Early in the morning on Christmas Eve of 2008, Kevin Russell received a gift he’d been waiting on for well over a decade.

“’Ain’t No Sunshine’ by Bill Withers is one of my favorite songs of all time and there has always been this one chord I just couldn’t find. I asked everybody and I looked online and no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find that chord. Then finally this morning I found it and I ran and told my wife.”

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know: you’re wondering who the devil this Kevin Russell is and why you’re reading about soul legend Bill Withers in a magazine purported to be about Texas music. If that’s accurate then you must be unfamiliar with Austin’s favorite sons, the Gourds.

Allow us to make the introductions.

All the labor landed in the sod

Where the digger cried its my calling, sir

And it is no mistake that I put you in the ground so well

If they pay me well that’s great

It’s just gravy I’d do it anyway

“All the Labor” – the Gourds

And so it is with the Gourds.

Steve Dorse lived across the street from the crucible that forged the Gourds, a small house at 4718 Depew in Austin known in Gourds lore as the Steamy Bowl. It’s where the band rehearsed, where they hammered out their first contract with Munich Records, and where bass-player Jimmy Smith lived.

In those early days, Dorse often traveled with the band and taped many of the shows.

“They played this place in Jersey once called Paul’s Tavern. There were only two guys at the bar. They weren’t there to see the band, didn’t clap between songs, and they kept yelling for the guys to play something Irish. Jimmy finally played some Pogues song, and two songs later the guy yelled from the bar, ‘when are you going to play something Irish?’ Jimmy just laughed. It really underscored that nobody was listening. Partly because of that, they ended up doing a half-hour impromptu Springsteen jam to end the show. Tongue-in-cheek, I think. I remember it started with ‘State Trooper’ and went all over the place. Back in those days, they played some of their best stuff for no one.”

More frequent than the treks to New Jersey though, Dorse walked across the street to the Steamy Bowl for the band’s marathon rehearsals, where the sound of the Gourds was refined, and where the standard for each Gourds song was set.

“There was a show early on at the Hole in the Wall”, Dorse remembers, “and they played ‘Dark and True’ which was an early staple for them. They finished a particularly good version of it and Claude turned to the rest of the band and said, with some surprise, ‘that was better than the house’. The rehearsals at the Steamy Bowl were a real measuring stick.”

Despite releasing ten critically acclaimed records and garnering national attention (according to Kevin Russell, some in the band might label it notoriety) with their version of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin & Juice”, it’s all of those hours each night, all the nights per year, and all of the years of playing live that has built a career for the Gourds.

“When I’m trying to book them into a new place I just rattle off the festivals they’ve done”, Gourds booking agent Davis McLarty explains. “They’ve played Bonnaroo, they’ve played the Austin City Limits festival and the television show, they’ve played Hardly Strictly, Bumbershoot. The resume speaks for itself.”

Along with the vibe from the Steamy Bowl, convenience played a role in the formation of the Gourds sound. Having played in various bands in the past (Russell, Smith, and Rob Bernard – accordion player Claude Bernard’s brother – all played together in the pre-Gourds Picket Line Coyotes; Claude and Jimmy played together in the pre-Gourds band, the Grackles), they were sick of lugging amplifiers around from gig to gig and then back to the practice room. Thus one of the early unspoken rules of the Gourds was, “No amps”, making for an acoustic roots-based sound with Bernard’s accordion and Kevin Russell’s mandolin as the main lead instruments.

As the band recorded more, toured more, and had a little more help in the lugging of amps, they started to add more electric guitar to the sound, beginning with their second release, Stadium Blitzer. The addition of Max Johnston in 1999 on the Ghosts of Hallelujah record added a host of new instrumentation – banjo, fiddle, lap steel, and more mandolin. A quick glance at Max’s resume (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, Freakwater, and Michelle Shocked, who also happens to be his sister) reveals not only does he play a peck of instruments; he plays them at a high level.

Another undeniable part of the Gourds unique sound is Jimmy’s contributions on harmony vocals. Never settling for the standard 3rd or 5th part harmony, Jimmy attacks his harmonies with the same sharp edge he brings to his songwriting. If you were to sit down at a piano and pick out the parts, you’d say they shouldn’t work. But one listen through an album is enough evidence to show they do work, and work beautifully.

