Freakwater is an American

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

band from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, with one co-founding member living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Freakwater is known for the lead vocals of Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin, who mix harmony and melody in idiosyncratic dissonant country-folk that is reminiscent of the

Carter Family Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...

History

Thrill Jockey

In 1989, Janet Beveridge Bean (of rock band

Eleventh Dream Day Eleventh Dream Day (EDD) is an American alternative rock band from Chicago. History The band was founded by guitarists Rick Rizzo and Janet Beveridge Bean, who met at a place fondly known as 1069. This was a house/practice space/hang out in Lo ...

) and Catherine Irwin founded the band, and they have been supported by several musicians since then, including members of

Califone Califone is an experimental rock band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, an audio equipment manufacturer. Their work has been critically acclaimed. Roots & Crowns review AllMusic Califone has released an album and f ...

(2005 ''Thinking of You'' tour). Bassist David Wayne Gay, formerly of Stump The Host, is another long-time member of the band. They released their records on Chicago's

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

label. From 2006 to 2013, Bean and Irwin worked on other projects. A reissue of 1993's ''Feels Like the Third Time'' as a 20-year anniversary restarted the duo playing together as Freakwater. In 2014, the band went out on the road, touring and playing the record as their main set.

Bloodshot Records

In February 2016, Freakwater released the record ''Scheherazade'' on

Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, which specializes in alternative country. History Bloodshot Records was founded in 1994 by Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and Eric Babcock, who knew each other from jobs i ...

. In advance of the full-length record—-the duo's first record since 2005-—Freakwater released a single called "The Asp And The Albatross".

Freakons

In 2013, and again in September 2017 and July 2021, Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin of Freakwater joined together with

Jon Langford Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative count ...

and

Sally Timms Sally Timms (born 29 November 1959) is an English singer and lyricist. Timms is best known for her long involvement with The Mekons whom she joined in 1985.Sally Timmsat Allmusic Career Born in Leeds, in 1959,Wallenfeldt, Jeffthe Mekons in ...

of the

Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

to be the Freakons, performing original and cover songs about

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, to support the non-profit organization

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) is a grassroots community organization under the original name of the Kentuckian Fair Tax Coalition. It began when 26 people from 12 countries met in Hazard on August 17, 1981. Though statewide, KFTC has dee ...

. Each time, the Freakons performed at the

Hideout Hideout may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hideout'' (film), a 1949 American thriller film directed by Philip Ford * ''The Hideout'' (1956 film), a 1956 British crime film directed by Peter Graham Scott * ''The Hideout'' (film), a 2007 film by Pup ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and elsewhere in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In 2013, they also performed at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB), originally Strictly Bluegrass, is an annual free and non-commercial music festival held the first weekend of October in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Conceived and subsidized by San Francisco ...

festival. In 2017, they were accompanied by violinists

Jean Cook Jean George Cook (born 14 August 1991) is a South African rugby union player. His usual position is flanker or number eight and he most recently played for Japanese Top League club Kintetsu Liners. Career Cook started out his career with ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Anna Krippenstapel of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

( The Other Years,

Joan Shelley Joan Shelley (born in 1985) is an American indie folk musician from Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Career Shelley has released a number of studio recordings. Her second album, ''Ginko'', and third album, ''Farthest Field'' (with Daniel Ma ...

, etc.), and, only in Chicago, by Chicago/Louisville guitarist

James Elkington James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

( The Horse's Ha, etc.). In 2021, the same line-up, without Elkington, performed, and they released the live album ''Freakons'', recorded at the 2017 Chicago performances.

Collaborations

* The band makes an appearance in the 1994

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

road movie A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...

'' Half-cocked''.

Discography

Albums

* 1989: ''Freakwater'' (

Amoeba Records Amoeba Music is an American independent music store chain with locations in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1990 in Berkeley, California, and remains in operation, having survived the decline ...

) * 1991: ''Dancing Under Water / Freakwater'' (Amoeba Records) * 1993: ''Feels Like the Third Time'' (

;City Slang) * 1995: ''Old Paint'' (Thrill Jockey; City Slang) * 1995: ''June 6, 1994'' ( Glitterhouse Records) * 1997: ''Dancing Under Water'' LP/CD (Thrill Jockey) * 1998: ''

Springtime Springtime may refer to: * Spring (season), one of the four temperate seasons Film and television * ''Springtime'' (1920 film), an American silent comedy starring Oliver Hardy * ''Springtime'' (1929 film), a ''Silly Symphonies'' animated Disne ...

'' LP/CD (Thrill Jockey) * 1999: ''End Time'' LP/CD (Thrill Jockey) * 2005: ''Thinking of You...'' (Thrill Jockey) * 2016: ''Scheherazade'' (

)

Singles

* 1990: "Your Goddamned Mouth" / "War Pigs" (1 1/4 York Records) * 1993: "My Old Drunk Friend" / "Kentucky" (Thrill Jockey) * 1995: "South of Cincinnati" / "Cut Me Out" (Thrill Jockey) * 1999: "Hellbound" / "Lorraine" (Thrill Jockey) * 2015: "The Asp & The Albatross" / "Fullerene" (Bloodshot Records)

Compilations

* 1993: ''Keep On The Sunny Side: A Tribute to the Carter Family'' (Amoeba Records) * 1999: "Picture in My Mind" - '' Alt.Country Exposed Roots'' (K-Tel Records) * 2019: "Sway" - ''Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots'' (Bloodshot Records) * 2021: "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" - ''The Closing Time 2020'' - Janet Beveridge Bean &

with the

Pine Valley Cosmonauts Pine Valley Cosmonauts (PVC) are a musical ensemble from Chicago, Illinois. History The group was initiated by Jon Langford (also of the Waco Brothers and The Mekons) as a covers group, with both repertory and cast of backing members constantly ...

( Virtue Cider)

Catherine Irwin solo (partial)

* 2003: ''Cut Yourself A Switch'' (Thrill Jockey) * 2012: ''Little Heater'' (Thrill Jockey)

Janet Bean solo (partial)

* 1992: ''Jesus Built A Ship To Sing To'' - Jeff Lescher & Janet Beveridge Bean (released under the name "Jeff and Janet") (Megadisc) * 2004: ''Dragging Wonder Lake'' (Thrill Jockey)

Freakons

* 2021 ''Freakons'' ( Fluff & Gravy Records)

References

External links

Freakwater

Freakwater
at

Freakwater
at

Freakwater
at Grunnen Rocks * American alternative country groups American musical trios Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups from Louisville, Kentucky Country music groups from Kentucky 1989 establishments in Kentucky Bloodshot Records artists Thrill Jockey artists Glitterhouse Records artists City Slang artists {{Louisville-stub