ARE YOU WITH ME? If I've heard these words once, I've heard them a thousand times, but Friday at the Hard Rock Cafe, for some reason, they didn't seem like icepicks being shoved through my ears and into my brain. I guess it was because of what Fred Blanc - drummer/frontman - was referring to. Positive thinking, my friends. A powerful foundation for a powerful band.

Cowboy Mouth hails from the Big Easy, New O'leans, Louisiana. It wouldn't take you long to figure that out either. Their music is a hearty gumbo of many styles and moods. From backwoods country to Irish folk to rockabilly to hard rock, Cowboy Mouth blends them all together, sometimes within the same song. All of this music is presented with a determined attitude, which cuts right through to the audience.

I was very excited about the show because I have seen the band before and was blown away. At the 1996 Jazz Fest, Cowboy Mouth had thousands of fans in their hands and took them where they wanted to go. Unfortunately, this night, it was not as mystical. Was it because we weren't standing on sacred voodoo ground? Possibly. Was it because the band was sleepy? Nah. How about the energy from the crowd? Bingo! Cowboy Mouth feeds off of the crowd's energy. The more you give, the more you get. Most, if not all, live music is like that, but the complete vibe wasn't there this time. Heroically, Cowboy Mouth still persevered with great musical strength, and most of the audience was eventually drawn in. It wasn't the Big Easy, but then again, what is?

Eric Levy My main focus in life is my music. I have been writing and playing music for over a decade, and it has been my labour of love. My main instrument is 6-string guitar, lead and rythym. I listen and play everything from low-down, dirty blues (B. Guy, BB, Howlin' Wolf, J. Winter, SRV, etc.) to more aggressive and heavier stuff (Soundgarden, A.I.C.,Pantera, Sacred Reich, etc.) to many that are somewhere in the middle, (Black Crowes, Stones, STP, Allman bros.) Bottom line is that I love music more than life itself. Well, almost. Other Articles I've Written