The Gourds sound is something that has been frustratingly hard to classify in any traditional sense. The band’s booking agent, Davis McLarty, may have captured it best by – in true Gourds fashion – choosing a different kind of description.

“I remember when they were taping Austin City Limits for KLRU. I was in the audience watching Keith Langford, the drummer, and I just thought to myself that he was riding herd over four mad scientists.”

We’re going to the country and we’ll do it right

Cook up some sweet potatoes and tomorrow night

We’ll watch the stars dancing with the satellite

That’s right, we’re going to the country

“Country Love” – the Gourds

The Gourds kick off 2009 with their tenth full length album, Haymaker!. It’s a return for the band back to “vintage Gourds” after the elegant diversion of 2007’s Noble Creatures.

“I think people are going to like this one a whole lot because it has this rawness and liveness that the first two or three records had, probably even more so”, states Russell.

Russell kicks the album off in high gear with the song “Country Love”, extolling the listener to “Wake up!” on the very first line of the record. It’s the kind of song Russell was born to deliver – his authenticity unquestionable.

Two other Russell gems on the record are the autobiographical tunes “Shreveport” and “Tex-Mex Mile”. “Shreveport” sounds as it might have been a complete day for a teenaged Russell, vividly recollected and retold a few decades later. “Tex-Mex Mile”, with a respectful nod to Dave Dudley, finds Russell revisiting another era of his youth.

“I’ve never felt more at home anywhere else, especially in south Austin in the 90’s when I was 20 something and carefree – ‘waking and bakin’”, Russell recalls as he laughs. “Yeah, it’s still a great place.”

Smith also turns in some excellent work on the record with “Fossil Contender”. Like the best of Jimmy Smith’s songs, the tune takes up residence in your head and makes itself right at home before you even realize there’s someone at the door. “Luddite Juice” grabs the attention as well; the tale of an unfortunate soul who apprentices under the fictional Ned Ludd before being arrested in a demonstration and reduced to performing some self-dentistry while incarcerated.

Max Johnston turns in the true wild-card on the record with the graceful and strangely mainstream “Tighter”. Johnston’s warbling vocals prevent the song from sounding like anything “commercial”, despite a guitar line reminiscent of Robert Smith. “It’s a different kind of a song for us”, Russell says. “It sits on the end because it has this pop sort of sound to it that we don’t do much. With Max’s vocals, it’s a really strange creation to that song. That might be what happens next, who knows?”

If you want to make some pickles

Take your time make some brine

Put all those little things you love

In vinegar and wine

It ain’t Chinese algebra

It’s easily done

Why you can pickle anything

Pickling is fun

A lot of people I know use dill weed

But, why don’t you be more adventurous

I’ll give you exactly what you need

Gonna fix your ass up real nice

Give you pickling advice

Let your intuition be your guide

Results are all that matter

Are you happy with your yield?

Oh, come on you can tell me

I’m an expert in the field

Please don’t be discouraged if your first batch is a bust

Give your ego time to heal

Persevering is a must

“Pickles” – the Gourds

The Gourds exist as a “sloppy, slow moving democracy” according to frontman Kevin Russell and nowhere is this more evident than in the band’s songwriting duties, largely split between Russell and Jimmy Smith with occasional contributions from Max Johnston. Listening through any Gourds album illustrates this point as the song progression often follows a Kevin-Jimmy-Kevin-Jimmy-Kevin-Jimmy pattern.

While it’s true Russell’s songs (and voice) tend to be more accessible (and are often the ones singled out for the little radio play the Gourds are able to score), it would be a mistake to single out Russell’s writing in the group. Russell has a knack for writing the big melodic hook, whereas Smith has a unique ability to create a hook through a combination of melody and creative use of phrasing (just try to get “grubby little runners bring her news of me second hand” from the song “Honduras” out of your head with the way Smith sings it). In addition Smith’s pen tends to have a little more edge, darkness, and lyrical murkiness than Russell’s.

Jimmy bristles at the notion of any labels applied to his songs, with “non sequitur” being the tag most frequently hung on Jimmy Smith tunes. “You just don’t put some blanket statement over it and say its non sequiturs. It doesn’t matter if someone gets it or not, that’s not my point. I mean, does it frustrate you when you listen to Dylan’s ‘Quinn the Eskimo’?”

