Cowboy

During the peak years of Southern rock in the 1970s, Cowboy remained one of the genre’s lesser-known acts despite forming in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 under songwriters Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer. Their sound blended acoustic country-rock reminiscent of Pure Prairie League yet stood apart through the pair’s incisive songcraft and a distinctive Muscle Shoals influence. After Duane Allman caught their performances, he alerted Phil Walden of Macon, Georgia’s Capricorn Records, prompting the label to sign the group. Lineup changes were frequent except for Talton and Boyer, who effectively joined Capricorn’s informal house band and appeared on sessions with the Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman, Alex Taylor, and Bonnie Bramlett. Four albums appeared on the Capricorn roster: Reach for the Sky in 1970, 5'll Getcha Ten in 1971 (later paired as the 1973 compilation Why Quit When You're Losing), Boyer & Talton in 1974, and Cowboy in 1977. The 1976 release Happy to Be Alive, credited to the trio of Tommy Talton, Bill Stewart, and Johnny Sandlin, functions in essence as an additional Cowboy recording. Three decades passed before Talton and Boyer reconvened the band in 2007 to cut material at Duck Tape Studio in Decatur, Alabama, though those recordings stayed unreleased. Scott Boyer succumbed to peripheral artery disease in Muscle Shoals in February 2018 at age 70, while Tommy Talton passed away on December 28, 2023, at age 74.