The Cowsills Podcast

Tony Orlando - we love this man Tony Orlando and what a great great visit we had. If it goes on too long folks just take a break and two-part it. Whether he's talking about when he's 15 singing doo-wop with his group The 5 Gents or taking you through his years as a record executive and the unlikely calling he receives from the universe as to where and how he should proceed in life...you need to hear this story it is remarkable. He's basically under the wings of Don Kirschner, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann - and nobody is famous yet but all will be. Enjoy this one folks because we could have talked for hours!

Well we guess if you've won 5 Grammys, been nominated for "Producer of the Year", engineering and producing every famous artist of his day along with running the forefront of sound and studio recording techniques and innovations it's probably hard to remember a couple of interactions with "The Cowsills" who were just struggling to stay relevant when our paths crossed twice in 1972 and 1978 ("The Cocaine Drain Album" and "Covered Wagon"). Watch us hold it together as we hear, "Uh, well no I don't remember".... "Covered Wagon" and "This Here Is A Love Song" and "Down In The Valley" was a 6-hour session at the Sound Factory in Hollywood late one week night with Val at the controls and we were thrilled. It was a great night of recording more isolated and remembered in our sparse history but buried in Vals incredible life and experiences. 100 gold and platinum albums. Val Garay is an icon and important historian for the history of rock and roll.

Bill Hanley formed Hanley Sound before sound systems were even thought of as important to live concerts. Bill was the sound man at Soundblast '66 at Yankee Stadium, Hanley sound ran the board during our 1968 "Indian Lake" tour. You will hear about the history of the innovations that Bill brought early in the game as audiences grew and concerts became bigger and needed bigger space and bigger sound right up to and including Woodstock. What a story. So fascinating. Bill even visited us at Halidon Hall in Newport during those early days of just trying to figure it all out.

Today we get back to updates and gripes and whatnot. Our guest is Freedy Johnston a great singer/songwriter whose history matches up with the best of them. We love hearing Freedy tell the story of walking through South by Southwest in Austin, Texas and stopping in his tracks when he hears Susan Cowsill singing and what that all led to. Freedy discusses his career and his brand new September 9th album release "Back On The Road To You" which features a great song with our sister Susan called 'The Power of Love.

Check out this interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

WE'RE BACK!!!! Hi everyone we are back with live broadcasts, audio AND video now, and spent this episode catching everyone up on everything. Well not quite everything. One thing we wanted to mention for the umpteenth time but seemingly never enough is that Pledge Music pledgers will eventually receive everything they've ordered. If you just ordered the signed CD then those should be going out sometime in October (we have to sign 550 of them!!!!). If you ordered the CD and Vinyl album then you will receive your order when the Vinyl comes out (on Record Store Day which will be either April 15th or 21st). Orders will only be sent when items are available to fill an order. We can't be sending someone 3 items separately. We're doing this out of our good graces but we're not going to be tripling and quadrupling post office fees. Okay everyone new guests and new weekly episodes are coming now.

This summer, The Cowsills are rerunning their favorite episodes ON VIDEO! Check out their interview with Richie Furay on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

We kick things off by taking you back to the very first time each of us performed for a live audience and what the experience was like. We’re going back to performances around Newport, Rhode Island where we grew up, from King’s Park to school performances at St. Johns, to performing down on Bannister’s Wharf.

We welcome the legendary Richie Furay onto the show, one of the original members of The Buffalo Springfield! Richie is one of the lead vocalists on songs such as "For What It's Worth", "Kind Woman", "Bluebird", and "Mr. Soul", and he’s answering all our lingering questions about the band over the years. We dig into how they recorded some of their bigger hits, rumored band disputes, and finally, we demand to know why they broke our hearts and split up in 1968!

The music didn’t stop there! The Buffalo Springfield band members continued to make some of the most influential music of our generation. Stills went on to form Crosby, Stills & Nash, Furay and Messina formed Poco, and Young launched his solo career. In 1969, Young reunited with Stills in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The Buffalo Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and their legacy remains alive and well!

Song of the week: "Kind Woman"

This summer, The Cowsills are rerunning their favorite episodes ON VIDEO! Check out their interview with Vicki and Debbie Peterson on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

Today we're jumping two generations, right into the 80s, with sisters Vicki and Debbie Peterson of The Bangles. The band was no stranger to the U.S. top 10 list during the 1980s, with "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shade of Winter" (1987), "In Your Room" (1988), and "Eternal Flame" (1989). Now, we're lucky enough to call them family.
We share the behind the scenes of being featured in teen magazines, stories from the road, and the Bangles breakup blindside, along with many many other hard hitting stories. Join us for an extended episode of The Cowsill's Podcast with The Bangles.

Song of the Week: Walk Like An Egyptian

This summer, The Cowsills are rerunning their favorite episodes ON VIDEO! Check out their interview with Howard Kaylan on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

If there were ever an episode to have on video, it would be this one. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes tomfoolery you'll miss without it!

This week, we bring on the legendary, boss Howard Kaylan. He shares the story behind the big con of becoming The Turtles, we compare stories from The Happy Together Tour, and discuss why Howard's voice is sampled in our new album.

Song of the Week: Ya Gotta Get Up!

This summer, The Cowsills are rerunning their favorite episodes ON VIDEO! Check out their interview with Tommy James on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

The Cowsills welcome the great Tommy James onto the show for this week's episode. Tommy James is the musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, we know and love from the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.

Tommy's songs are pop culture classics and have been covered by everyone from punk rockers to country icons. In 1968, Tommy became one of the first artists to experiment with music videos. To date, Tommy has sold over a hundred million records sold worldwide, and has received five BMI "Million Air" awards in recognition of 22 million broadcast spins of his songs.

Tommy and The Cowsills go way back down memory lane. They talk through everythings from his first band of 12 year olds, the call that changed his life, and the craziest story of working with Roulette Records and the mob.

For more of Tommy, you can tune in to his Sirius XM show 60s on 6 every Sunday.

Song of the Week: Mony Mony by Tommy James and The Shondells

This summer, The Cowsills are rerunning their favorite episodes ON VIDEO! Check out their interview with Carnie and Lola on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CowsillFan

The Cowsill's are back with another story. This time they dive into the drama of 'the rich kids' revenge' that cost them all of their equipment.

Today's guests are Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips and her talented daughter Lola. Carnie Wilson is the daughter of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and of his first wife, former singer Marilyn Rovell of The Honeys. She co-founded Wilson Phillips with her younger sister Wendy and childhood friend Chynna Phillips when they were in their teens. Lola is a third generation raised by famous parents and Carnie is determined to break the chaos that comes with a musical family in the spotlight. The group talks about everything from music to marshmallows.