He provides an example of his frustration with a song often singled out in reviews from the Gourds 2007 release, Noble Creatures. “Everyone missed the point on ‘A Few Extra Kilos’”, Jimmy explains. “They thought it was about me getting fat, but it went over their heads. I tried to explain it to people but they don’t get it.”

In the end, their differences as writers add to the eclectic sound of the group, one of the main draws for hardcore Gourds fans and an appropriate calling card for a band whose hometown’s slogan is “Keep Austin Weird”.

While there may be differences in style, the two songwriters are of like mind on their approach and the current state of their songwriting craft.

“I’ve always thought we shouldn’t make any music until we were 42. I said that when I was 25, and I think I was right in some ways”, Smith explains. “I’m making the music that I’m most happy with right now. I had the right standards when I was making it back then, but I was oblivious.”

Russell echoes the same. “I can see now why Whitman didn’t publish Leaves Of Grass until he was 37 years old. Before, I used to write so many lines with such deliberate inspiration, like a hungry pup, without a feel for depth. Now I write each line slow and aware of itself, considering where it is coming from and where it could go.”

Well, we all need someone we can lean on

The success of the Gourds version of “Gin and Juice” didn’t necessarily take the band by surprise – Russell says they were careful to keep every curse word in when they recorded it in an attempt to avoid the “Pat Boone tag” – but it did kick some unexpected doors wide open for the band.

“It’s the ultimate party song and when people get married they want their party to be the best party ever”, Russell explains. As a result the Gourds receive many offers for wedding gigs.

Traditionally for bands making a living playing their own material, the wedding gig makes for a miserable few hours – the worst gig ever. Often the bride and groom are the only ones really into the band and familiar with their music, and the night deteriorates into handfuls of people on the dance floor and lots of requests for “something we know that we can dance to.” As a result, the booking agent is directed to charge several multiples of the band’s going rate in hopes the happy couple will look for a cheap cover band or any other alternative.

Not so for the Gourds. While they still charge a healthy multiple of their normal fee (most wedding gigs are on Saturday nights, which is the most in-demand night for any band. Preachers get paid for Sunday mornings; musicians get paid for Saturday nights), any couple booking the band not only gets the ultimate party song with the Gourds version of “Gin and Juice”, but the group will play damn near any song the bride and groom want to hear.

“We play lots of weddings, but we’re not exactly in the wedding planners catalog. We get hired by our fans”, Russell says. “We played a wedding for Clayton Williams daughter. Played a wedding once where we had to be checked out by Secret Service first and we had Laura Bush dancing with Sandy Koufax to ‘Blues Eyes Crying In the Rain’. We do get a lot of weird requests though. The weirdest one: we had a bride and groom, for their first dance they wanted us to play ‘Let It Bleed’”. Russell breaks into a laugh at the memory. “That marriage lasted less than a year.”

Cucurbitaceae (kyoo-cur’-bit-tay’-she-uh)

noun

A family of herbaceous vines (such as cucumber or melon or squash or pumpkin or gourd)

In the thirteen years since the release of their debut record, Dem’s Good Beeble, the Gourds family has grown in measures of both size and dimension. To begin with, the band itself has gone from four members to five with the addition of multi-instrumentalist and alt-country MVP Max Johnston to the lineup in 1999.

Their personal families have grown as well. They started off as a bunch of single guys swapping bottles and songs in a shack off of Airport Boulevard, but now they are all married and they each have children. Russell has proven the most prolific, siring three little Russells. Adding to the Gourds family portrait is the fact that Mrs. Kevin Russell is also the sister of drummer Keith Langford.

“It’s getting real interesting booking these guys,” veteran agent Davis McLarty says, “We sit down at the beginning of each year and put it all on the calendar and say, ‘ok, let’s see Guthrie’s birthday is here, Stewart’s birthday is here’ and we work around all the kids birthdays.”

Though they don’t attribute it directly to the increased family on the home front, the band takes far fewer trips to Europe than they did at the start of their career. It’s been about three years since their last European tour according to Smith, who adds, “we were younger then and they had more juicy hooks to lure us with.”

