10495 - THE COX FAMILY - GONE LIKE THE COTTON (2015)
THE COX FAMILY
''GONE LIKE THE COTTON''
OCTOBER 23 2015
44:56
**********
1 Good Imitation Of The Blues 03:12 (Patrick Brayer)
2 Lost Without Your Love 04:30 (David Gates)
3 Cash On The Barrelhead 02:49 (Charlie Louvin, Ira Lowin)
4 Desire 03:33 (Steve Kolander, Kim Richey)
5 In My Eyes 04:14 (Kostas Lazarides)
6 Good News 04:39 (Kevin Brandt)
7 Let It Roll 05:42 (Kevin Brandt)
8 Im Not So Far Away 02:57 (Garth Fundis)
9 Honky Tonk Blues 02:23 (Charles Chine, Curley Ray Cline)
10 Too Far Gone 03:18 (Sidney Cox, Susanne Cox)
11 Ill Get Over You 03:31 (Richard Leigh)
12 Gone Like The Cotton 04:03 (Sidney Cox, Susanne Cox)
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Barry Bales/Bass Guitar
Pat Bergeson/Acoustic 6-String Guitar, Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Ron Block/Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
Bruce Bouton/Pedal Steel
Sam Bush/Mandolin
Evelyn Cox/Alto (Vocals), Harmonia, Vocals
Sidney Cox/Dobro, Guitar, Harmonia, Vocals
Suzanne Cox/Alto (Vocals), Harmonia, Vocals
Willard Cox/Vocals
Darryl Dybka/Piano
Jim Horn/Saxophone
Alison Krauss/Fiddle, Strings
Viktor Krauss/Bass Guitar, Bowed Bass
Sonny Landreth/Slide Guitar
Kenny Malone/Drums, Finger Snaps, Percussion
Pat McGrath/Guitar (Acoustic)
Greg Morrow/Drums
Pig Robbins/Piano
Matt Rollings/Piano
Gary Smith/Piano
Dan Tyminski/Mandolin
Andrea Zonn/Fiddle
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
The Cox Family's major-label debut, 1996's Just When We're Thinking It's Over, was a small triumph that demonstrated the different directions they could travel with their eclectic Southern-styled music and glorious four-part harmonies, but to say that they had trouble completing the follow-up is a few steps past understatement. The Cox Family were dropped by their label before the album they recorded in 1998 could be completed, and in 2000 family patriarch and group founder Willard Cox was paralyzed from the waist down in an auto accident. His wife Marie Cox was also battling cancer at the time, which would claim her life in 2009, and the Cox Family's personal and professional troubles slowed the group nearly to a halt. But 17 years on, the story of the family's unfinished album finally has a happy ending; after the masters for the 1998 sessions were recovered, the Cox Family returned to the studio to put the finishing touches on the album they long thought was lost, and Gone Like the Cotton has emerged sounding fresh, passionate, and thoroughly satisfying, a mixture of country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, and a dash of pop that sounds rootsy but thoroughly up-to-date at the same time. Despite the passage of time, the new vocal tracks featuring Evelyn, Sidney, and Suzanne Cox sound as soulful and precise as the material they cut in the '90s, and Willard's occasional leads (rescued from the 1998 sessions) are great, sweet and just a bit rough in the true honky tonk manner. The production by Alison Krauss is splendid, honoring the Coxes' traditionalism while adding a dash of rock & roll attitude on "In My Eyes" and "Good Imitation of the Blues," and even giving bluegrass-styled numbers like "I'm Not So Far Away" a welcome dose of energy. Considering the Cox Family's appearance on the multi-platinum O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, it's not hard to imagine that Gone Like the Cotton could have been a major crossover hit if the group had been allowed to finish it in, say, 2002, but without playing guessing games about what could have been, this long-fermenting project is a more than worthy follow-up to Just When We're Thinking It's Over, and it leaves no doubt that tough times have not dulled Evelyn, Sidney, and Suzanne Cox's talents, and hopefully we won't have to wait so long to hear them harmonize again.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Jack Leaver
The singing Cox Family from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, is comprised of father Willard, son Sidney, and daughters Evelyn and Suzanne, who derive their sound from combining country, bluegrass, and gospel styles. They first began performing together in 1976 and were a popular draw at fairs and festivals, but their career was given a big boost when in the early '90s they met Alison Krauss, who brought them to the attention of Rounder Records. They also gained massive exposure when in 1994 they caught the ear of Adam Duritz, frontman of the multi-platinum-selling Counting Crows, who was so impressed with the Cox Family that he invited them to open for the band during its North American tour. Krauss -- who produced all but the family's very first release, Quiet Storm on Wilcox Records -- recorded several of Sidney's songs, which appeared on both of her Grammy-winning albums, including the title track of I've Got That Old Feeling. The Cox Family recorded two records of their own on Rounder Records: Everybody's Reaching Out for Someone (1993) and Beyond the City (1995), which earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. They also collaborated with Krauss on an album entitled I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won a Grammy in 1994 for Best Country/Gospel/Bluegrass Album. The Cox Family also shared a Grammy for their participation in the various-artists project Amazing Grace: A Country Salute to Gospel.
