Jenny Says “Cowboy Mouth Rocked First Avenue’s Mardi Gras Party”

The name of the band is Cowboy Mouth. No other band would do Saturday night, as First Avenue celebrated Mardi Gras. When I pulled up, I saw the purple poster hanging by the door of the Mainroom, and my eyes lit up. The last time I saw this band I was about 14 years old and some how I have missed them every time since, but not today. As the weather started to plummet into the negatives, I made my way inside. The crowd was alive and full of the Mardi Gras spirit. With drinks in hand and beaded necklaces everywhere, it was time to party. 

Minneapolis’ Jack Brass Band started the show. Their made me forget the frigid cold outside and transported me straight to the Bayou.

As I stood near the sound board Drivin N Cryin took the stage. The band played a wide variety of their catalog, ranging from heavy bangers, Pink Floydesque tunes, and even some blues songs. The bands stage presence and musicianship took the crowds gaze off of each other and to the stage. Drivin N Cryin had about an hour set and captivated the audience the entire time while on stage. Before the show I did some research on them and they seem to be big Paul Westerberg fans, throughout the set you could definitely see the influence.

At 10:30 the screen lifted and Cowboy Mouth took the stage. Frontman/drummer Fred LeBlanc walked up last and rose his arms and the crowd erupted. As he sat down on his drums he yelled at the crowd “Are you ready?”, the crowd only got louder. The band then went straight into their classic opener “Light it on Fire”. LeBlanc throughout the night would make sure the crowd would be into the show by saying “The name of the band is?” and the crowd would chant back “Cow-boy Mouth!”. At one point he looked at his band and said

“They seem tired, that’s OK. We’ll just play Jenny Says and all go home and pay the babysitter. Seriously I would expect this from Milwaukee but not from the great city of Minneapolis!”

Lets just say everyone’s Northern pride came screaming out of them at that point. 

Throughout the night Cowboy Mouth threw out some crazy covers such as “Baba O’Riley”, “Sweet Child of Mine”and “Back in Black” (with the lyrics too Jenny Says instead). The band also did not disappoint with some of their classic originals such as “Tell the Girl You’re Sorry”, “Disconnected”, “Everybody Loves Jill”, “How do you Tell Someone” and of course they closed their show with “Jenny Says” and brought the guys from Drivin N Cryin up to help belt it out.

Cowboy Mouth is a proud New Orleans band that deserves all the praise they can get. At no point during that show was I zoning out or day dreaming. The band keeps crowd heavily involved and the adrenaline pumping. Cowboy Mouth is a must see for any concert goer.