Taoist Cowboys - Body and Soul

Jeff Bills' posting of the St. James Sessions over on Knoxblab and Knoxviews recently reminded me that Lynnpoint records used to sell the Taoist Cowboys album, Punt.

The Cowboys were my favorite Knoxville band back when I used to go see live bands, mostly because they just seemed to be having a damn good time (although great, accesible pop hooks and witty lyrics helped too).

A couple years back, Jack Rentfro asked me to write the entry on the Cowboys for his Cumberland Avenue Revisited project. It's copied below, but it hardly does the 'boys justice.

Something I left out of the piece though, was that I was fortunate enough to actually get band member Scott Carpenter to put to music some song lyrics I'd written (which Scott amended and improved). "Body and Soul" even made it onto Punt.

Yeah, yeah, if my glory days are one song recorded by a local band that broke up in 1992, then the days weren't so glorious. That's ok. I'm still proud of it.

Lynnpoint doesn't appear to sell the CD anymore, but you can listen to and download all the songs from Punt here: http://www.lynnpoint.com/taoist_cowboys/index.html

I especially recommend Bob McCluskey's "Mind Chime" and "Shit on You." But the album is solid, through.

Anyway, below are the lyrics to that long-ago song, and below that, the brief bit I write for the Cumberland Ave project.

Body and Soul

Scott Carpenter & Scott McNutt

If I could give you the flesh from my bones

would it be enough to feed you?

If I could give you all that my heart holds

would it be enough to please you?

I don’t think so lately

But maybe a forty-hour week

in a suit and a tie

if that’s all it takes

I’ll try

Chorus:

You got me body and soul, you have control

to ashes and dust. Is it enough?

Does it satisfy your lust? I’ll pay your toll

but will I ever earn your trust?

If we were to dance arm in arm

would you lead if I followed?

If we were to see each other eye to eye

would I be what you’re looking for?

It don’t seem so sometimes

But maybe with a forty-hour week

in a suit and tie

if that’s what it takes

all right

Chorus

If I were to tell you the thoughts in my mind

would it be enough to know me?

If I could give you the embrace of my arms

would it enough to hold you?

I should hope so

‘cause that a forty-hour week

in a suit and a tie

are all that I have

to make you mine

Chorus

The Tao of Cow

by Scott McNutt

"Sloppy garage pop with heart." "Pop meets punk." "Music played by four guys who always drank way too much before getting on stage." These descriptions and many more have been put forward in an attempt to define the sound of the Taoist Cowboys. Probably all of them are accurate. The band was around from circa 1988-1992, friends and perhaps musical soul mates of other Knoxville-based bands of that era, like the JudyBats, the Swamis, and Smokin' Dave and the Premo Dopes. It's been said before that there is no "Knoxville Sound." I wonder. If not a sound, perhaps Knoxville has a musical spirit, which these bands captured. I won't attempt to articulate that spirit, other than to say "fun" must be a big component of it.

And the Taoist Cowboy shows were fun, memorably fun. Venues like Planet Earth, Manhattan's, China King, and Gryphon's witnessed the high-energy antics of the 'Cowboys and the 'Cowboys' fans. There was the night at Planet Earth when so many people were out on the floor dancing, I felt the floor trembling beneath me and wondered if it were about to collapse down into the ground level. What a way to go. There was the honor of being the first band to play in the newly relocated Longbranch. There was the beefy fellow in Gryphon's doing cartwheels to the tune "Dancing Bear," looking very much like a namesake for the song's title character. Whatever may be said of the the Taoist Cowboys' music, the live performances must always be remembered as part of the total package.

Not that the music cannot stand alone. Far from it. To these jaded ears, at least their second release, Punt still sounds fresh. Had the band been able to afford higher-quality production values and been somewhat more selective in song choice, "Cholo," their freshman effort, might rival "Punt." Even so, "Cholo" was selected as one of the Greatest Knoxville Records of the 1980s by Metro Pulse (Vol. , No. , 2000).

So what was their music like? Again, "fun," comes to mind. As does poignant, poppy, countryish, hard-driving, churning, burning, and yearning. From Cholo's twangy, country-tinged "Not Even Johnny," march-cadenced, alto-sax-accompanied "Baby Pool," and raucous rock rave-up "School Girl," to the jangly guitar-driven pop of Punt's "Back with You," sweet, shimmery "Mind Chime," and bass-stomping, guitar-crunching proto-metal "Liquid Plumr," the Taoist Cowboys charged through a gauntlet of musical styles, seemingly indifferent to where that charge might end up.

As it was, the band ended up stumbling over the rock of domesticity. Bassist, husband, and father Brad Deaton took a night job that interfered with playing regular gigs, and his bandmates, Jeff Bills, Bob McCluskey, and Scott Carpenter elected to disband rather than attempt to replace Deaton. All four ended up playing in various local bands after life in the 'Cowboys, Bills probably most famously in the now-also-defunct V-roys. Although Cholo is no longer available, Lynn Point Records issued Punt as a CD in 2000.