The Cox Family's major-label debut, Just When We're Thinking It's Over, was released on Asylum Records in 1996. Though the album received enthusiastic reviews, sales were modest by major-label standards, and while the Cox Family began work on a second album for Asylum in 1998, the label dropped them before they could finish the project. In 2000 the Cox Family recorded several tunes for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and in 2001 the soundtrack album became an unexpected smash hit, rising to number one on the pop, country, bluegrass, and soundtrack charts. This triumph was overshadowed by tragedy when Willard Cox suffered severe injuries in a 2000 automobile accident that left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. The Cox Family went on a recording hiatus and confined most of their live appearances to local events, but in 2014 the tapes for the group's uncompleted 1998 album were rediscovered, and Krauss and the Cox Family were able to return to the studio and complete the project. The lost Cox Family album, Gone Like the Cotton, was released by Rounder Records in October 2015.
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TO THE TOP
**********
''GONE LIKE THE COTTON''
OCTOBER 23 2015
44:56
**********
1 Good Imitation Of The Blues 03:12 (Patrick Brayer)
2 Lost Without Your Love 04:30 (David Gates)
3 Cash On The Barrelhead 02:49 (Charlie Louvin, Ira Lowin)
4 Desire 03:33 (Steve Kolander, Kim Richey)
5 In My Eyes 04:14 (Kostas Lazarides)
6 Good News 04:39 (Kevin Brandt)
7 Let It Roll 05:42 (Kevin Brandt)
8 Im Not So Far Away 02:57 (Garth Fundis)
9 Honky Tonk Blues 02:23 (Charles Chine, Curley Ray Cline)
10 Too Far Gone 03:18 (Sidney Cox, Susanne Cox)
11 Ill Get Over You 03:31 (Richard Leigh)
12 Gone Like The Cotton 04:03 (Sidney Cox, Susanne Cox)
**********
Barry Bales/Bass Guitar
Pat Bergeson/Acoustic 6-String Guitar, Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Ron Block/Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
Bruce Bouton/Pedal Steel
Sam Bush/Mandolin
Evelyn Cox/Alto (Vocals), Harmonia, Vocals
Sidney Cox/Dobro, Guitar, Harmonia, Vocals
Suzanne Cox/Alto (Vocals), Harmonia, Vocals
Willard Cox/Vocals
Darryl Dybka/Piano
Jim Horn/Saxophone
Alison Krauss/Fiddle, Strings
Viktor Krauss/Bass Guitar, Bowed Bass
Sonny Landreth/Slide Guitar
Kenny Malone/Drums, Finger Snaps, Percussion
Pat McGrath/Guitar (Acoustic)
Greg Morrow/Drums
Pig Robbins/Piano
Matt Rollings/Piano
Gary Smith/Piano
Dan Tyminski/Mandolin
Andrea Zonn/Fiddle
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
The Cox Family's major-label debut, 1996's Just When We're Thinking It's Over, was a small triumph that demonstrated the different directions they could travel with their eclectic Southern-styled music and glorious four-part harmonies, but to say that they had trouble completing the follow-up is a few steps past understatement. The Cox Family were dropped by their label before the album they recorded in 1998 could be completed, and in 2000 family patriarch and group founder Willard Cox was paralyzed from the waist down in an auto accident. His wife Marie Cox was also battling cancer at the time, which would claim her life in 2009, and the Cox Family's personal and professional troubles slowed the group nearly to a halt. But 17 years on, the story of the family's unfinished album finally has a happy ending; after the masters for the 1998 sessions were recovered, the Cox Family returned to the studio to put the finishing touches on the album they long thought was lost, and Gone Like the Cotton has emerged sounding fresh, passionate, and thoroughly satisfying, a mixture of country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, and a dash of pop that sounds rootsy but thoroughly up-to-date at the same time. Despite the passage of time, the new vocal tracks featuring Evelyn, Sidney, and