The Gourds

The Gourds
The Gourds performing in Austin, Texas, in 2007
Background information
Origin	Austin, Texas, United States
Genres	Alternative country Progressive bluegrass Texas country
Years active	1994–2013 (on hiatus)
Labels	Munich, Watermelon, Sugar Hill, Eleven Thirty, Yep Roc, Vanguard Records
Associated acts	The Bumz Picket Line Coyotes The Grackles Old Government Clocker Redbury and Dusty Slosinger The Tinys Kev Russell's Junker Shinyribs The Hard Pans Fancy Dux
Website	Thegourds.com
Members	Claude Bernard Max Johnston Keith Langford Kevin Russell Jimmy Smith
Past members	Charlie Llewellin

The Gourds are an American alternative country band that formed in Austin, Texas, United States, during the summer of 1994. After playing together for 19 consecutive years, the band went on hiatus in 2013.

Primarily evolving from the Picket Line Coyotes and the Grackles, The Gourds first line-up consisted of Kevin Russell (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Jimmy Smith (vocals, bass, guitar), Claude Bernard (accordion, guitar, vocals), and Charlie Llewellin (drums, percussion). Llewellin was replaced by Keith Langford shortly after the second album was recorded, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston officially joined the band after being invited to play on their third album. By the following album, Johnston had also become the band's third songwriter, though Russell and Smith continued to share the bulk of those responsibilities.

Despite a sizable amount of original material, The Gourds are probably best known for a song they did not write, and for which they initially did not receive credit. In fact, for most of the 16 years following their first live performance of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice", fans could regularly be heard calling out for the band's cover version of the song, sometimes before the show had even started. This led some to consider it an albatross, but the band continued to play the crowd pleaser, often adding a medley of impromptu cover songs to its midsection.

While The Gourds studio efforts were generally well received, their high-energy live performances and constant touring earned them the reputation of a band that had to be seen to be appreciated. As a result, they enjoyed a dedicated fan base that was happy to follow them from town to town, and became a favorite among those who tape live music.

In March 2011, The Gourds traveled to Levon Helm's studio in to record their 10th studio album, Old Mad Joy. Produced by Larry Campbell, the record was released by Vanguard Records on September 13 that same year.

In August 2011, director Doug Hawes-Davis began shooting a documentary on the band that combined candid interviews with live performances, past and present. Musician and filmmaker Brendan Canty worked as a camera operator and ran location sound on the project, which drew partial funding from Kickstarter in 2012 and premiered in Austin at the South by Southwest film festival on March 13, 2013. The film was released on DVD in 2014.