Sonia Tetlow is an American songwriter and musician. She fronts the band Herman Put Down The Gun and plays banjo in the alterna-grass group Roxie Watson. Formerly the singer/ guitarist for

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

trio, STB ''(Sonia Tetlow Band)'', which released two critically acclaimed independent albums, "Spit" and "Swerve." Tetlow played

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

in the rock band

Cowboy Mouth Cowboy Mouth is an American band based in New Orleans, Louisiana known for fusing alternative rock with album-oriented rock, roots rock, and jam band influences. Formed in 1992, the band saw early mainstream success in the 1990s, including th ...

from 2004-2007.

Early life

Sonia grew up in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and graduated from

St. Mary's Dominican High School St. Mary's Dominican High School, or simply Dominican High School, is an all-girls private Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Dominican is one of the few schools in Louisiana without a m ...

and

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

where her sister was formerly a law professor, former President of Loyola University New Orleans and current President of Fordham University in New York City.

Career

Since then, she's lived in

. A diverse and talented multi-instrumentalist, she has toured extensively both in support of her own music, solo and with a band, as well as playing bass for New Orleans rockers

(mid-2004 through May 12, 2007) and guitar and mandolin for New Orleans singer/songwriter Paul Sanchez. Tetlow has also had the pleasure of performing on

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

, Atlanta and Company with Holly Firfir, the Louisiana Jukebox, as well as other news and radio broadcasts. She has opened for

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

Shawn Mullins Shawn Mullins (born March 8, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter who specializes in folk rock, instrumental rock, adult alternative, and Americana music. His 1998 single "Lullaby" hit number one on the Adult Top 40 and was nominated for a Gr ...

, Speech and Headliner from

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

Peter Holsapple Peter Livingston Holsapple (born February 19, 1956) is an American musician who, along with Chris Stamey, formed the dB's, a jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, ...

and numerous others. She's toured the east coast, performing at such venues as the Atlanta Civic Center, the Roxy Theater,

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

's, Newby's,

The Bitter End The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually s ...

and Cafe Passim to name a few. Sonia also has showcased at the Atlantis Music Conference in Atlanta, GA and

ROCKRGRL ''ROCKRGRL'' was the first national publication for female musicians in the United States. Created by Carla DeSantis, the magazine purely focused on women in music and highlighted the artistic diversity of women musicians, often overlooked in ...

Music Conference in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Besides being a prolific songwriter in her own right, Tetlow has collaborated on songs with Paul Sanchez (Cowboy Mouth, Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show),

John Thomas Griffith John Thomas Griffith (born April 3, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the band Cowboy Mouth. Griffith first established himself on the American music scene in the early 1980s as lead singer and gui ...

(Red Rockers, Cowboy Mouth),

Fred LeBlanc Fred LeBlanc is the lead singer/drummer for the New Orleans–based rock band Cowboy Mouth, and a freelance songwriter, record producer, short story author, and acoustic performer. Known for his "maniacal" performance style, and described as "a ...

(Cowboy Mouth, Dash Rip Rock) and David Torkanowsky (Astral Project, Irma Thomas), and was awarded four writing credits on Cowboy Mouth's 2006 release, "VooDoo Shoppe." Her lyrics have been called, "uncompromising yet undeniably intimate," (Michael Andrews, Athens Flagpole) and her music runs the gamut from, "rocking with a barely contained intensity," (Hal Horowitz, Atlanta Press) to, "mellow but soulfully intoxicating," (Jeff Clark, Stomp and Stammer). In 2017, Sonia Tetlow released the critically successful record "Now" which was produced by Atlanta ambient musician B.E.N

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Reclaiming Beauty'' (1998) * ''From a Seed of Sand'' (2006) * ''Own Way Home'' (2012) * ''A Place for Everyone'' (2014) * ''Now'' (2017) * ''Better Days'' (2022)

Albums with Roxie Watson

* ''True Stories'' (2010) * ''Of Milestones And Moon Pie'' (2012) * ''Songs from Hell's Hollow'' (2014)

Albums with Paul Sanchez & The Rolling Roadshow

* ''Reclamation Of The Pie-Eyed Piper'' (2011)

Albums with Herman Put Down The Gun

* ''Herman Put Down The Gun'' (2008)

Albums with Cowboy Mouth

* ''Voodoo Shoppe'' (2006)

Albums with STB

* ''Spit'' (2000) * ''Swerve'' (2001)

Compilation albums

* ''inRetro'' (2011) * Terminal Pop (Shut Eye, 1998)

External links

Sonia Tetlow's site

Herman Put Down The Guns's site

Roxie Watson's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetlow, Sonia Cowboy Mouth members Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women punk rock singers Musicians from New Orleans American punk rock bass guitarists American alternative rock musicians Tulane University alumni Musicians from Atlanta American punk rock singers American women bass guitarists Songwriters from Louisiana Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) Singers from Louisiana Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Guitarists from Louisiana 21st-century American women