Terry Allen: Cowboy and the Stranger (LAL/PoB-054)

The summer equinox is nearly upon us, so what better time—what better exact moment—to announce our exclusive Terry Allen co-release with our friends at the gallery L.A. Louver? Cowboy and the Stranger celebrates the occasion of Allen’s retrospective drawing exhibition The Exact Moment It Happens in the West (Stories, Pictures, and Songs from the ’60s ’Til Now) on display at L.A. Louver this summer (opening on June 26, one week from today, and running through September 28). Featuring previously unreleased Allen demos and songwriting work tapes spanning half a century (1968/2018), this cassette-only release is limited to an edition of 500 copies total. 

N.B. Our copies of this cassette have sold out, but you can still purchase via L.A. Louver. 

PURCHASE CASSETTE: $15

$5.00 – $15.00

Or purchase via: Bandcamp | L.A. Louver

The transparent red cassette includes a deluxe six-panel, full-color J-card with Allen’s artwork from the exhibition and track-by-track liner notes. Orders will begin shipping next week.

Cowboy and the Stranger comprises four songs: one of Terry’s longest-ever standalone songs, the narrative ballad “Roses Red Roses,” written in 1968 “under mind-expanding and/or mind-dismembering circumstances,” but unrecorded until 2018, as well as three solo demos recorded c. 1968 in LA—the title track (“a prelude to JUAREZ“); a germinal, pre-Two-Lane Blacktop version of Lubbock (on everything) classic “Truckload of Art“; and “Red Bird,” which he performed three years earlier on teen TV variety program Shindig!. Read more here.

A1: “Roses Red Roses” 10:45
B1: “Cowboy and the Stranger” 3:55
B2: “Truckload of Art” 3:27
B3: “Red Bird” 3:23

[youtube https://youtu.be/I0LX8p0oXD0]

The cowboy is lying under blood-cloud sky
The cowboy is dying under blood-loud sky

Terry Allen in Los Angeles

[youtube https://youtu.be/CRHlR1zx3ZI]

This is the Summer of Terry in Los Angeles. 

Celebrate the exhibition and release of Cowboy and the Stranger by catching Terry live for two nights of performances at Zebulon in LA. Joined by the Panhandle Mystery Band, he’ll play a selection of what he calls his “greatest missed hits,” including songs from Juarez and Lubbock (on everything), as well as new material. Get tickets while they’re still available.

Check out the immersive, in-depth exhibition website below, featuring a timeline and Terry’s art and music, as well as our new playlist, a subjective, chronological overview of the iconic and iconoclastic songwriter and artist’s wide-ranging discography.

We’ll be leading a walkthrough of the L.A. Louver exhibition while in LA for Terry’s concerts; message us if you’re interested in attending. 

The Exact Moment It Happens in the West

Celebrate the art show and release of Cowboy and the Stranger by catching Terry live for two nights of performances at Zebulon in LA!