Gourds – Blossoming on the Vine
From the start, instrumental versatility was a key to the Gourds’ success. Russell plays guitar, mandolin and banjo; Bernard plays accordion and guitar; Smith plays bass and guitar. All three are also credited with percussion on Stadium Blitzer, though the band has always had a drummer. Llewellin left in 1998 and was replaced by Russell’s brother-in-law, Keith Langford, who had played with both Prescott Curlywolf and the Damnations.
The story of how Langford ended up in the band illustrates the interplay within the Austin music community. “When Charlie first quit the band, Keith was our first thought,” Russell says. “But at the time, Keith was in the Damnations, he was in Curlywolf, and he was also in a band called the Diaz Brothers with Philip McEachern, who’s one of my oldest friends. And it was just so many of our friends it would affect, we were hesitant to even try.”
Around that time, the Gourds had a brief regional tour scheduled and decided to ask the Damnations to open the shows, partly so Langford could double up as drummer for both bands. “I kinda knew in the back of my mind that, one way or the other, Keith was gonna end up playing with us, and these shows were gonna be the reason,” Russell confesses. “After the first show, I was sitting and talking to the girls [Damnations co-leaders Amy Boone and Deborah Kelly], and they were like, ‘Man, Keith is so good with you guys, it’s amazing.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I wish he was our drummer!’
“After that string of shows, you know, it kind of was an ongoing dialogue. Keith wanted to play with us, but he didn’t want to do wrong by his friends. He was definitely torn about what to do. And then Deborah and Amy, in their infinite wisdom, they fired him! [Laughter] They said, ‘You’re fired, Keith, we don’t want you to play drums for us anymore.’ Which just tells you how much they care about Keith.”
Another 1998 lineup addition considerably upped the ante for the band. Max Johnston, a member of latter-day Uncle Tupelo and early Wilco who had subsequently spent a couple years in Freakwater, moved from Kentucky to Austin and brought his adept skills at fiddle, banjo, mandolin and slide guitar to the group. Though Johnston’s background is in bluegrass, he has become an expert at playing in rock-oriented ensembles, exhibiting an extraordinary feel and a sympathetic ear toward the strengths of a song.
“I started playing all these instruments because I wanted to be one of the guys at the bluegrass festival,” Johnston explains. “When I sit around in my room, I play to bluegrass records and country records and stuff like that….But I’ve always been asked to make this bluegrass thing that I do somehow fit into a rock song. It’s been very interesting and very challenging.”
He’s also broadened the Gourds’ horizons with his budding talent as a songwriter and singer. Two of the standout tracks on Bolsa De Agua are Johnston’s “Jesus Christ (With Signs Following)” and “O Rings”. Still, don’t expect Johnston to seek the spotlight anytime soon. “I’ve been writing a lot, but I’m a little shy about just putting out a Max record,” he says. “That’s never been too interesting to me, because I enjoy having my songs come out in a serious band context.”
Smith, on the other hand, hasn’t hesitated to find other outlets for his overflow of material. Earlier this year he put together an album of homemade four-track recordings that he’s been selling on the internet, at shows, and in local stores. “But I did it all with Gourds being front-burner,” he’s quick to point out. “A lot of people might assume that I’m starting to veer away from the band, but that assumption’s completely off.”
In fact, Smith is interested in seeing the Gourds become an even more fully integrated unit, recently suggesting to his bandmates that they try to write songs together instead of bringing them in separately. “I think it might be time to kind of set our egos aside and try and do something of a more collaborative nature,” he says. “I think the next step would be forming the songs with all five of us.”
Beyond their own material, another defining characteristic of the Gourds has been their creative choices of cover songs — most notably a backwoods hillbilly reworking of Snoop Doggy Dogg’s hip-hop anthem “Gin & Juice” that appeared on the 1998 Gogitchyershinebox EP. Russell says he first got turned onto the song by his sister, who was a fan of Snoop, Dr. Dre and the like.
“That song in particular is just a really great hook,” he says. “I wanted to do it, but I knew I wouldn’t ever attempt to rap. And then one day I just started playing those two chords that the chorus is in, and I just tried to sing the words as I read ’em, and it came out that way. And I was like, ‘Aw, that’s pretty cool, man.’
“I played it for a friend of mine’s birthday party one night, and everybody just loved it. So one night at the Electric Lounge, I was like, ‘Let’s do that “Gin & Juice” song, guys. And they were like, ‘Are you crazy?’ And I said, ‘It’s just two chords, man. I know the words, you just play these two chords, and it’ll be fine.’ And we did it, and of course everybody went crazy. It’s amazing what has happened with that song.”