Friday’s the night of the ‘shuffled’ cd release party for Gentlemen Losers at Elbow Room in Dallas. Drop by and buy the cd for only $5 and then drink ’til you sprawl out on the shuffleboard and start quoting Kierkegaard.

I’ve known Harvey Barham and Chris Cannon – the duo that are Gentlemen Losers – for a long time. Chris and I were friends in high school and Harvey and I became buddies at UT Austin – though I think I had dropped out of college by that time. Chris has been writing and recording for as long as I’ve known him. I remember he came up with this odd tune called ‘purpl brush’ for a high school jazz band project that confounded everyone else who were content to simply re-arrange jazz standards in a more boring format. Cannon was also playing in ‘Caulfield Manifesto’ at the time, writing these unique songs that had his essense stamped all over them. The same essense you hear today in whatever form or format his music takes – it is just ‘Cannon’ to me.

I was out of touch with both of these guys during the mid 90s, so I was shocked when I heard their cd ‘3rd’. Harvey had turned into this accomplished songwriter overnight it seemed. I remebered he played a bit of acoustic guitar but was just starting out when we were in Austin. He found his voice so quickly I suppose because he was always a great storyteller and conversationalist. Still jealous of him as I often feel I’m still searching for my voice.

The two compliment each other nicely and have recorded a ton of stuff together. Some call it lo-fi. I don’t. I think every recording has a charm to it and that it sounds the way it is ‘supposed’ to sound. Some cds are more polished and produced but the songwriting is always top-notch. The music is honest, warm and never boring. Check ’em out and let me know what you think America!