The much-heralded rock band plays The Acorn this month with special guests while celebrating the 30th anniversary of its milestone album. Writer Dave Gil de Rubio digs into the band’s retrospective leanings.
David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of Cracker: Still energizing a devoted fan base. (Photo/Jason Thrasher)
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Winston Churchill is credited with saying that history is written by the victors.
And in the world of major labels, these corporate entities have a long history of emerging as top dogs, for example, by controlling artist’s musical output and contracts that gave acts the short end of the stick.
David Lowery and his band Cracker definitely experienced that scenario following a wild and often successful ride while signed with Virgin Records. But he and fellow founding member Johnny Hickman have managed to take the wheel of their band’s narrative in recent years.
A case in point is the 2024 release, “Alternative History: A Cracker Retrospective,” a 3-LP/2-CD set that serves as a proxy version of the band’s canon. For Lowery, who is also a lecturer at the University of Georgia, the impetus for this undertaking can be traced to the most nefarious modern day anti-musician piece of technology — streaming services.
“Part of this grew out of me talking to our students where they would sort of go on a streaming service to see the Cracker best-of algorithmic playlists,” he explained in a recent interview.
“Based on the number of streams, it tends to favor the older stuff. It was sort of skewed and not really representing [us]. And then two of our three greatest hits compilations were also kind of 2002 backwards. We felt there needed to be another compilation. We got into talking about licensing some with Universal Music Group and Concord in conjunction with Cooking Vinyl, but it seemed like it was going to eat up all the money if we licensed the tracks.”
Rather than funnel money back to their former labels, Lowery decided to sift through re-recordings, demos, outtakes and live tracks for a set that ranges far and wide throughout the Cracker catalog, even managing to include a demo of “Father Winter” recorded by the band’s two founding members before they founded Cracker.
Cowpie Music Festival Headiner: David Lowery and Cracker in 2019. (Photo/Anna Sink)
In equally retrospective fashion, the band earlier this month released a 20th anniversary edition of “Greenland,” the seventh Cracker album. It’s the first time the recording has ever been released on vinyl, a double-album set that Lowery called “glorious” when announcing it.
Lowery is now back on the road with Cracker, with the band continuing to delve into its robust past by performing its 1996 album, “The Golden Age,” in its entirety, along with a second set of other hits and deep cuts. The band plays The Acorn in Three Oaks on Nov. 21. Tickets, $68-$103, are available online here.
Lowery and Hickman also are bringing out Chicago-based fiddler Anne Harris, who met the band through a previous event at The Acorn.
“She’s played with a number of different blues people but she’s also pretty versed in North American Celtic and stuff,” Lowery said. “It’s almost like she has a Led Zeppelin style is how I describe it. It’s a pretty rock show when we play.
“Her styling is more blues-rock in a way, partly because that’s where she comes from. She’s actually a very interesting and versatile artist in her own right. It’s a little bit of a different show when we play with her.”
In a recent interview with the “Anywhere the Needle Drops” podcast based in Niles, Lowery called Harris “critical” to celebrating “The Golden Age” because of the extra string and vocal parts on that particular album. “It’s been a blast,” he said.
‘The Golden Age’
Harris added that Megan Slankard also is on board adding to strings and vocals during the show.
“I love the concept of artists revisiting or visiting a piece in its entirety to present it in that way for a live audience. I think it’s really cool,” she said. “I think Cracker fans are enjoying the experience as well. That fan base is so dedicated and amazing and has such a long history with the band.”
Hence, 2024’s “Alternative History” project boasted a fan-friendly approach, too.
“This turned out to be an interesting project because basically what we were doing was telling the story of Cracker sort of using alternate takes like the stuff we did with Leftover Salmon re-records we’d done through the years, rare B-sides and a few unreleased things,” Lowery said.
“There are songs that over the years have become fan favorites, and while they were never singles, they were important live songs we do. For instance, ‘One Fine Day’ from the “Forever” album is an eight-minute, Neil Young/Crazy Horse stomping jam. And then also from that album is ‘Gimme One More Chance.’ Those are big fan favorites and show closers, but they were never singles and not once ever on the radio.”
Lowery is rightfully proud of how “Alternative History” came out.
“Some of these songs people have heard before, but usually it’s limited edition, rare or not available,” he said. “I found a demo of ‘Merry Christmas Emily’ that I sort of forgot about that was a completely different vibe. We went ahead and fleshed it out with a completely different vibe. It’s almost like a different song, but the words are the same. This, along with some of the stuff, are things people have never heard. I think [“Alternative History”] turned out pretty well.”
Lowery has also been busy on the solo front. Last year, he released a 28-track solo album, “Fathers, Sons and Brothers,” which compiled three of his solo albums — “In The Shadow of the Bill,” “Leaving Key Member Clause” and “Vending Machine” — along with four previously unreleased songs and four new tunes.
The compilation serves as Lowery’s musical autobiography and celebrates his 40 years in the music business, in a sense serving as a companion release to “Alternative History.” – By Dave Gil de Rubio, Last Word Features
VIDEO: Cracker, “The Golden Age” (Live)
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