By far the largest growth for the Gourds has been in the community of Gourds fans, and it’s no stretch to include fans of the Gourds in with the Gourds family. No other act in Texas has the kind of loyal, devoted and involved following the Gourds have. In fact to find the closest comparison you’d have to go directly to the original source of wildly devoted fans.

According to Steve Dorse, the very first fan to tape a Gourds show, “There’s a huge amount of Deadheads in the Gourds audience. There’s something about them that pulled all of these old ‘heads’ out.”

John “Ducktaper” Smith has been taping Gourds shows since 2001 and has been declared the band’s archivist by Kevin Russell, with close to one thousand recorded Gourds performances in his possession. He’s also a Deadhead with over 400 tapes of Grateful Dead shows sitting on shelves in his garage in Austin.

“The Dead always offered endless variety and a huge catalog of songs, more than any band I knew”, Ducktaper explains. “The Gourds are so beyond the Dead in how many songs they play, it’s outrageous. They’ve been around a third of the time as the Dead and they already have ten albums. Then they probably have enough original material that they’ve done over the years for another three or four albums. And at last count, which was four or five years ago, we’d counted over 500 covers that they’d done.”

All of which means a Gourds show is a singular experience. Live shows are traded online regularly and usually within minutes of the end of a Gourds show, the set list is posted online at the Cucurbitaceae, a very active Yahoo! Group for the Gourds. In fact, if you were a member of the Cucurbitaceae and weren’t able to make it to their New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball, you could have received a song-by-song update from list members at the show.

The live show trading has helped build the fan base, but it didn’t start off that way when Dorse first began the practice in 1996, about a year before the first album came out

“It wasn’t happening back then”, Dorse remembers, “but I knew they were doing something people would want to hear someday. Every now and then there would be someone who would notice that I wasn’t clapping, or moving, or even breathing during the show and they figured out I was taping so they would say, ‘Hey man I’ve never seen them and I had a great time at the show tonight, can I get a tape of this?’ Never turned into anything. They’d give me their address and I would spill a beer on it and that would be the end of it.”

When Dorse left Texas for the East Coast, the taping torch was handed off to David Wabbo, who in turn handed off to Ducktaper. Taping many of the shows since 2001, Ducktaper has outlasted many of the Gourds live sound engineers, which has its benefits. Whereas Dorse often had a table in the crowd or a spot in front of the speaker stacks with a tape recorder and a microphone, Ducktaper is now allowed to take a feed directly from the mixing board and augment it with carefully placed room mics. The effort is much-appreciated by the group of fans who trade live shows and has even led to the band self-releasing “Best of Gourds Live” discs at the end of each year, sold only at the their shows.

The Gourds were born out of “bottle night” in the Steamy Bowl – a tradition of guys who used to play in bands together getting together at Jimmy’s house, each bringing a bottle to drink and songs to play. It was a time before the first record, before the first contract, when the focus was only on having a good time and playing good music. It’s now fifteen years later and through minor lineup changes, major life changes, and close to a dozen records released all told, the main focus remains the same.

As a reminder of those days, Jimmy Smith kept the old restaurant sign that gave the Steamy Bowl its name and has it hanging in the new writing and rehearsal room he built behind his house. “It’s just a room, but it’s where I go to work things out.”

When asked if the Gourds ever really had the intention of being a band when they first got together for “bottle night”, Russell states it was always the purpose, but with their eyes opened from their previous experiences in bands.

“We were not in any hurry to be a professional recording and touring band. We were aware of the many pitfalls awaiting us in the music biz. We had watched the indie music business get bought up. All the great bands started making less interesting records. Lots of bands got dropped. Some were dropped and lost their recordings in the vaults of the behemoth. All this, and not to mention the desire of the soul for anonymity. So, we were very cautious in how we walked into this world as a group. We have always run everything through that filter.”

And it was laid out on the first record, like a business plan for a band as if it had been written by an East Texas William S. Burroughs.

ain’t much t’this stuff when you look into it

no way to see the roots before you chew it

the web before you walk into it

roll the glue in balls

dead spiders and dead skin

lover in the hole

music’s in the bowl

you bought the last bottle last time, remember?

But it wasn’t written by William Burroughs, it was written by the Gourds, and with each new album they add a new chapter to the story. It looks like it’s going to be an epic worthy of Texas by the time the last chapter is finished.