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Bob Cowsill hoped the documentary “Family Band: The Cowsills Story” would show up on TV someday.
“But I never thought it would be on 14 times in the same month,” he said. “That’s incredible.”
The 2011 documentary on the rise and fall of Newport’s most famous band will play on Showtime 2 tonight at 8 and repeat on various Showtime stations throughout the month.
In a phone interview, Cowsill, who lives in Los Angeles, said the airings came as a surprise. “We’ve been showing it at film festivals across the country, like we did in Providence two years ago (as part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival),” he said. “We never gave up on it. But then we found out Showtime was interested.
“Showtime is mostly about its original programming, which is really good, but they run music documentaries, too. They just had a good one about the Eagles, for example.”
The Cowsills made it big in the late ’60s with hits like “The Rain, the Park and Other Things” and “Hair.” The main musical force was brother Bill Cowsill, along with Bob, Barry, John, Paul, sister Susan and mother Barbara.
The group fell apart in 1970 after touring the country and appearing several times on national TV, including four stints on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
The band members went from teen idols to working day jobs as young adults. The movie recounts how sketchy accounting and mismanagement at the hands of abusive father Bud Cowsill ate up millions. And the movie focuses heavily on the father’s violent nature.
Barry Cowsill died in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, his body washed onto a dock. Bill Cowsill died from emphysema and other health problems in Canada in 2006. The movie features interviews with both.
Bob, Susan and Paul Cowsill perform together semi-regularly. A version of the Cowsills performed during the 2002 Sunset Music Festival. Brother John plays drums for the Beach Boys, including a 2009 concert at Naval Station Newport.
It’s shaping up to be a big spring for The Cowsills, who also are part of the 2013 class of the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame. They will be inducted on Sunday, April 28, at the Met Cafe in Pawtucket along with others including Paul Geremia, Steve Smith and the Nakeds and the late composer George M. Cohan, who was born in Providence.
With the exception of Barry, who lived in Newport shortly before his death, none of the Cowsills have lived in Rhode Island for 40 or more years.
“I didn’t even know there was a Hall of Fame,” Bob Cowsill said. “I found out this is the second year. I can’t believe the great music that’s come out of Rhode Island ... Beaver Brown, people like that. I never knew the connection with George M. Cohan. My brothers and I loved ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ with Jimmy Cagney. We absolutely loved it.”
The surviving Cowsills — with the exception of brother Richard, who was not part of the original group — will perform that night. “John has a reprieve that night from the Beach Boys — thank you, Mike Love,” Bob Cowsill said.
In his 60s, Bob Cowsill said he realizes the music business moves fast. It took him a while, for instance, to embrace YouTube, which features numerous Cowsill concert clips.
“I thought I could control it at first,” he said. “Then I realized people are going to post stuff from shows and we have to deal with it. Some are better than others. There’s some really good stuff from B.B. King’s (in New York City) on Sept. 17, 2012.
“People kept emailing me and telling me how much they liked it. At first I thought, ‘There weren’t that many people there.’ Then John told me how great we sounded. I realized it was all over YouTube. So now I understand the benefit.”
Just as it was when he was a teenager, Cowsill is performing for a national audience — but in a way he never imagined.
“It keeps us on our game,” he said. “We have to be on key. You can’t sing flat. You can’t be sloppy. Anyone can go online and see it. And it will be around forever.”
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