Susan Cowsill Interview, Influenced the Partridge Family Series
Interview courtesy: Valerie Turner Polishook
Susan Cowsill began her career in the music industry at the tender age = of seven years old, when she joined her brothers Bill, Bob, B= arry, Paul, and John and her mother Barbara in the = pop group the Cowsills in 1966. While best remembered as the = real-life group that inspired the television series The Partridge = Family, the Cowsills scored a handful of fine hit singles = (including “Hair,” “Indian Lake,” and “The Rain, the Park and Other = Things”) and released six albums before the group disbanded in 1971, when = Susan was 12. While the Cowsills did periodic reunion shows = (and cut a well-received new album in 1998, Global), Susan = took a break from the music business for most of the 1970s, though she cut = a pair of singles for Warner Brothers in 1977. It was in the = early ’80s that Susan began making a serious name for herself again in = music, initially as a backing vocalist. She became a full-time = member of Dwight Twilley’s band and sang on several of his albums in = the 1980s, including 1984’s Jungle, which spawned the hit = single “Girls.” In the 1990s, Susan’s career moved into higher gear; = she was in demand as a backing vocalist, lending her talents to albums by = Hootie & the Blowfish, Giant Sand, the Smithereens, = Carlene Carter, and Jules Shear, and she began to step back = into the spotlight when she joined the alt-country supergroup the = Continental Drifters, which also featured former Bangles = guitarist Vicki Peterson and Peter Holsapple of the = dB’s. Susan and Peter also formed a personal partnership when = they wed in 1992, while Vicki and Susan devoted some of their spare = time to a side project, the Psycho Sisters, who played club dates = and released a single. The Continental Drifters won enthusiasti= c reviews and a potent cult following in the United States, and even = greater commercial success in Europe, releasing three albums and an EP = between 1994 and 2001. Susan soon formed a solo band with C= hris Knotts on guitar, Rob Savoy on bass, and Russ Broussard on drums; Broussard, who had played with the Continental = Drifters, married Susan in 2003, and as a side project they put = together a zydeco band, the Bonoffs, which gigged periodically around = their adopted hometown of New Orleans. In 2005, only 38 years after = appearing on record for the first time, Susan Cowsill finally released her = first solo album, the critically acclaimed Just Believe It, = which featured guest appearances from Vicki Peterson, Lucinda = Williams, and Adam Duritz. Susan speaks to Shadoe Steele = from her home in New Orleans.
