Winston Churchill is credited with saying that history is written by the victors. And in the world of major record labels, these corporate entities have a long history of emerging as top dogs, for example, by controlling artists’ musical output and negotiating contracts that give acts the short end of the stick.
David Lowery and his band Cracker definitely experienced that scenario following a wild and often successful ride with Virgin Records. But he and fellow founding member Johnny Hickman have managed to take the wheel of their band’s narrative in recent years.
A case in point is the recently released Alternative History: A Cracker Retrospective, a 3-LP/2-CD set that serves as a proxy version of the band’s canon. For Lowery, who is also a lecturer at the University of Georgia, the impetus for this undertaking can be traced to the most nefarious modern-day anti-musician piece of technology: streaming services.
“Part of this grew out of me talking to our students where they would sort of go on a streaming service to see the Cracker best of algorithmic playlists,” he says.
“Based on the number of streams, it tends to favor the older stuff. It was sort of skewed and not really representing [us]. And then two of our three greatest hits compilations were also kind of 2002 backwards. We felt there needed to be another compilation. We got into talking about licensing some with Universal Music Group and Concord in conjunction with Cooking Vinyl, but it seemed like it was going to eat up all the money if we licensed the tracks.”
Rather than funnel money back to their former labels, Lowery decided to sift through re-recordings, demos, outtakes and live tracks for a set that ranges far and wide throughout the Cracker catalog, even managing to include a demo of “Father Winter” recorded by the band’s two founding members before they founded Cracker.
Lowery’s approach was not unlike what he did with the 2006 compilation Greatest Hits Redux. Virgin Records released the original versions of those songs via Get On With It: The Best of Cracker, an anthology compiled sans the permission or cooperation of the band.
Redux put more control (and money) back into the band’s pockets, and that’s also the case with Alternative History, which also has more of a fan-friendly approach to it.
“This turned out to be an interesting project because basically what we were doing was telling the story of Cracker sort of using alternate takes like the stuff we did with Leftover Salmon re-records we’d done through the years, rare B-sides, and a few unreleased things,” Lowery says.
“There are songs that over the years have become fan favorites, and while they were never singles, they were important live songs we do. For instance, ‘One Fine Day’ from the Forever album is an eight-minute, Neil Young/Crazy Horse stomping jam. And then also from that album is ‘Gimme One More Chance.’ Those are big fan favorites and show closers, but they were never singles and not once ever on the radio.”
For anyone wanting to do a deeper Cracker dive, Alternative History sees the aforementioned Leftover Salmon give longtime favorite “Sweet Potato” a bluegrass twang and turn “Eurotrash Girl” into a waltz. Drive-By Truckers members Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzales lend their talents to a Gram Parsons-flavored take on “Sick of Goodbyes.”
A live version of “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me” from the German concert show Rockpalast is a reminder of its pivotal use as a closing song on a season of the Showtime series Californication. Even the classic rock warhorse “Low” gets a new coat of paint via the re-recorded version cut for Redux that features Kenny Margolis adding a short Middle Eastern accordion solo.
For the current Cracker tour, Lowery and Hickman are adding a twist by bringing out Chicago-based fiddler Anne Harris.
“The setlist will be a pretty strict retrospective approach with a little bit from every part of the catalog. Having Anne play with us means we’ve been able to incorporate some of the Camper stuff as well,” Lowery says, referencing his other band, Camper Van Beethoven.
“She’s played with a number of different blues people, but she’s also pretty versed in North American Celtic and stuff. It’s almost like she has a Led Zeppelin style is how I describe it. It’s a pretty rock show when we play. Her styling is more blues-rock in a way, partly because that’s where she comes from. She’s actually a very interesting and versatile artist in her own right. It’s a little bit of a different show when we play with her.”
Lowery sees no slowdown in 2025. There will be a show at San Francisco’s Fillmore celebrating the 40th anniversary of Camper Van Beethoven’s 1985 debut Telephone Free Landslide Victory. (Plans for one-off UK and Canadian dates are also in the works.) Then there’s a triple-vinyl/28-track release of Lowery solo material that includes new songs. The Texas native will hit the road for a quick North American solo acoustic tour to support that release.
And while it would be easy to get thrown off by juggling so many projects, Lowery is rightfully proud of how Alternative History came out.
“Some of these songs people have heard before, but usually it’s limited edition, rare, or not available,” he says. “I found a demo of ‘Merry Christmas Emily’ that I sort of forgot about that was a completely different vibe. We went ahead and fleshed it out with a completely different vibe — it’s almost like a different song, but the words are the same. This, along with some of the stuff, are things people have never heard. I think [Alternative History] turned out pretty well.”
