more Cowbelle

Time to resume regular programming around here.

To kick off summer (summer in Oregon really doesn’t start till early-mid July, folks) I bring you a slew of free music courtesy of Suburban Home Records. If you’re not familiar with Suburban Home (SH), you should remedy that. They do a stellar job of supporting/promoting a bunch of talented folks including Austin Lucas, Micah Schnabel, Tim Barry, Drag the River, and now Portland’s own I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House (SOB). My favorite SH feature – they send you custom beer cozies with album orders.

They also periodically create a mix tape and encourage people to share them. Each is inspired by a SH artist and includes both new and established bands all in the name of being “your friend through music.” This week they released Volume 5, inspired by SOB. You can download the whole thing (30 tracks) here.

If you’re not yet familiar with SOB,you are likely to react to the band the way you reacted to their name — you’ll either find them profoundly awesome or moderately offensive. Count me in with the former.  SOB is not easy listening, but they are a whole bunch of whiskey-fueled fun. I’ve had the chance to see a whole bunch of these guys  in the last six months or so as they prepped their first album in three years and played a handful of reunion shows and lead singer Michael Dean Damron continues to do a ton of solo shows. They’ve shared the bill with the likes of Tim Barry, Micah Schnabel, Kasey Anderson, Matthew Ryan, Drag the River and Alexander Hudjohn.

You can stream the new SOB album, The Sounds of Dying, here and pre-order it here to get an instant download and beer cozie. Here are some blurry shots of Mike D and my one-time harmonica teacher David Lipkind at some recent shows.

I also have hard copies of SH Mix Tapes Vol 2 (inspired by Micah Schnabel) and Vol 3 (Look Mexico) to share. Email me at cowbelle78@gmail.com if you want a copy.