Prog-Pod

I’m sitting at a desk looking out at this gorgeous day and working on some GCO updates. We’ve been working on some new tunes and are looking forward to breaking those out this summer. Thanks to all the Facebook fans who voted on which band to cover first… we’ll be adding a cover of a Yes song to our set this summer as well. Watch for its debut at the Mankato Arts Festival! Can’t wait!

All of our albums are now available on I-Tunes, people! Listen, download, leave some reviews! Actually, I was just thinking about updating our “News” section on our website, which hasn’t been updated in WAY too long and thought – I could just let everyone know about the I-Tunes add on Blogger instead. What are your thoughts?.. should we change our “News” section to a “Blog” section instead? Hmmm… So many things to think about when you’re in a band!

I had a great time this past weekend traveling with my hubby, John, and band buddies Trent Romens and Billy Thommes. Billy had his Prog-pod, as he liked to call it, rockin and I got to listen to some sweet Crimson, Yes and all kinds of new music (new to me, at any rate). I had no idea the Mars Volta had such crazy chops!

It was a fun weekend of music-listening and I felt inspired to dig out some classical music. I started working on my old audition piece, Mozart’s Concerto in A Major. Man, that’s a tough piece of music, especially since I lost my old copy and, thus, no longer have my teacher’s trusty fingerings to help me out. I definitely like the idea of getting some of my classical chops back. I’ll keep working at it. You never know, maybe GCO will play some Mozart for ya’ll this summer!

New Tunage - Dan's 1st Post

Hello friends and neighbors,
I'm momentarily sitting still and typing (slowly) to let you know the GCO are hard at work on some new tunage. We had a practice/writing and arranging session last Monday night and it was a lot of fun.We have at least two new pieces of music happening and I know John and Lisi are going to lay some more on me next Wednesday. I think Mark O'Day is joining in on that night also. That means I'm farming out some of my yardwork this weekend and putting in some practice time. I'm hoping we'll play one or two of these tunes at Golden Valley Days on the 21st of this month. Hope to see y'all there and hang out for the rest of the bands.           
Danny

Duluth News Tribune Review

Hey All!
We received a fantastic review for "All Out of Peaches" from John Ziegler of the Duluth News Tribune. Read below:

CD Review

The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra

“All Out of Peaches”

by John Ziegler

   Groups like The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra need to be heard, to understand just how high the bar for contemporary instrumental music really is in 2011.

   Fusing together jazz, classical, bluegrass, southern rock, Indian ragas, plus their own original styling’s; this quartet, made up of some of the Twin Cities area’s finest artists, play with fire, precision and commitment.

   Their brand new release “All Out of Peaches” (Leo Kottke told me years ago that naming instrumental tunes and albums was one of the most problematic aspects of his job) is simply bursting with individual and collective excellence and is a proper showcase for just how talented this group is.

   The title track, with Lisi Wright’s violin and Dan Neale’s guitar leading the charge, has the rhythmic feel of Jean Luc Ponty and John McLaughlin during their “Visions of the Emerald Beyond” period. This pair, repeatedly through the course of the disc, create an inner mounting flame with exquisite lines and spirited ideas. There is a lightning-fast segue into an acoustic foray that could easily be mistaken for Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski and Ron Block…then just as speedily they hop back into an electric groove that I could visualize head-bangers throwing their hair around to. It’s an instrumental tour de force that serves notice to the listener: this isn’t just another bunch of musicians slapping it together out of some fake book….this is something very special.

   “Ruby” begins with what could be an excerpt from a Paganini violin concerto showcasing Lisi Wright’s dexterous fingerboard work complete with trills, double-stops, and razor-sharp intonation. The complete ensembles entrance provides a soft cushion into which the fiddle nestles on a tune that paints a portrait of a Ruby who is/was full of love and compassion.

   “Memo” has a funkified vibe with drummer Mark O’Day walloping out a hellacious back-beat that could wake the dead. Bassist John Wright’s tenancious bottom end allows the violin and guitar to almost float over the top with sustained articulation that sounds like Carlos Santana (at his best) getting deep inside the note.

   “Cajun in Spurs” is a hoedown and lets guitarist Neale (a former Martin Zellar band-member) cut loose with some tasty, and very greasy, chicken pickin’; “Straight To The Top” brings to mind English guitarists John Renborn and Bert Jansch in an acoustic fret-fest; “Five UpFront”  is in 5/4 time which is the perfect vehicle to dance to… for people who have one leg just slightly shorter than the other; “Minion” is like looking up into the dark, blue night sky on a crisp winter eve and seeing the Northern Lights; “The Blaze” is simply taken at a ridiculously fast tempo (it’s a bit like Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs meeting Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke and Return To Forever). The record goes on from there with superb playing and original ideas.

   If you love Trampled By Turtles and the ferocious speed with which they carry on, and look forward to their summer show with Willie Nelson, then do yourself a favor and check out this disc and this group “live” when they come to town tomorrow night.

John Ziegler has worked in the music industry for 37 years as a radio host, interviewer, record producer, and professional musician.