Court Yard Hounds “Court Yard Hounds”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#171 in the Series) is self-titled debut from, Court Yard Hounds.

This was my surprise find of the year.  It’s one of my favorite albums of 2010.

For those of you not familiar with Court Yard Hounds, they are Emily Robison and Martie Maguire from the Dixie Chicks.

I’ve always liked the Dixie Chicks.  Taking their name from a Little Feat song got them going in the right direction from the start with me!  However, I never was a huge fan that saw them in concert or bought more than an album here or there. (I do think the single “Not Ready to Make Nice” is superb!)

So one night I’m watching David Letterman as I do often and the Court Yard Hounds are on the show. I try to watch all the musical acts.  Some blow.  But some are really strong. I was really impressed with the Court Yard Hounds.

The two ladies did a song with them playing banjo and fiddle that began with a traditional bluegrass/gospel feel to it.  But after the intro it quickly jumped into a sound that I did not expect.

It had a nice power rock flow to it and the harmonies and band were just great.  They had my attention!  I check what the song was called and became a fan of “Ain’t No Son.” That’s what it was called. I was ‘almost’ a new fan at this point.

About two weeks later, I see they’re ventured west and I see they’re appearing on the Craig Ferguson Show.  So I’m thinking, OK Emily and Martie, let me hear “Ain’t No Son” again and let’s hear how it sounds. At first I was a little disappointed since they chose another track. A song that was 180% from “Ain’t No Son”…. And it was better.  This song was called “The Coast” and had a mellow, warm feeling to it.

That did it.  I went and picked up the album the next day. I found many other great songs on the album including a duet with Jakob Dylan called “See You in Spring.”

Court Yard Hounds peaked at #7 on the Billboard Album Charts.

It was produced by Emily Robison and Martie Maguire along with Jim Scott.

OFFICIAL COURT YARD HOUNDS WEB SITE: www.courtyardhounds.com

Now, so you can get introduced to the Court Yard Hounds the same way I was… Here is the two appearance of which I wrote. “Ain’t No Son” from the David Letterman Show. Unfortunately, “The Coast” from Craig Ferguson is no longer on YouTube. But I’ll give you version to hear anyway.