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You'd be hard-pressed to find too many households that are more musical than Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill's out in California.
Cowsill, of course, was part of the famous musical family of "The Rain, the Park & Other Things" fame since he was a youth and also spent 22 years playing drums and keyboards for the Beach Boys. Nowadays he's also one of the lead vocalists for the Smithereens.
Peterson, meanwhile, is a co-founder of the Bangles and has been part of the Continental Drifters and Psycho Sisters (with Cowsill's sister Susan) as well as recording with Tom Petty, Belinda Carlisle, Giant Sand and others.
Despite all that music-making, however, Peterson and Cowsill did not work together during their 23-year marriage until last year, when they released the album "Long After the Fire" band began to tour in support of it.
"That's why we're still married, basically," Peterson, 68, quipped via Zoom about the lack of collaboration over the years. But seriously, folks. . .
"I've actually talked to a couple other couples about this, and there's a whole different level of working together in a creative way, and it's not a given it's going to be a good thing or that it's going to work.
"We knew we could sing together; we'd done that before," she continued. "But to create a project . . . I was a little trepidatious. I don't know if (Cowsill) was. I think he was sort of waiting for me to get over it and come to the table, as it were. That's why it took awhile."
"Long After the Fire" was, in fact, Cowsill's suggestion. It's comprised of songs written by his late colder brothers Barry and Bill; the youngest among the 12 tracks is 25 years old.
"After the Beach Boys, I just wanted to record an album of some of their songs, 'cause (otherwise) no one will ever hear them," explained Cowsill, 69. "They're so old and so lovely. We love them, and (Peterson) loves Barry and she loves Bill, she loves my family, so she was on board.
"So we said, 'Let's do this, and let's re-present these (songs) in a new light. It was really a labor of love."
It was a labor, too, Cowsill noted; the songs themselves were "all over the place," with publishing and other business deals needing to be worked out along with the creative process.
Peterson also "had to get my head around" performing Bill Cowsill's country-leaning songs, although she acknowledged that working with the Continental Drifters for a decade in New Orleans "really enforced a love for Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
"I realized I absolutely love singing country, and as a kid that was not my thing at all," she said. "But the kind of country we've embraced, and that John's brother Bill embraced and revered, is the really classic 40s, 50s country duets, or Everly Brothers-style, two-part harmony. That is just yummy to me."
And not a news flash to Cowsill.
"That's what I grew up with in my house," he said. "Country's always been there. I look back and I kinda giggle 'cause I was always into country. I sang 'Old Lonesome Me' every night in the bars. I sang 'Long Tall Texan' . . . in the Cowsills more famous days I got to do two Johnny Cash songs in the show. So doing this album was, for me, a natural thing, and Vicki really got into the country aspect of it."
Performing together, meanwhile, has been a natural endeavor for the couple. "We've both been singing so long we don't think about the things you're asking." Cowsill noted. Peterson added:
"You have to understand, John grew up in a musical family . . . spent his childhood singing with his siblings. I spent my childhood listening to music and singing in the back seat of the car doing harmonies with my siblings, (Bangles bandmate) Debbi especially. So that's part of part of our DNA, and the singing together is the easy part."
In their shows, meanwhile, Peterson and Cowsill draw not only from the album but also from their pasts.
"At first, to be honest, we were a little reticent to address that," Peterson acknowledged. "We're very focused on the music we're singing together now, but we realize people see our names and they're going to come to the show, and maybe they're a Cowsills fan or a Bangles fan -- hopefully they are -- so it's actually respectful to play them a song or wo that come from those worlds.
"And we've also learned to love them. When we do a Cowsills song it makes me happy, because I'm a Cowsills fan." And Cowsill said that, "When we do a Bangles song I get to be a Bangle for a second, so it's as entertainment for me as it is for her and is for the audience. The whole time on stage you're getting our office, kitchen, living room, whichever room we're in together."
Peterson and Cowsill are maintaining other endeavors as well. With the Bangles' triple-platinum breakthrough album "Different Light" turning 40 this year, Peterson says there are no plans for the band to reunite but it is in the early stages of putting together a documentary with director Lauren Lazin ("Tupac: Resurrection").
Cowsill, meanwhile, is enjoying his time as one of three rotating singers, along with Marshall Crenshaw and Gin Blossoms' Robin Williams, with the Smithereens.
"It's a total thing I didn't see coming," he says. "I sang leads now and then with the Beach Boys -- like 'Darlin' and 'I Can Hear Music' and 'Sail On, Sailor' -- but I've never been, per se, the lead singer of a band.
But this has been such a fun thing. They are the funnest people to sing with on stage. They're just lovely people, and I get to hover over Dennis (Diken) and play air drums with him."
As to whether Peterson and Cowsill will take the next step into writing their own songs, both affirm that nothing has happened yet. But Cowsill predicts that "we will," while Peterson advises "stay tuned."
Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill perform at 8 p.m. Sunday, July 15 at Treelawn Music Hall, 15335 Waterloo Road, Cleveland. 216-383-1124 or beachlandballroom.com.
Gary Graff
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