Cowboy Mouth is headed to Annapolis for a concert at Ram’s Head On Stage on Sunday, January 21st. Cowboy Mouth’s raucous live concerts have made them a staple of the national club and festival circuit since the mid 90’s, and over the years they have played thousands of shows in front of almost ten million fans. The band’s leader, Fred LeBlanc, is a true wearer of many hats. In addition to being the band’s drummer he is also the lead singer, and he writes a majority of the band’s music on guitar. He also published a children’s book in late October of last year, and is the proud papa of two.
For Cowboy Mouth, the road goes on forever. The New Orleans-based rockers continue to earn their stripes as a celebratory, hard-working live act. They’ve played more than 2,500 shows over an almost 30-year career, performing for nearly 10 million fans along the way. Cowboy Mouth will continue to tour heavily throughout 2018, mixing live performances of their biggest hits — including the band’s signature song, “Jenny Says” — and crowd favorites like “Belly.”
Similar songs can be heard on the group’s upcoming greatest hits album, The Name of the Band is… Volume 2, whose track list mixes together live staples, radio singles, and frequent requests. Scheduled for tentative release in late 2018, the album includes new recordings of Cowboy Mouth’s most in-demand material, including “Blues at Bay,” “Kelly Ripa,” and “Bad.” The goal is two-fold: to not only celebrate the full length of Cowboy Mouth’s career, but to showcase the current lineup’s strength as an electrifying band, too.
“This band is powerful,” says front man Fred LeBlanc, who handles the group’s singing and drumming duties. “We wanted to record strong, definitive versions of the songs we play every night.”
Cowboy Mouth also features John Thomas Griffith and Matt Jones on guitar, and Brian Broussard on bass. Together, they form one of the Big Easy’s most beloved exports, mixing the party-friendly punch and musical history of New Orleans with a raw, rock & roll foundation. It’s sound that’s earned them multiple generations of fans, including Food Network host Guy Fieri, who hosted one of the band’s hometown shows at Tipitina’s as a televised broadcast in 2017. LeBlanc calls his group’s live show “a Southern gospel revival without the religion,” pointing to the themes of positivity and love that run throughout Cowboy Mouth’s music.
LeBlanc explores those same themes in his first children’s book, Fred: The New Orleans Drummer Boy. The storybook hit shelves in late 2016, with a plot line centered around a drummer who lives in New Orleans. Sound familiar? Drawing from his own experiences onstage, LeBlanc tells the story of a childhood band whose timekeeper is terrified to play his instrument in public… until he learns how to turn his anxiety into energy. It’s a tale of personal empowerment. Or, as LeBlanc adds, “it’s a Cowboy Mouth show in children’s book form.”
Just like that, all roads lead back to Cowboy Mouth’s live show. It’s a place where fans are made, feet are stomped, drums are pounded, and troubles are momentarily forgotten. For LeBlanc, that’s always been the idea: to bring people together with music.
“With every single performance, you’re building a community,” he says. “People want to be part of something bigger, and that’s what Cowboy Mouth’s audience is: a very healthy, happy community. And we like fostering that community through kickass rock & roll.”
