Day 5: Cowpunk

Rank and File
Sundown

We idiom idiots can only keep things broad for so long before the urge sets in to really get precise. Rank and File, who released their debut album Sundown in 1982 on Rough Trade, made music that could be accurately called college rock, jangle pop, and maybe even roots rock or new wave. No label comes closer to hitting the nail on the head and illuminating the historical context of the band, however, than cowpunk. The premise of the style is simple: combine traditional country songwriting with the terse guitar lines and propulsive rhythms of punk. Beginning and ending in the 80s, cowpunk was indeed a niche genre, but nevertheless a significant one, both as an idiom supportive of a handful of exciting acts and as an important precursor to alt-country. The value of Sundown, however, easily exceeds that of a mere period piece. Songs such as “Amanda Ruth” and “Rank and File,” rival the works of such mainstays of jangle as Let’s Active and the Feelies, but Rank and File set themselves apart from such groups with the outlaw undertones created by their distinctly cowboy bass lines. Rank and File’s discography was given the lavish Rhino Handmade treatment with The Slash Years, an individually number set limited to 2500 copies that is now out of print.

To hear audio clips of Rank and File, visit Rhino Handmade's website here.