Suzanne Cox sound as soulful and precise as the material they cut in the '90s, and Willard's occasional leads (rescued from the 1998 sessions) are great, sweet and just a bit rough in the true honky tonk manner. The production by Alison Krauss is splendid, honoring the Coxes' traditionalism while adding a dash of rock & roll attitude on "In My Eyes" and "Good Imitation of the Blues," and even giving bluegrass-styled numbers like "I'm Not So Far Away" a welcome dose of energy. Considering the Cox Family's appearance on the multi-platinum O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, it's not hard to imagine that Gone Like the Cotton could have been a major crossover hit if the group had been allowed to finish it in, say, 2002, but without playing guessing games about what could have been, this long-fermenting project is a more than worthy follow-up to Just When We're Thinking It's Over, and it leaves no doubt that tough times have not dulled Evelyn, Sidney, and Suzanne Cox's talents, and hopefully we won't have to wait so long to hear them harmonize again.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Jack Leaver
The singing Cox Family from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, is comprised of father Willard, son Sidney, and daughters Evelyn and Suzanne, who derive their sound from combining country, bluegrass, and gospel styles. They first began performing together in 1976 and were a popular draw at fairs and festivals, but their career was given a big boost when in the early '90s they met Alison Krauss, who brought them to the attention of Rounder Records. They also gained massive exposure when in 1994 they caught the ear of Adam Duritz, frontman of the multi-platinum-selling Counting Crows, who was so impressed with the Cox Family that he invited them to open for the band during its North American tour. Krauss -- who produced all but the family's very first release, Quiet Storm on Wilcox Records -- recorded several of Sidney's songs, which appeared on both of her Grammy-winning albums, including the title track of I've Got That Old Feeling. The Cox Family recorded two records of their own on Rounder Records: Everybody's Reaching Out for Someone (1993) and Beyond the City (1995), which earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. They also collaborated with Krauss on an album entitled I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won a Grammy in 1994 for Best Country/Gospel/Bluegrass Album. The Cox Family also shared a Grammy for their participation in the various-artists project Amazing Grace: A Country Salute to Gospel.
The Cox Family's major-label debut, Just When We're Thinking It's Over, was released on Asylum Records in 1996. Though the album received enthusiastic reviews, sales were modest by major-label standards, and while the Cox Family began work on a second album for Asylum in 1998, the label dropped them before they could finish the project. In 2000 the Cox Family recorded several tunes for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and in 2001 the soundtrack album became an unexpected smash hit, rising to number one on the pop, country, bluegrass, and soundtrack charts. This triumph was overshadowed by tragedy when Willard Cox suffered severe injuries in a 2000 automobile accident that left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. The Cox Family went on a recording hiatus and confined most of their live appearances to local events, but in 2014 the tapes for the group's uncompleted 1998 album were rediscovered, and Krauss and the Cox Family were able to return to the studio and complete the project. The lost Cox Family album, Gone Like the Cotton, was released by Rounder Records in October 2015.
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TO THE TOP
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