If it is true that sheer burning perseverance eventually brings financial success, then the Lazy Cowgirls are a damp cloth tossed on that assumption. Singer/ founder Pat Todd started out slapping skins for local new-wave outfits in Indiana, back in the Carter years, before pulling a switcheroo by moving to trendy L.A. and taking up a heartland roots-rock sound with the Cowgirls. By the early ’90s, the band had developed into a powerful cowpunk machine, influencing a slew of admirers.
Of course, influence rarely equals cash, and neither do regular-Joe looks. Thus the Cowgirls have remained on honorable, medium-sized labels, never allowed a full ride onto to the garage train they helped rev. But such sob stories do have a way of breeding their own more melancholy forms of success. Thus, over the last three Cowgirls records, Todd has turned back to his true country-troubadour style — more roots, less rock. Vice versa on the live show, where the only damp cloth will be your pants from all the dancing.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2004.