Billy Cowsill is back -- in more ways than one.
The veteran musician who now calls Calgary home is sitting in a local coffee shop and he is, admittedly, in the best mood he's been in for a long, long time.
The day before he celebrated his 54 birthday -- and he did so free of pain, thanks to an operation late last year that rectified his chronic back problems.
In fact so bad was the pain before the operation, Cowsill had actually called it quits, performing wise.
The back and the birthday aside, he's also buoyed by the release of Live Recording Event, the sensational new disc by The Co-Dependents, the country rock band he shares with local hotshots Tim Leacock, Steve Pineo and Ross Watson.
The quartet, which performs Feb. 4 at Karma Local Arts House, is yet another chapter in a life that's included more highs and lows than most of the living should be allowed to relate.
"It's been a ride, man," chuckles Cowsill.
"Thirty-five years of rock 'n' rolling and pop music-ing -- it's been a ride."
Rescued by friends
Highlights of Cowsill's personal rollercoaster include, of course, his stint in successful '60s pop act The Cowsills, which scored a number of hits and was the real life inspiration behind The Partridge Family.
In the '90s he also helped found retro country act The Blue Shadows, which released two well-received albums and seemed to be headed for big things before breaking up halfway through the decade.
"Why?" Cowsill says when asked. "Three vegetarians and a junkie -- what are the chances?
"I (messed up), plain and simple ... Blow another free lunch, Bill."
That end was the beginning of what might have been the permanent end for Cowsill had it not been for some Calgary friends who saw in him something worth saving.
"After the Blue Shadows broke up I really spiralled down and got pretty sick for awhile," he says. "I was living in Vancouver, on my way out, really, literally, and my friends in Calgary came to my rescue.
"These same people that I've known all these years, and worked with all these years, when the smoke cleared they were still there.
"They dragged me here, put me up in a facility and allowed me to get my health, my sanity and a fair amount of spirituality back."
So, for the past couple of years Cowsill has been building a life for himself in Calgary.
He's gone back to school and he's halfway through a psych degree from Mount Royal College.
And he's also become an important fixture on the local music scene -- a mentor of sorts for the singer-songwriter community.
Lately Cowsill has produced and contributed to albums including Pineo's, Mike Stack's CD, and a forthcoming disc from bluegrass husband and wife duo Craig Korth and Julie Kerr. And then of course there's The Co-Dependents, something which gives him obvious joy.
"It's adorable. The way it came about was really cool," says Cowsill, explaining the band has grown over the past few years from he and Leacock just performing as a duo.
"It was just a weekend warrior kind of band, and it kind of still is -- Steve's got his band, Tim's in National Dust ...
"It's a weekend party band which I think is half the charm. There's nothing serious going on.
"It's always just been for fun and I think that attitude comes across. We're a working band but we don't work at it."
Riding the wave
That sense of fun is evident on Live Recording Event, which was recorded over a three-night period at Calgary's Mecca Cafe and features the band honky tonkin its way through some Cowsill and Pineo originals as well as covers such as Hank Williams' Long Gone Lonesome Blues and the Stones' Far Away Eyes.
The immediate success of the independently released album, as well as the leftover material, has meant another one could be on the way.
But for Cowsill that's the future, something at this point in his life he's not about to speculate on.
He's just enjoying the here and now of what's already been a long, strange wonderful trip. "I've given up fighting the tidal wave of the universe," he says.
"I'm just going to ride the wave out."
