LA Cowboy: The Big Pitch

There is, one supposes, a niche for most everything, although some tastes are surely acquired. Admittedly, a kind of epistolary recording that seems to combine "To Live and Die in LA" with Lady Millea's I Don't Mind Missing You (Reconcile, 2021) is a bit difficult to characterize. Some writers have called this a sort of retro pre-swing recording, lyrics, music and story somehow grounded in the 1920s. That may well be, although the hook is really the chance to hear Lady Millea again. The libretto included with this most idiosyncratic recording is open to lots of interpretations. The proof of the exercise is left to the listener. The protagonist is either trying to pitch a script (or perhaps himself) to a potential partner. This is a bit like one of those Latin American magic realism pieces by Julio Cortazar. Once you decide in which order to listen, the story tells itself. But you have to chose.

All songs are written, arranged and produced by J. Frederick Millea, aka LA Cowboy. The band, herein christened "The Hiplomats," is composed of LA session players par excellence. You might ignore the story and listen to the band. Or ignore the band and try to figure out the story. Since LA Cowboy avers "you have to work it out all yourself from the clues," you might as well. The reference to Bertolt Brecht must be a kind of musical Easter Egg. You decide. Someone has to.

Nothing that features Lady Millea on a backup vocal can be all bad.