, ranging from the groove-fueled, Americana-ish “I Got Nothin’ ” and the guitar-cranked “Everytime She Makes a Mistake” to cutesy guy-and-gal duet “The American Way” and the Latin-tinged “Rio Grande Lament.” “No Place Like Home” provides interesting social commentary on small-town life. A single mother returns to her former hometown, where it doesn’t take three jobs to make ends meet and her kids can make the team.
While Champlin’s originals are an essential part of Interstate Cowboy, another key ingredient is the group’s predilection to romp on jazz standards “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Lady Be Good,” showcasing Gordy’s amazing, intricate fretwork. Overall, there’s a relaxed tone to the proceedings and a warm, floating vibe provided by both Meis and Gordy. As the name suggests, Interstate Cowboy never stays at any mile marker for too long.
 

Interstate Cowboy: There’s a Road
Ranch Ruckus RRR 2007
Format: CD

On their website, Interstate Cowboy describes their music as "Great Western Swing, Americana, and Rockabilly." While the band’s music does contain all of those elements, the description doesn’t capture how original they are. Tim Champlin, the band’s lead singer and songwriter, combines American roots music in surprising ways, evoking Bob Wills one moment, Buck Owens the next, then Little Feat, yet never pinning himself down to anything but writing a good song. The rest of the band is rock-solid, especially pedal-steel player Dick Meis and guitarist Grant Gordy, who’s learned a few things from Eldon Shamblin (Wills’s great guitarist) and Wes Montgomery. The band’s instrumental version of the Gershwins’ "Lady Be Good" is full of wit and fire, and I like to think Johnny Mercer would have enjoyed their turn on his "I’m an Old Cowhand." Champlin can write a traditional country song with the best of them, but his most original tunes ("I Got Nothin’," "There’s a Road") are tougher to peg -- and, once you’ve heard them, even tougher to get out of your head. The recording is admirably clean, spacious, and dynamic. Next time around, trimming a little fat (do we really need another rendition of "Frankie & Johnny"?) will make for a more consistent disc….Joseph Taylor