New Tattoo

1	Carla's Got a New Tattoo / John Cowan Band 3:51
2	Love's Like Rain / John Cowan Band 4:15
3	Misery & Happiness / John Cowan Band 4:33
4	Hurting Sure / John Cowan Band 3:53
5	In Bristol Town / John Cowan Band 4:05
6	6 Red Birds (In a Joshua Tree) / John Cowan Band 4:16
7	Working in the New Mine / John Cowan Band 3:19
8	Back to Your Arms / John Cowan Band 3:33
9	With a Memory Like Mine / John Cowan Band 4:27
10	Tomorrow Morning / John Cowan Band 4:28
11	Drown / John Cowan Band 6:07

Barnes & Noble

At the close of this beautifully realized album, John Cowan reveals a dark secret concerning childhood sexual abuse. The brittle piano ballad "Drown" is at once a moment of painful confession, spiritual despair, and triumphant survival as Cowan, his voice crying out, vows never to let another child suffer. It's an unsettling, provocative coda that lingers on in memory -- not so much for its explicit rendering of horror but for his restraint when a fiery, unforgiving howl seems more than appropriate. Throughout New Tattoo, though, Cowan sings with a passion tempered by experience but unfettered in its expressiveness. His band is strictly aces -- banjo player Luke Pikelny and fiddlers/mandolinists Wayne Benson and Luke Bulla especially stand out -- and Cowan, on bass, delivers the goods again and again vocally. On the driving bluegrass of "Carla's Got a New Tattoo," the bluesy yin-yang of "Misery & Happiness," the laid-back country folk groove and melodic pop grandeur of the breakup song "Hurting Sure," and the restless shuffle of "Working in a New Mine," Cowan finds the heart of the matter and roots it out, belting determined phrases when the band revs it up or letting his warm, personable tenor caress the reflective passages of love songs just so, in order to make the ache or the exultation near palpable; the delicate determination he brings to the heart-tugging song of devotion "Back to Your Arms" is the stuff of masterful vocalizing. New Tattoo is here for the duration. David McGee

All Music Guide

While John Cowan gained his rep in New Grass Revival during the '70s and '80s, his vocal style has always owed more to Robert Plant than Bill Monroe. That makes him much more expressive than the average bluegrass singer, and along with Tim O'Brien, one of the genre's most exciting vocalists. As a soloist, however, his career has never quite taken off. Perhaps that's because albums like 2000's John Cowan and 2002's Always Take Me Back proved too bombastic for even the progressive bluegrass crowd and still too traditionally tinged for the rock crowd. With 2006's New Tattoo, the John Cowan Band have taken a step back, first jumping to a more conservative label (Pinecastle) and secondly sticking closer to acoustic instruments. The results place Cowan closer to New Grass Revival material than he's been since the band broke up, and will be a welcome change for old fans. On the downside, the material -- most of it written by other writers -- lacks the spunk and edge that made John Cowan and Always Take Me Back intense (though perhaps over-produced). Even on a jewel like Darrell and Wayne Scott's "With a Memory Like Mine," Cowan's version lacks emotional depth when compared to Darrell Scott's take on 2000's Real Time with Tim O'Brien. New Tattoo nonetheless has much to recommend it, with excellent vocals and instrumental work, and will receive a warm welcome by longtime Cowan fans. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.