Biography
Adam's House Cat fused the guitar-driven punch of the Replacements and Drivin' n' Cryin' with R.E.M.'s melodic instincts and the blunt worldview of a sharp punk rocker, positioning the group for potential impact in the alternative rock world of the late '80s and early '90s. Success eluded them at the time, yet Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, the band's two founders, carried forward the insights gained from that experience when they launched the Drive-By Truckers five years after Adam's House Cat dissolved. A sharp, hard-hitting outfit misplaced in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, during an inopportune era, the group garnered critical praise along with a devoted if modest following throughout its existence, though nearly three decades would pass before its lone album reached the public.
The origins of Adam's House Cat trace to 1985, when Patterson Hood, then 21, arranged to share an apartment in North Florence, Alabama, with 22-year-old Mike Cooley. The pair had only a passing acquaintance but soon connected through shared musical tastes and guitar playing. They started exchanging original material, among them a Hood composition that incorporated the enigmatic Southern phrase "I wouldn't know him from Adam's house cat." That line supplied the name once they decided to assemble a band. They enlisted veteran local bar-scene drummer Chuck Tremblay and cycled through temporary bassists before settling on John Cahoon. Regular performances followed, yet opportunities remained scarce in nearby Muscle Shoals, a onetime Southern music hub now limited by the mid-'80s to venues favoring cover acts. They responded by touring frequently, hitting Birmingham and Huntsville plus stops across Tennessee and Mississippi.
Musician magazine's 1988 contest for America's Best Unsigned Band drew an entry from Adam's House Cat, who submitted a demo of "Smiling at Girls." The judging panel—T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Mitchell Froom, and Mark Knopfler—placed the group among the Top Ten selections, resulting in the track's appearance on a compilation CD that extended national exposure. Interest from prospective managers and label A&R representatives followed, but no binding agreement materialized. The band took independent action, issuing the four-song cassette Trains of Thought and then commencing work on a full-length record. In November 1990, producer and engineer Steve Melton captured the group live to 24-track tape at Muscle Shoals Sound Recording Studio, completing 15 songs in a single day. Hood returned in January 1991 to record his lead vocals on the same day George H.W. Bush initiated Operation Desert Storm and the War on Iraq. Completion dragged due to limited funds, and John Cahoon exited midway through the year. Chris Quillen assumed bass duties and added vocals to "Long Time Ago." Melton finalized a mix, yet momentum faded after Hood and Cooley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, leading to a quiet disbandment in September 1991.
Following the breakup, the album stayed unreleased and the tapes vanished after the Muscle Shoals studio shuttered, with Melton's mixes deposited in the tape library at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, only to be destroyed when a tornado struck the facility. After a period of estrangement, Hood and Cooley rekindled their friendship and musical alliance upon both relocating to Athens, Georgia, where they began outlining a new project. They asked Chris Quillen to join on bass, but Quillen died in a car accident weeks before the Drive-By Truckers' debut performance in 1996. John Cahoon passed away while the Drive-By Truckers supported their second album, 1999's Pizza Deliverance.
Years afterward, the original 2" multi-track tapes from the Adam's House Cat sessions resurfaced and were delivered to Chase Park Transduction Studios, where producer and engineer David Barbe had tracked most Drive-By Truckers releases. As Hood and Cooley considered options for the material, Chuck Tremblay suffered a near-fatal heart attack in mid-2017. Hood committed to finishing and issuing the album in 2018, fulfilling that promise by recutting his vocals and remixing the record alongside Cooley and Barbe. The long-unheard Adam's House Cat album Town Burned Down appeared in September 2018. In celebration, Hood and Cooley reunited with Tremblay for several Adam's House Cat performances as openers on the Drive-By Truckers' fall 2018 tour.
The origins of Adam's House Cat trace to 1985, when Patterson Hood, then 21, arranged to share an apartment in North Florence, Alabama, with 22-year-old Mike Cooley. The pair had only a passing acquaintance but soon connected through shared musical tastes and guitar playing. They started exchanging original material, among them a Hood composition that incorporated the enigmatic Southern phrase "I wouldn't know him from Adam's house cat." That line supplied the name once they decided to assemble a band. They enlisted veteran local bar-scene drummer Chuck Tremblay and cycled through temporary bassists before settling on John Cahoon. Regular performances followed, yet opportunities remained scarce in nearby Muscle Shoals, a onetime Southern music hub now limited by the mid-'80s to venues favoring cover acts. They responded by touring frequently, hitting Birmingham and Huntsville plus stops across Tennessee and Mississippi.
Musician magazine's 1988 contest for America's Best Unsigned Band drew an entry from Adam's House Cat, who submitted a demo of "Smiling at Girls." The judging panel—T-Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Mitchell Froom, and Mark Knopfler—placed the group among the Top Ten selections, resulting in the track's appearance on a compilation CD that extended national exposure. Interest from prospective managers and label A&R representatives followed, but no binding agreement materialized. The band took independent action, issuing the four-song cassette Trains of Thought and then commencing work on a full-length record. In November 1990, producer and engineer Steve Melton captured the group live to 24-track tape at Muscle Shoals Sound Recording Studio, completing 15 songs in a single day. Hood returned in January 1991 to record his lead vocals on the same day George H.W. Bush initiated Operation Desert Storm and the War on Iraq. Completion dragged due to limited funds, and John Cahoon exited midway through the year. Chris Quillen assumed bass duties and added vocals to "Long Time Ago." Melton finalized a mix, yet momentum faded after Hood and Cooley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, leading to a quiet disbandment in September 1991.
Following the breakup, the album stayed unreleased and the tapes vanished after the Muscle Shoals studio shuttered, with Melton's mixes deposited in the tape library at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, only to be destroyed when a tornado struck the facility. After a period of estrangement, Hood and Cooley rekindled their friendship and musical alliance upon both relocating to Athens, Georgia, where they began outlining a new project. They asked Chris Quillen to join on bass, but Quillen died in a car accident weeks before the Drive-By Truckers' debut performance in 1996. John Cahoon passed away while the Drive-By Truckers supported their second album, 1999's Pizza Deliverance.
Years afterward, the original 2" multi-track tapes from the Adam's House Cat sessions resurfaced and were delivered to Chase Park Transduction Studios, where producer and engineer David Barbe had tracked most Drive-By Truckers releases. As Hood and Cooley considered options for the material, Chuck Tremblay suffered a near-fatal heart attack in mid-2017. Hood committed to finishing and issuing the album in 2018, fulfilling that promise by recutting his vocals and remixing the record alongside Cooley and Barbe. The long-unheard Adam's House Cat album Town Burned Down appeared in September 2018. In celebration, Hood and Cooley reunited with Tremblay for several Adam's House Cat performances as openers on the Drive-By Truckers' fall 2018 tour.
Albums
